RALPH LAUREN

Ralph Lauren is one of the defining names in American fashion and lifestyle culture. The story began in New York in 1967, when Ralph Lauren introduced a collection of wide, handmade men's ties under the Polo name. He initially worked from little more than a drawer in a showroom at the Empire State Building, yet his ambition was already larger than clothing alone. Old Hollywood glamour, English country-house culture, American Ivy League style, equestrianism and the mythology of the American West gradually came together within the distinctive world now associated with Ralph Lauren's timeless American style.

Fragrance entered that universe in 1978 and became a natural extension of the broader lifestyle concept. Like clothing, scent is used to construct an entire character — from country clubs and classical sport to ranch life and Manhattan sophistication. Ralph Lauren's particular achievement has been to present American luxury not as a temporary fashion trend but as an imagined way of life built around home, family, travel, sport and objects intended to improve with age. Its luxury is polished yet warm, balancing aristocratic references with a distinctly American sense of independence and freedom.