Ralph Lauren has had a winning year — outfitting Team USA at the Paris Olympics; sponsoring Wimbledon and the U.S. Open; launching the Artist in Residence program, and hosting a runway show in the Hamptons with First Lady Jill Biden in attendance, all while continuing to defy the luxury slowdown with better than expected financial results.
The designer ended 2024 with a big finish: presenting a pre-fall 2025 collection that continued to demonstrate the brand’s elevation, stalwart American chic and subtle design evolution for a younger generation.
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After the feel-good, family-oriented spring 2025 Hamptons show encompassing multiple collections, generations and sensibilities, Lauren kept the pre-fall fashion message concise, zeroing in on luxe daywear and casual eveningwear that had a rich feel and a modern ease, and solidifying signature pieces such as the tweed jacket, bomber, coatdress and bias-cut halter neck gown as must-haves.
Particularly newsy was a new pants silhouette seen in look one with a relaxed tweed blazer, sweater and men’s brogues. The cocoon-shaped pleated pants in English tweed, with full legs and narrowing at the ankles, were an on-trend update bringing his “Annie Hall” menswear-as-womenswear tailoring pedigree into the street style here-and-now.
Tailoring was soft, relaxed and everyday-approachable without sacrificing construction. For example, a great-looking camel-colored long line blazer, unlined and with the softness of a sweater, that was worn as a dress Zendaya-style in one look, and with full trousers and a necktie in another. A pale gray fleece double-breasted blazer and pants suit fashioned after one Lauren had made in Italy for his personal wardrobe also looked dressed up but as cozy as sweats.
Sport, speed and precision were also through lines, inspired by the horses and cars Lauren loves so much. He built on the momentum the brand has been seeing in accessories sales with several new iterations of the expanding family of handsome Ralph bags with burl wood handles inspired by a vintage steering wheel, and introduced a range of riding boots.
Those boots — as well as hand-painted jodphurs, a snug leather hunting jacket and vintage horsey scarf print pieces — may have been Ralph Lauren 101, but they also keyed into the horse girl trend that’s been bubbling up on the European runways, and taken over TikTok where “equestrian chic” and “English countryside chic” have emerged as popular hashtags. Especially when those tall boots were paired with short skirts.
There were also precisely cut, clean and minimal leather wardrobing pieces, including a rich-looking racing green bonded leather trench and miniskirt, while a sexy-sporty silver engineered rib knit halter dress hugged every curve.
Lauren leaned into his romantic side (and the boho spirit in the air again) with a cream crinkle chiffon shirt dress with a buttery-delicious shearling bomber, and a cocoa-hued cashmere lace sweater and cashmere jersey full maxiskirt.
Eveningwear was relaxed but exquisite — a silvery cropped jacket embroidered with textural oval sequins, for example, took 280 hours of work, but was worn casually over worsted wool cocoon pants.
As Lauren said, “I’ve always loved the woman who dresses for herself. A woman who is confident enough to wear a man-tailored suit with a tie, a rugged bomber jacket over sophisticated wide-legged trousers or a sparkly jacket over cool tweed pants and mannish lace-up shoes.”
This was a Ralph Lauren collection in perfect balance, with the right mix of casual and dressy, day and evening, sport and chic, masculine slouch and feminine sensuality, classicism and modern nods to trends — and not too theme-y. A high note to ring out the year.
