Ralph Lauren gave Polo's women's division its own showcase last September, splashing the collection across the sky over Central Park with a newfangled 4-D presentation. The men's side of Polo has tended to be wrapped up together with the designer's more elevated offerings for guys, but the company took the inaugural New York Fashion Week: Men's as an opportunity to give it a spotlight of its own. Tyson Beckford and Cody Simpson milled about the Madison Avenue showroom alongside editors in chief and publishers, and the collection stood up to the added attention.
It was divided by category: haberdashery up front, the luxury-sport Polo Sport line in the back, and in between, clothes that fell somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. Lauren has always liked a theme. This season he seemed to be making a point of avoiding them, but it was unmistakably Polo nonetheless, especially a grouping that included black watch plaid and another more casual section that featured denim and cargos with the occasional silver and turquoise belt buckle. Two of the best looks highlighted Polo's range. A three-piece denim suit faced off against mismatched sweats topped by a herringbone tweed blazer. Both outfits looked new, but the funny thing was you could picture Ralph himself in either of them.
