Designers high and low have been touting values like heritage, quality, and longevity for roughly a year. There’s consumer data to support the shift toward “investment pieces,” items we know we’ll hang onto no matter what happens next. That “un-trendiness” is trending is good news for Polo Ralph Lauren, a label premised on reinventing and remixing the same American classics season after season: oxford shirts, blazers, polos, cable-knits, jeans.
Spring’s lineup had a new air of lightness thanks to a nautical palette of white and blue, meant to channel the “glamour and spontaneity” of travel. What was once a regular touchpoint for RL became impossible last year. That could change in the coming weeks and months, but for women who aren’t setting sail or boarding a plane, the hope is they’ll at least feel transported.
There were touches of quirk in the paint splatters and quilted jackets, and the eased-up silhouettes felt right in our moment of comfort dressing. Pinstriped suits came with looser, hip-slung trousers that tapered at the ankle, while a striped oxford was exploded into a tunic, shown here over pooling trousers. A few Polo Sport pieces were mixed in, too: running shorts with blazers, sneakers with dresses, joggers with cable-knits. It reflected the way women are mixing athletic gear with ready-to-wear these days, but it also drove home Lauren’s longtime ethos: that with the right attitude and a little creativity, timeless and foolproof pieces will always feel as worthwhile—if not more so—than a flashy, brand-new thing.
On that note, Polo (and the broader Ralph Lauren company) is well-positioned to join the booming secondhand and vintage market. Its core values of timeless design and quality materials also happen to be the building blocks of circularity—i.e., items staying “in circulation” and traveling through multiple closets. It would feel entirely natural for RL to make secondhand and vintage a part of its offering, perhaps with a buy-back program or a partnership with a consignment site like The RealReal.
