Ralph Lauren Goes West – WSJ

Over 100 looks, spanning collections from the rustic Double RL to the sophisticated Purple Label? Check. A-list stars, including Jessica Chastain, John Legend, Sylvester Stallone, and newlyweds J.Lo and Ben Affleck, who married dressed in Ralph this summer? Check. Rafts of white calla lilies, fancy pigs-in-a-blanket, silver bowls of roasted nuts? As many checks as a Polo madras shirt.

“This is amazing for California,” enthused Diane Keaton, who attended in her signature hat and a sleek suit. The actress, who sat next to Mr. Lauren at the candlelit banquet dinner, has incarnated Ralphness since she wore his menswear-inspired pieces in the 1977 movie “Annie Hall.” Then, as now, she wears his Manhattan tailoring with a California looseness—the intellectual freshly landed in Los Angeles for a meeting. 

The career-first California celebration was important to Mr. Lauren because “Los Angeles is a unique place,” he said, but the show is also about his fantasy version of the West Coast. “Like any place, you bring something to it, and you build something even better,” he said. 

Mr. Lauren promoted the show with a printed advertisement featuring himself—a vintage photo showing a younger Ralph in a turtleneck sweater and breezy shorts on a veranda in Cap Ferrat. The ads were immediately buzzy, prompting fond chatter on social media.

Fitting for a designer who grew up dreaming of becoming an actor, the show captured pure Hollywood glamour. So: a silky white Gatsby-esque women’s suit; a golden strapless gown. He also included plays on Western tropes, including a segment of grinning cowboys in Double RL indigo separates, and Venice Beach surfer types with crocheted hats and cutout swimsuits. “The world of Ralph Lauren world is many things, and so is Los Angeles,” explained Mr. Lauren of the range of styles shown. But Ralph is Ralph, wherever he goes. So the signatures of his brand, honed carefully over the decades, were all there: adorable children and debonair old folks walking in the show, preppy Polo classics like V-neck sweaters and madras pants. 

The show captured Hollywood glamour, Western tropes and the preppy classics that are the signature of the Ralph Lauren brand. Courtesy of Ralph Lauren/Chris Pizzello/Associated Press

The process of importing Mr. Lauren’s brand to California was akin to a military operation. The hospitality staff that works on his restaurants, including the Polo Bar in New York, were flown in to assure that every mouthful of crispy iceberg lettuce and buttery coconut cake was up to their standards. 

As cozy as the experience might have felt, it is part of a master plan for expansion. “There’s a major opportunity to develop the business here on the West Coast,” said the brand’s president and CEO since 2017,

Patrice Louvet,

after the show. “Ralph is from New York, so that’s been the heart of the company, and he’s more familiar with that part of the country.” While there’s been a store on Rodeo Drive since the 1970s, and there’s now one in Century City, as well, Mr. Louvet is eager to expand. He spent the last week scoping out spots along the West Coast, from Southern California up to San Francisco and Seattle. 

To Mr. Louvet, expanding west is worth the significant financial investment in the show, from the white linen cushions on the seats to the leather napkin rings on the dinner table. “It’s always very difficult to do a scientific calculation of this many dollars results in this many dollars in return,” he admitted. But the assets from the show, live-streamed to the public and photographed ad infinitum, will live on, as will the “brand perception,” as Mr. Louvet termed it. Although they’re a traditional means, “when you look at what drives brand heat, our greatest peaks are actually driven by shows,” he said. 

How much of this is about Mr. Lauren and his image? “It’s at the core of who we are as a company,” said Mr. Louvet. “We look back and forward at the same time. We look back at our heritage and our purpose, and forward because we want to be successful 20, 30, 40 years into the future.”

As for Mr. Lauren, he hasn’t lost his playful, Bronx-born cynicism about Los Angeles. “I know a lot of people here, people I love, and they haven’t moved,” he said. “So there must be something good about it!”

Write to Rory Satran at [email protected]

Over 100 looks, spanning collections from the rustic Double RL to the sophisticated Purple Label? Check. A-list stars, including Jessica Chastain, John Legend, Sylvester Stallone, and newlyweds J.Lo and Ben Affleck, who married dressed in Ralph this summer? Check. Rafts of white calla lilies, fancy pigs-in-a-blanket, silver bowls of roasted nuts? As many checks as a Polo madras shirt.

“This is amazing for California,” enthused Diane Keaton, who attended in her signature hat and a sleek suit. The actress, who sat next to Mr. Lauren at the candlelit banquet dinner, has incarnated Ralphness since she wore his menswear-inspired pieces in the 1977 movie “Annie Hall.” Then, as now, she wears his Manhattan tailoring with a California looseness—the intellectual freshly landed in Los Angeles for a meeting. 

The career-first California celebration was important to Mr. Lauren because “Los Angeles is a unique place,” he said, but the show is also about his fantasy version of the West Coast. “Like any place, you bring something to it, and you build something even better,” he said. 

Mr. Lauren promoted the show with a printed advertisement featuring himself—a vintage photo showing a younger Ralph in a turtleneck sweater and breezy shorts on a veranda in Cap Ferrat. The ads were immediately buzzy, prompting fond chatter on social media.

Fitting for a designer who grew up dreaming of becoming an actor, the show captured pure Hollywood glamour. So: a silky white Gatsby-esque women’s suit; a golden strapless gown. He also included plays on Western tropes, including a segment of grinning cowboys in Double RL indigo separates, and Venice Beach surfer types with crocheted hats and cutout swimsuits. “The world of Ralph Lauren world is many things, and so is Los Angeles,” explained Mr. Lauren of the range of styles shown. But Ralph is Ralph, wherever he goes. So the signatures of his brand, honed carefully over the decades, were all there: adorable children and debonair old folks walking in the show, preppy Polo classics like V-neck sweaters and madras pants. 

The show captured Hollywood glamour, Western tropes and the preppy classics that are the signature of the Ralph Lauren brand. Courtesy of Ralph Lauren/Chris Pizzello/Associated Press

The process of importing Mr. Lauren’s brand to California was akin to a military operation. The hospitality staff that works on his restaurants, including the Polo Bar in New York, were flown in to assure that every mouthful of crispy iceberg lettuce and buttery coconut cake was up to their standards. 

As cozy as the experience might have felt, it is part of a master plan for expansion. “There’s a major opportunity to develop the business here on the West Coast,” said the brand’s president and CEO since 2017,

Patrice Louvet,

after the show. “Ralph is from New York, so that’s been the heart of the company, and he’s more familiar with that part of the country.” While there’s been a store on Rodeo Drive since the 1970s, and there’s now one in Century City, as well, Mr. Louvet is eager to expand. He spent the last week scoping out spots along the West Coast, from Southern California up to San Francisco and Seattle. 

To Mr. Louvet, expanding west is worth the significant financial investment in the show, from the white linen cushions on the seats to the leather napkin rings on the dinner table. “It’s always very difficult to do a scientific calculation of this many dollars results in this many dollars in return,” he admitted. But the assets from the show, live-streamed to the public and photographed ad infinitum, will live on, as will the “brand perception,” as Mr. Louvet termed it. Although they’re a traditional means, “when you look at what drives brand heat, our greatest peaks are actually driven by shows,” he said. 

How much of this is about Mr. Lauren and his image? “It’s at the core of who we are as a company,” said Mr. Louvet. “We look back and forward at the same time. We look back at our heritage and our purpose, and forward because we want to be successful 20, 30, 40 years into the future.”

As for Mr. Lauren, he hasn’t lost his playful, Bronx-born cynicism about Los Angeles. “I know a lot of people here, people I love, and they haven’t moved,” he said. “So there must be something good about it!”

Write to Rory Satran at [email protected]