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R ALPH LAUREN
WITH
ON THE
RANGE
re : define
Purveyor of the ultimate Americana lifestyle, designer Ralph Lauren heeded the advice of the early American pioneers and went West. The 16,000 RRL Ranch is a sumptuous lesson in rustic cowboy chic BY STEPHANIE RIVERS
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T
he RRL Ranch in Colorado, home of Ricki and Ralph Lauren, is a far cry from his humble beginnings in the Bronx, New York. Back in 1967, Lauren was a young upstart with chutzpah and a dream. He wanted to create a luxury lifestyle brand that exemplified all things American – beginning with a $50,000 loan, he created the now global Ralph Lauren brand. Two years later, Lauren would have a boutique of his own within Bloomingdale’s flagship store on 59th Street in the Big Apple. A common occurrence for designers these days, but a phenomenal achievement back them. 1971 would bring about the launch of Polo Ralph Lauren women’s collection and a freestanding store in Beverly Hills, California. A decade later, Lauren would launch his first international store presence with a flagship in London on New Bond Street. The early 90s launched the Polo Sport line and fragrances, with the company going public in 1997. The Lauren lifestyle brand continued to grow in the Ninties, as did his penchant for buying homes in different locales and designing them to reflect his brand and his envisioned Americana. The RRL Ranch — the acronym for Ralph and Ricki Lauren — like the rest of Lauren’s residences, is an opulent extension of that vision,
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combined with his love of the old West. The ranch is a working one with horses, cattle and ranch hands roaming about. Set on over 15,000 acres, its aesthetic reflects Lauren’s design style and penchant for the finer things
in life, expressed in a humble manner but with well-appointed chic. RRL was a heartfelt search by Ricki and Ralph, looking for a Western escape that gave them privacy and the ability to be lost in thought, ride their beloved horses and sleep under the stars. It was a search that would take some time to realise, and they eventually discovered their dream home by accident from a perch atop of a hillside. The creation of RRL was a painstaking process, where every visual detail was acutely dissected and no stone was left unturned. His love of the old West would result in an old barn, antique saddles, vintage trucks and cars, an old silver airstream trailer, weathered leather chairs, denim, broken in cowboy boots and old cowhides, much like the world of Ralph Lauren that we see in advertising campaigns. Lauren’s homes are like his collections: a extension of his visual creativity and of what he feels his customers want and need. It is this instinct and understanding of the fundamentals of clothing (that what we wear influences both how we see ourselves and the impression we make on others) that has propelled the Ralph Lauren brand to a billion-dollar enterprise. Lauren is proof positive that tenacity and vision lead to success – he dropped out of college, and never went to fashion or design school.
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