It can be a wonderful feeling to have your expectations dashed. I experienced just that on the first day of men’s fashion week in Milan, as I watched Ralph Lauren’s first men’s only runway show in over 20 years. Passing under the gray stone archway of the company’s palazzo, I expected some sort of old money mélange, rife with cable knits and meet-your-fiancée’s-parents navy blazers (something that would capitalize on the brand’s TikTok-generation fans smitten with blue-blooded American style).
That’s not what Ralph Lauren delivered. The show’s opening half buzzed with pluck and pattern. Out came a duck-printed fleece Polo jacket, a ski-bum Fair Isle Cowichan sweater and a just the-right-side-of-twee cardigan depicting a cabin. (So much of this throwback collection was a reminder that “Polo country” is a worthwhile eBay search.)
The stunner of the show was a fur-hooded knee-length shearling, the color of vanilla gelato, speckled with tiny pockets up the front. Was it Western? Was it posh? Was it military? Yes to all.
The Lauren show was split between looks from Polo and its dressier Purple Label line. The latter offering did tread into the old money costuming I had anticipated. Cream trousers with knife-edge pleats, cigar suede tassel loafers and plaid cashmere jackets made less of an impact, if only because there’s so much look-alike product already on the market now.
And this is really the conundrum that Mr. Lauren, who at 86 did not travel for this show, faces at this stage of his career: He has outlasted nearly all of his generational peers. In design, his competitors are his much younger copycats, busy repackaging things he might have been doing for decades.
That’s to say, what really charmed me in this show were the things that demonstrated that audacious Ralphness that only he can deliver. I was less taken with the doodled-on pants (RALPH down the left leg, a Polo pennant on the right), or the studded and bejeweled black jeans — than I was in the furry Fair Isle fleece with its safety orange pocket.
Ralphness can best be found in the styling. We are, after all, talking about America’s maestro of the “Can I do that? Oh, yes I can” outfit. A gold-buttoned blazer and neon hiking sneakers? Ralph’s done it. A dinner jacket and blue jeans? Child’s play for Mr. Lauren.
This collection embodied that pile-it-on spirit. The Fair Isle fleece was worn with baggy jeans, a clementine-colored puffer, a purple ball cap, a tartan scarf and a pine green tote with a different plaid scarf tied around the handle. Sunglasses dangled off shirt collars, scarves were secured beneath hoods, a sweater erupted out of a bag like pink lava, a red sweater with “Polo” in gothic script was worn, for whatever reason, with tuxedo pants and a black bow tie.
When a model came out in a crinkly flight suit with ash tray-size silver conches across it, I smirked. Rather than reinforce tastefulness, these outfits felt like a rebuke to the entire notion of taste.
Jacob Gallagher is a Times reporter covering fashion and style.
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