In a world of uncertainty, one thing remains a given: Ralph Lauren delivers beautifully timeless quality clothing. He remains true to a classic vision demonstrative of good tastes that, depending on the current Zeitgeist in fashion or even the world at large, hits better according to how the collection presents.
For his Fall 2025 show, Lauren’s vision nailed a style of dress that seems to meet the moment in both what we want in our closest and how to present ourselves in a world that is changing in unexpected and even shocking ways.
Had he not become a designer, it’s not hard to imagine that Lauren would have gone into filmmaking. His business was founded when the Bronx-born New Yorker was looking to Fred Astaire and old Hollywood style when he launched his collection of wide ties in 1967, which jump-started his fashion career. (Not to mention his costume design for “Annie Hall,” “The Great Gatsby” and the bevy of memorable red carpet dressing for today’s Hollywood elite.)
Hollywood was also not in short supply as guests included Anne Hathaway, Michelle Williams, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Naomi Watts, “White Lotus” star Sarah Catherine Hook, “The Studio” star and Anna Sui’s niece Chase Sui Wonders, and Kacey Musgraves, among others.
Thus, his shows often feel like cinematic theater. For Fall 2025, dubbed “The Modern Romantics,” he chose a location that even the most seasoned New Yorker wondered aloud ‘What is this place?’ as they entered. That place was the Jack Shainman Gallery in the landmarked Clock Tower building at 46 Lafayette Street just north of City Hall, which features a bevy of government buildings in the French Renaissance and English Neoclassicism styles made by the same firm McKim, Mead & White.
The Jack Shainman Gallery sits in the main room of an exquisitely Beaux Art bank, whose ceiling could be stared at for hours. On one end was a marble staircase from which models descended to the runway, most boldly forgoing the railing.
Show notes described this season’s Ralph Lauren woman as “self-assured and unbound by rules, with plays of masculine and feminine and rugged and refined, enriches by artisanal craft that elevates to heirloom level.”
Despite the Gilded Age scenery, Lauren’s girl exuded a specific look in the 1980s when the preppy craze was at its height. Though this particular lady may have a penchant for the classics, she also had sensual flair. Not to be confused with British New Romantics, she gravitated towards frilly ruffled blouses; in Dandy-slash-officer style, she tucked her pants into tall leather boots or skipped the step by simply wearing knickers that achieved the look.
(As a viewer who has pined for this particular dress to come back, which is to say that Lauren succeeded where other European brands have failed.) A sequin sampler sweater with hand-beaded roses also gave a direct nod to the era by referencing model Clotilde Holby from a campaign in the decade of excess.
She displayed a strong yet vulnerable front in a somber color palette that often combined brown and black. Those white pirates-meet-Victorian blouses were worn open or tied under class sweaters, tweeds, a leather bustier top for a hint of subversiveness, or a hand-distressed vintage bomber jacket. Leathers—as a bustier with camel wool, a strictly slim skirt, a shearling vest, a moto-esque jacket, leather palazzo pants, or a pièce de résistance, as a boiler suit, gave the offerings fierceness. Texture demonstrated artisanal craft, whether a suede blazer that morphed into leather on a color or a brown Mongolian wrap with leather fringe.
Wardrobe builders such as tailored wool suiting in camel or grey, chunky cable knits, Fair Isles, and floor duster topcoats soon gave way to the Ralph Lauren evening looks.
Here, she became her most sensual with a camisole and halter-style gowns. Pattern appeared as a watercolor floral that had an Orientalism vibe. The stunners, though, were made from white lace, a tiered style looked like an antique textile. Of course, Victor Victoria’s male-female dichotomy also has the former side; thus, pants are shown with a black-tie vest and the lace handkerchief detail necklines, a purple beaded dressing coat, or a sheer back top.
Several styles, such as a cream satin-finish velvet halter gown with extravagant black necktie, a tiered black chiffon and lace gown, and a stern black capelet gown with white cuffs and ruffled collar seemed apropos for any VIP engagement the starlets in the room might have.
There were a few nods to “Annie Hall,” especially timely as Sui Wonders character Quinn Hackett wears a suit and tie daily to her budding movie executive gig. But more so, the menswear styles doused with feminine touches seemed pragmatic, especially when grounded in tall leather boots with a sensible chunky heel and carrying an unfussy, relaxed satchel; they had a uniform quality and, in dodgy times, dressing with an air of authority and ready for anything seems apt.
Clothes can change a mood and give the wearer and the viewer a sense of conviction. So can Mr. Lauren, who took his bow from the balcony above the room where the models descended from, waving to his guests, assuring us that he is here. Thus, all is well in the world. For now.
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