In
the early life of the fashion designer, the persistent Ralph Lifshitz was born
in the Bronx, New York City, on October 14, 1939. His parents were Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants
from Belarus. Ralph Lauren, at the age
of 16 along with his brother Jerry had changed their last names to Lauren,
having been teased consistently at school.
With his other brother, Lenny, held on to the family name. Ralph Lauren attended Baruch College in
Manhattan, where he studied business for two years. After a brief chore in the army, Ralph took a
sales job at Brooks brothers.
In
the beginning chapters of Ralph Lauren’s career, Ralph began designing men’s
neckties in 1967, branding them under the name “Polo” and selling them in big
department stores, including Bloomingdale’s.
From then, Ralph Lauren expanded his designs to a complete menswear
line. In 1970, Ralph Lauren was awarded
the Coty Award for his spectacular menswear designs. This recognition had inspired a release of a
women’s line of tailored suits in a classic men’s style. Two years following, Ralph Lauren released a short-sleeve
cotton shirt in 24 colors. This design,
jazzed up with the Polo logo, became the brand’s signature look. Ralph Lauren later broadened his brand to
provide a luxury clothing line called Ralph Lauren Purple, a home-furnishing collection
called Ralph Lauren Home, and an entire collection of fragrances. The acclaimed Polo continues to produce
clothing for men, women and children.
His excellence of fashion designing has led him to design Olympic
uniforms for Team USA. Polo grew
speedily throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s, opening boutiques across the United
States and in foreign land. In 1984,
Ralph Lauren opened his flagship store in New York’s Rhinelander Mansion. Traded under the symbol RL, the company went
public on June 11, 1997. The prosperity
of Polo has earned him a personal fortune estimated at $6.5 billion. This sum, if accurate, would make Ralph
Lauren the 122nd richest person in the world.
At age sixty-five Ralph Lauren,
amongst other tremendous businessmen-designers in the fashion industry, remains
driven, strong and unstoppable. Yet, trouble had creeped when Ralph Lauren
aimed to reposition Polo as a premium luxury brand. Polo’s stock price drooped the day it was
first offered to the public, and investors and financiers remained unconvinced
by Polo’s position in the market, but also its future. As head of a company, his style intuition,
and his personality, became his foundation to a well-built Ralph Lauren
accepting no doubt or failure as his reality.
Lauren married receptionist Ricky Anne
Low-Beer in New York City in 1964. He successfully concealed the fact that
Ricky was only half Jewish from his parents before the wedding.
The Laurens are parents of three children:
Andrew, David and Dylan. David Lauren is the only one of the three to have made
his career at Polo. In 2011 he married Lauren Bush, the niece of former
President George
W. Bush. Andrew Lauren is a film producer, while Dylan Lauren
is the owner of the New York City candy store Dylan’s Candy Bar.
Sources
Gross, Michael. "Lauren, Ralph." The Berg
Fashion Library. The Berg Fashion Library, 2005. Web. 25 Jan. 2013. <http://www.bergfashionlibrary.com/view/bazf/bazf00359.xml>.
"Ralph Lauren."
2013. The Biography Channel website. Jan 25 2013, 09:27http://www.biography.com/people/ralph-lauren-9374814.
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