Ralph Lauren

Loved this. Lauren has had such a multi-stage career, has re-invented created so many new product lines and new ideas of fashion, and done so while also maintaining virtually the same underlying aesthetic. This book was a (quite detailed and long) journey through that career, from his start creating wide-body ties under the name Polo in a “closet” office inside the Empire State Building during the 70s.

There of course is never a truly overnight success story, but his career took of faster than I would have assumed. Every year or so, RL developed a new category that at the time was seen as quite a risk, and did so with impressive execution, from sports to evening-wear. He is able to keep that continuity of design throughout, something timeless and not tied to the fads of the day; this led him to avoid a lot of the quick 90s trends that tanked and dated many other designers.

He also seems to have been a bit ahead of his time on philanthropy as well. Fashion is a space in which the already-light CSR field can be quite un-impactful, and Lauren bucked the trend with his work in fighting breast cancer, even before starting his foundation and impact investing arm (which we’ve come across a few times through Helena and have been impressed with).