fashionologie

15 Gorgeous, Gift-Worthy Fashion Books

Christina Perez — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 09:44:56 PST

>> From recent releases to much-loved classics, these coffee table tomes promise to make the perfect addition to any fashion fiend's collection. Featuring drop-dead images from legendary photographers like Mario Testino, Patrick Demarchelier, and Richard Avedon; insider info from industry icons Daphne Guinness, Carine Roitfeld, and Valerie Steele; and sublime collections from Christian Dior, Christian Louboutin, and more - these 15 books are some of the chicest to give this holiday season. After all, there's nothing like being well-dressed and well-read.

View Slideshow ›

Lauren Bush's Ralph Lauren Wedding Dress, Unveiled

fashionologie — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 08:12:00 PST

>> Lauren Bush and David Lauren were married over Labor Day after at his family's 17,000-acre Double RL ranch in Ridgway, Colorado, before some 200 guests. Now, a few pictures - including engagement shots -have been released in the upcoming December 2011 issue of Vogue.

The general look of the wedding - which included a rodeo the day after the ceremony - was “rustic elegance,” Bush Lauren explained. “A beautiful movie,” David adds, “like you were riding across the Old West and you stopped in at a wedding.”

Bush Lauren wore Ralph Lauren on her wedding day, of course. She and the designer had a few casual conversations about the sort of dress she'd like at family meals and holiday weekends, and then in late June they met at the Ralph Lauren studio for an official design meeting. “I walked in, and there were these beautiful illustrations of the looks we’d discussed with my face on them,” she recalls. “It was like a dream come true. We sat together and arrived at this silhouette. It isn’t Victorian exactly. I wanted something modern as well, so there is the high-necked collar and puffed shoulders with the large open back.”

The long-sleeved gown was the product of 100 craftspeople spending more than 3,000 hours hand-embroidering featherweight, antique ivory tulle with flower motifs and scroll designs using ivory silk and metallic thread, Swarovski Elements crystals, and off-white pearl beads. The bride and her five bridesmaids - who were dressed in white linen blouses, vests, and vintage prairie skirts - all wore cowboy boots. Bush Lauren's something new? The dress and boots. Her something old? Her headpiece. Her something borrowed? Victorian earrings from a friend. And her something blue? “I wore blue socks,” she laughed.

View Slideshow ›

Ralph Lauren, Oprah Winfrey Join Forces For a Black-Tie Conversation at Lincoln Center

fashionologie — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 09:33:46 PDT

>> After chatting with Ralph Lauren during the last season of her talk show earlier this year - "It took me 25 years to score an interview with [him]," Oprah Winfrey said of the designer - the two reunited for a sequel interview last night. The black-tie event, which raised more than $7 million for the Ralph Lauren Center For Cancer Care and Prevention in Harlem and Lincoln Center For the Performing Arts, brought a crowd ranging from Anna Wintour to Naomi Watts to the entire Lauren clan.

Pre-interview, Lauren admitted: "I don't know what she's going to ask, but if I can't answer, I'm going to run." Prabal Gurung, in attendance, hoped that she would ask Lauren about his secrets to success: “I just want a few formulas that I can take back to the office.”

Without further ado, Winfrey introduced Lauren, saying “He designed the fabric of America as we really all know it today, but we’re here tonight because Ralph Lauren is more than just a tastemaker - he’s a lifesaver," before asking him about how he's maintained and reinvented his brand over so many years: "You copy - that's why I am still here, Oprah," he quipped, drawing laughter. More seriously, he added: “I never went to fashion school, I never had the training. It came from inside. I know what it’s like to yearn for something and not have the money to buy it." He also admitted: "After doing this all this time, my hands still get sweaty before a show."

View Slideshow ›

Giggles and Glamour - Backstage at Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, and L'Wren Scott

fashionologie — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:04:30 PDT

>> New York Fashion Week has come to a close this season, but not without a little kick at the end. See Hanne Gaby Odiele flexing her muscles backstage at Calvin Klein while Julia Nobis makes faces with Suvi Koponen; and giggles go down amongst the '20s glamour at Ralph Lauren. More backstage snaps from those shows - and L'Wren Scott, too - in the slideshow.

Photo: Greg Kessler

View Slideshow ›

Ralph Lauren Spring 2012

Christina Perez — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 13:39:10 PDT

>> This season, Ralph Lauren returned to classic Americana, trotting out a solid collection of '20s-tinged separates and eveningwear. In short, it was what a modern-day Daisy Buchanon would wear to a garden party. She'd have plenty of options to choose from - flowy crepe de chine trousers in peach and baby blue, chiffon skirts in sherbet-florals, and cashmere sweaters in daffodil and apple green.

For evening, there were high-shine gowns in panne velvet, slip-dresses with deco beading, and ostrich feather shrugs. Also, three-piece suits in ivory silk, complete with pink-satin ties. If all this sounds familiar, it should. After all, it was Ralph Lauren who designed the costumes for the 1974 film The Great Gatsby, and many of those knockout silhouettes were reprised here.

View Slideshow ›

David Lauren, Lauren Bush To Wed This Weekend

fashionologie — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 11:19:38 PDT

>> Over the upcoming Labor Day weekend, David Lauren and Lauren Bush - who recently celebrated their engagement party in the Hamptons - will marry at his father Ralph Lauren's 17,000-acre Colorado ranch. The bride is expected to wear a Ralph Lauren wedding dress (David's sister Dylan Lauren wore a bridal gown designed by their father for her own wedding in June).

200 guests are expected for the festivities, which will include a picnic and softball game on Saturday, a rehearsal dinner Saturday night in Telluride, and the wedding ceremony Sunday, followed by a rodeo on Monday. A source told the New York Post, “The dress code for the wedding is black tie with a Western twist, which fits in with the romantic surroundings and both families’ American roots.”

Bush's grandparents, George H.W. and former First Lady Barbara Bush - currently at Walker’s Point in Maine - will not attend, a rep confirmed, while a spokesman for her uncle, George W. Bush, would not comment on if he and wife Laura will attend.

Bush is expected to take her soon-to-be husband's name; she recently told Harper's Bazaar: “I think it will be Lauren Bush-Lauren. I am sort of old-fashioned in that way"

Ralph Lauren On Whether David Lauren Will Succeed Him as CEO

fashionologie — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 16:36:56 PDT

>> It's been a good week for David Lauren - he celebrated his engagement to Lauren Bush last weekend on Anne Hearst and Jay McInerney's farm in the Hamptons, and his contribution to Ralph Lauren is touted in a new Fast Company profile.

So where is David headed next? Fast Company attests to "industrywide speculation" that he will eventually succeed 71-year-old Ralph as CEO. When asked if that is the case, David, who currently serves as EVP, replies: "My role has been growing every year. I'm very fortunate." He later adds: "But if I couldn't make a difference [at Ralph Lauren], I wouldn't be here. My father wouldn't want me to be here."

Ralph, too, is evasive about future company plans and David's role in them: "David is, and will be, a major person in the company. I can't say today where we're going, but David will be very important." Andrew Lauren, David's older brother who isn't involved in the company, meanwhile says of his father: "At some point he will say, 'I can't do this all the time,' and it's not out of the question that one of us would step in. But time will tell. David is succeeding where he is."

A Look at Ralph Lauren's New Denim & Supply Collection

fashionologie — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 11:42:37 PDT

>> Ralph Lauren just launched a new, heritage-driven brand, Denim & Supply Ralph Lauren, today, inspired by "found vintage pieces" styled in a "young, individualistic spirit." According to the release, this first collection is based on three stories - Into the Wild, The Lodge, and The Wharf - and will retail between $39.50 and $298 with "specialty jeans" under $200 and "core jeans" under $100.

A selection of the pieces from the new collection in the slideshow.

View Slideshow ›

Alexander Wang Wants To Be the Next Ralph Lauren

fashionologie — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 09:39:46 PDT

>> If there was any question as to how big Alexander Wang wants to go, it's a question no longer. He has aspirations to create a major lifestyle brand along the lines of Ralph Lauren's, Wang says: "Ralph Lauren is someone that I've always looked up to. That's what I want to be able to do - have control until the very end. And at the same time, have as much passion and love and enjoy it as much, and for that to be able to be translated into the product," says Wang. "You can really feel that from someone like Ralph. You know the things that he loves, you can see it, you can see it in the stores, you can feel it in the product that he creates." The bigger Wang gets, the less "It" he wants to be. A friend recently referred to the designer's "It" status in a blog post, Wang says: "I texted him right away and I was like, ' Please do not ever refer to me as anything It, whether it's It boy, It designer, It person.'" [Harper's Bazaar]

Dylan Lauren's Ralph Lauren Wedding Dress, Unveiled

fashionologie — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 09:37:47 PDT

>> The dress Ralph Lauren designed for daughter Dylan to wed hedge fund founder Paul Arrouet appears in the August 2011 issue of Vogue. Lauren, who reportedly consulted with Vera Wang on the dress's design, decided on a handmade duchesse-satin, silk-tulle, and georgette embroidered dress with a tiered, nine-foot train. "I had to do something that was better than ever before," he told Oprah before the June 2011 wedding, which took place at his 300-acre Westchester County, New York estate. "When you do something for your family or your daughter, I mean it's the only daughter I have - beautiful girl. I want to just give her something that she'd really treasure and give her something that would be really amazing. I want her to feel fantastic."

Lauren also designed the bridesmaid's dresses in Dylan's Candy Bar-logo colors, with specially-made Spanx if the wearer so opted. "I also was inspired by a New York Times front page of one of my father's Spring/Summer collections where they showed the finale lineup of all those vivid colors of satin evening dresses," Dylan explained.