Style
Romance in White Marble, Ralph Lauren Shows Downtown
Ralph Lauren lets a white marble gallery set the mood and dresses his heroine in navy, jacquard, and denim
The walls are white marble. The benches are covered in crisp white fabric. Painted tapestries hang against the stone, and the light does most of the talking. This is the Jack Shainman Gallery in downtown Manhattan on Wednesday, September 9, and Ralph Lauren is about to unofficially open New York Fashion Week with the collection so much of the industry tries to copy.
It is his third show in the space. In past seasons he dressed it up, with vintage furniture one time and lush green hand painted tapestries another. For spring 2027, according to WWD's review of the collection, he let the architecture carry the mood. Bright stone, pale seating, a clean frame for a collection built mostly on white and navy.
The front row reads like a closing night party. WWD counted Viola Davis, Eiza González, Rachel Brosnahan, Ariana DeBose, Elizabeth Debicki, and Cynthia Erivo among the guests.
The Heroine and Her Jeans
Lauren described the season in a statement quoted by WWD. "Spring 2027 is an irreverent take on romance that creates a new elegance," he said. Speaking to the paper directly, he went further, saying that for this collection every woman "emerges as the heroine of her own story."
The heroine, it turns out, wears a corset shirt to lunch. The show opened on a tie back corset shirt in fine cotton jacquard, worn over white trousers that sat a little low on the hip and buttoned up the side from midcalf to hem. From there it moved through a history lesson with the edges roughed up. WWD saw Edwardian silhouettes, gowns in the spirit of Fortuny, and the utility leaning clothes of right now.
The heroine, it turns out, wears a corset shirt to lunch.
Cropped floral jacquard jackets went over frilled tops that left the midriff bare. A wrap tank came painted over in gold and embroidered. Then the ground came up. Utility pants, distressed jeans, and bottoms in technical parachute cotton kept the romance honest. A denim workwear jacket arrived trimmed in marabou feathers. A white leather jacket had a back smocked from edge to edge. A woven shearling vest faded in ombré.
This is the old Lauren trick, the one he has been refining for close to sixty years. Rugged meets refined. The ranch and the ballroom share a closet. What changed this season is the temperature. WWD called the collection sexier and younger in spirit than his usual take, and the pieces back that up.
Craft You Have to Lean In to See
WWD describes Lauren's women's Collection line as the brand's most elevated and craft focused offering, and the details reward close looking. Backstage, the paper reported, the florals on a soft gold jacquard jacket and a matching strapless gown stood slightly off the surface, as if painted on by hand. They were not. They were digitally printed.
Even the plainest look on the runway was not plain. A T-shirt and slip skirt, the kind of outfit that could walk out of any Soho apartment at noon, was built from tiers of knit ruffles, with the skirt embroidered in flowers stitched from resin yarn.
Evening is where the collection earns its place on a New York night. There were light dresses, hand painted, then knotted or deliberately rumpled. There were sheer gowns embroidered with tiny hand painted sequins, draped silk lamé, and close fitting dresses with cutouts and open backs. These are clothes built for the long walk from a town car to a table, and for being looked at across a room after midnight.
Then came the suits. Lauren closed out the lineup with real menswear tailoring for women, made in an Italian men's factory and cut for a woman's body. The timing was neat. That same Wednesday he was named a nominee for American Menswear Designer of the Year at the upcoming 2026 CFDA Fashion Awards.
The Preview and the Business Behind It
The day before the show, WWD got an early look at three outfits. One paired a vivid blue floral brocade blouse with big pouf sleeves, a matching micro vest, and a very wide necktie, a nod to the tie that launched his career nearly six decades ago, all worn with light wash distressed jeans. Another was a navy tank dress covered in micro sequins that dissolved into fringe, worn over fluid trousers and carried with the brand's new Madison handbag. The third put a sleek navy topcoat over a frilled cropped top and a gold fringed skirt.
The clothes arrive with a company in a strong position. In its preview of the show, WWD reported a market value of about $23.1 billion after first quarter sales of $2 billion, up 13 percent in constant currencies. Women's wear is the growth story the company keeps pointing to. WWD also noted that a colorful zip up windbreaker went viral this summer and that younger shoppers are chasing vintage Lauren as hard as new pieces.
In New York the brand has long been more than clothes. There is the Polo Bar, his restaurant in Manhattan, and this summer the company opened a hospitality suite inspired by it at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Lauren sells a whole evening, from the coat to the table.
That is what makes the gallery show feel right. The room kept its decoration to a minimum, and the clothes still told you where they were going. A corset shirt for a gallery opening. A sequined tank dress for a late table. A man's suit, cut for her, for the ride home.
Calvin Klein went spare this season too, in a stripped Chelsea warehouse. Lauren got there his own way. He kept the room pale and quiet and put the drama into the clothes.