Fashion is a function of lifestyle, and style a function of quality, integrity and timelessness.
Books open windows to the world and have the power to transform lives.
Ralph Lauren has always stood for providing quality products, creating worlds and inviting people to take part in our dream. We were the innovators of lifestyle advertisements that tell a story and the first to create stores that encourage customers to participate in that lifestyle.
My dreams are my work. I design out of the things that I love.
I try to design into a world that is constantly moving, and moving me.
I was very influenced by movies; I was very influenced by a world that had a sense of dream.
Cars are like children: It's hard to say that any one is more special than the other. There are little things about each car that you come to love, whether it's the look, the steering wheel, the way it drives, or even the way it drives differently when you put the top up. They all have identities; they have spirits and characteristics that are truly endearing in some way.
I am constantly drawing inspiration from everything I see-the places I travel, the people I know and the movies I see.
Sometimes when I walk into one of my own stores, I look at the display and say, "This looks so good - I want to buy it." Yet other times I walk in and the displays and mannequins will be all wrong, and I don't want to buy anything. When a customer walks into a store, she's looking for inspiration. So I'm tuned in to people, and I care about what they need and who they are.
Some women think that if the look this season is minis, they have to wear minis. If you don't have great legs, there are plenty of alternatives.
I believe in style, not fashion.
The best thing you can do is go away from this saying, 'I can do this too,' because it's all possible and I'm living proof.
I have always been inspired by the dream of America-families in the country, weathered trucks and farmhouses; sailing off the coast of Maine; following dirt roads in an old wood-paneled station wagon; a convertible filled with young college kids sporting crew cuts and sweatshirts and frayed sneakers.
I like romance, I like glamour and I like realism. I think that's a great combination.
Black is not as good as Purple.
We all get report cards in many different ways, but the real excitement of what you're doing is in the doing of it. It's not what you're gonna get in the end - it's not the final curtain - it's really in the doing it, and loving what you're doing.
I never had a preconceived plan. When you go to a movie and watch someone in the role of his or her life, or when the chairman of the board comes into the room wearing a cool look, it remains in your mind. I love Cary Grant because I like the roles he played. I said, "I want to be that guy." I want to be funny, suave, and a good athlete. I don't have to do a focus group to know what people want. I feel it.
My life has been a dream. If someone had to write a story about it, it would seem a little unreal. It's the kind of story I would read and say, 'Nah, that's not possible.'
Invention is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. Thomas Edison I don't design clothes, I design dreams.
I think the people who work with me are people who love style themselves. I'm leaving the office and they're still working. They're passionate.
The key to longevity is to keep doing what you do better than anyone else. We work real hard at that. It's about getting your message out to the consumer. It's about getting their trust, but also getting them excited, again and again. My clothes.. the clothes we make for the runway.. aren't concepts. They go into stores. Our stores. Thankfully, we have lots of them.
What I feel best about is that while I enjoy what I have and don't want to lose it, I also don't need it.
For me accessories create and define a woman's personal style. The bag she carries, the watch on her wrist, her jewelry, her sunglasses, her shoes all define a look that is her signature. For Spring 2014, my accessory collections are about a clean, graphic boldness creating a new dimension redefining modern classics.
When you think of the blur of all the brands that are out there, the ones you believe in and the ones you remember, like Chanel and Armani, are the ones that stand for something. Fashion is about establishing an image that consumers can adapt to their own individuality. And it's an image that can change, that can evolve. It doesn't reinvent itself every two years.
And I'm excited when I find somebody stimulating to talk with. That's one of the great treasures in life.
