This time, Ralph Lauren didn’t park an antique car in the courtyard of his Milan palazzo. He put a mahogany speedboat there instead. The gleaming hull was a nod to a book his design team had found chronicling a group of Italian industrialists who raced their Riva Revos across Lake Como in the 1920s. These men dressed as well on the water as they did on land. This detail reveals where Lauren’s head is and where his Spring 2027 collections for Purple Label and Polo Ralph Lauren are headed.
This was his second major menswear presentation in Milan – the first, last January, had been a triumphant collegiate blowout that ended with Tyson Beckford walking in the finale. Friday night felt like both a follow-up and an evolution. The setting was the same palazzo. The ambition, if anything, was bigger.
Lauren plainly stated his intentions on cards left on each seat, written in purple ink: “I loved the oldness, the craftsmanship, and the utility that wove together an individuality of ease, eclectic mystique, and romantic sophistication.” His inspiration was the gentleman athlete – the kind of man who rows at dawn, sails before lunch, and still manages to show up to dinner looking effortlessly put together. The runway presentation made a convincing case that this archetype is very much alive and far from a nostalgic fantasy.
Purple Label opened the evening. The mood was deliberate, unhurried, and confident. Neutral and indigo tones ran through silk-blend suiting in crisp pinstripes and herringbones; band-collar shirts; and utility outerwear, which looked like it was packed for a long weekend rather than designed for the runway. John Wraze, Lauren’s senior brand creative director, described the concept backstage with characteristic precision: “It’s always a conversation with Ralph. He doesn’t want to be slick or overly polished. He always wants to make sure that this guy is creative and can find something with utility and rusticity.” That came through. There was polish, but it was intentionally worn down at the edges.
Several pieces stood out for their craftsmanship. A double-breasted evening jacket in blue with black peak lapels featured tonal sashiko hand-stitching inspired by Art Deco motifs from Lauren’s neckwear archive. The stitching was reinterpreted by a group of retired Japanese women who work under the name Sashiko Gals – and it was all done by hand. A white, washed-linen boiler suit was embroidered with the crest of the fictional Ralph Lauren Como Speed Club. This club was inspired by the Riva racing daredevils of the 1920s. High-waisted silk-and-linen trousers offered a flash of Old Hollywood. The collection as a whole felt like it had been worn before it hit the runway.
Then came Polo. There were nods to fishing, boating, and Nantucket prep throughout, including an ensemble of an orange puffer and camouflage trousers based on something Lauren wore in Montauk decades ago. Madras windbreakers arrived in searing shades. Chinos came in Nantucket red, and collegiate banners were patchworked onto rugby shirts, cricket jackets, and weekend bags. The silhouette carried forward the generous-bottomed trousers that Lauren introduced for fall, which Wrazej confirmed are resonating: “Everyone’s really responding to the much bigger volume in the bottoms.”
Neckwear deserves its own paragraph. Lauren went all in with floppy, scarf-like ties, velvet bows with a Western flair, and demonstrative, whorled cravats in shirting fabrics. While it would be tempting to call this a trend statement, with Lauren it reads more like a conviction. Silk necktie fabrics appeared on patchwork garments, bags, and dress pumps. Cricket scenes appeared on scarves. Nothing about this felt forced. In a collaboration with the Japanese design house Kuon, the “boro” technique of mending and patching was applied to Lauren’s garments, including a shawl-collar dinner jacket.
Follow all the latest news from Fashionotography on Flipboard, or receive it directly in your inbox with Feeder.
You may also read
Lauren titled the collection “Dream Racers.” The name suits it. There is something aspirational about it in the best sense, not in the sense of being unattainable, but in the sense of having purpose. These are clothes that imply a life well lived outdoors with a confidence that doesn’t need to be announced. Lauren has been making this argument for fifty years, and on Friday night in Milan, he made it again with more precision and warmth than almost anyone else currently working in menswear.
The evening drew its share of celebrity observers. Tom Hiddleston, Colman Domingo, Maluma, and Henry Golding mingled with David and Andrew Lauren before the show. Outside, Lewis Hamilton arrived to a small cheer from the crowd. Fresh from his historic first Ferrari victory at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, he wore a tan linen shirt and trousers – the exact outfit you’d reach for before taking the wheel of a mahogany speedboat.
That felt right. Ralph Lauren has always understood that the best clothes don’t just dress a man; they place him in a specific life that feels worth living.
