Fashion icon Ralph Lauren and his Bugatti

Ralph Lauren is huge, as ubiquitous to the world’s upper-class department stores as McDonald’s is to a Westfield food court. And the story behind the man is more interesting and car-related than you might have thought.

Ralph Lauren was born Ralph Lifshitz in The Bronx, New York City, in 1939, in relatively humble circumstances. "As a kid, I was always into clothes, but I didn't have the money to buy them," Ralph told Oprah Winfrey in 2002. In his high school yearbook, he was asked to include some life goals – he wrote “millionaire.” Today he is worth roughly $9 billion.

Ralph, the man, merely 28 years of age was working for a tie manufacture but always had his own line of designs in mind. He founded Ralph Lauren in 1967 and set to designing a range of ties – these were unique for their time because they were wider than the current style and handmade from flamboyantly colored fabric. In 1968 he launched Polo, his menswear range inspired by his love of sport. It’s a name, even today, that is intrinsic to the Ralph Lauren brand. By 1969 Bloomingdales in Manhattan exclusively stocked his line and gave him an in-store pop-up shop: a first for the department store. The rest is sartorial history.

Still from ‘Annie Hall’

Ralph Lauren’s advertising is cited as an imitable forerunner of ‘lifestyle’: sun-washed scenes of idyllic settings became a hallmark of the brand. These ads made it seem as though if you wore Ralph Lauren you too could enjoy an endless summer in the great outdoors with your beautiful, and probably wealthy, friends. Ralph Lauren’s cultural influence extended beyond the advertising world, subtly implanting itself in pop culture. Robert Redford in the original rendition of The Great Gatsby – long before Leo got involved in the 2013 remake – was dressed head-to-toe in Ralph Lauren threads. 1977’s Annie Hall was also a place for Ralph’s earthy and classic yet ostentatious style, Woody Allen’s character Alvy Slinger wore a number of Ralph’s jackets, while the titular character, played by Diane Keaton, had a style attributed to both Diane in real life with a lot of inspiration from the Ralph Lauren label.

Manipuri Polo Players in 1875. Public domain image.

In 1972, the Ralph Lauren polo was released. It came in 24 colourways. The name Polo, long a part of the Ralph Lauren brand’s identity, and the fact that various contested invention myths had been peddled, has propagated the idea that Ralph invented the polo. To some of us, it almost seemed like before the early 70s the polo shirt didn’t exist. This is not the case. What we know today as a polo shirt has, in fact, also been wrongly attributed to a debut in 1924 by Rene Lacoste and his famous label adorned with that famous crocodile logo – Rene’s was merely a cotton version of the original. The more accurate history is that British chaps in India in the 19th century in Manipur, India, designed them to keep them cool playing – you guessed it – polo. Then John E Brooks of Brooks Brothers went on to popularise it in England before Rene made his further refined, lighter cotton version.

Ralph Lauren's Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic

His love of sport guided the design of his first menswear collection in 1968 but a story less known, outside of car enthusiast circles, at least, is Ralph’s passionate love for cars and his incredible, collection. This assortment includes a number of models we could only dream to have in our own garage and remarkable historical artefacts in their own right, including (pictured below) a 1930 Mercedes-Benz SSK ‘Count Trossi' roadster, a 1931 Alfa Romeo Monza, a 1934 Bugatti Type 59, a 1938 Alfa Romeo 2.9 Mille Miglia Spyder and many, many more.

The most famous of these is his swooping, bug-eyed Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic. Only four of these models were made, so they are essentially unobtanium, and Ralph owns one of the three survivors. His particular model, a 1937 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic Coupé with the chassis number 57591 is unique because it’s had by far the easiest life. A 1936 example is now in the hands of Mullin Automotive Museum in Los Angeles – it recently sold for $38million US dollars. Ralph’s, which recently won the most prestigious car prize in the world, the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este, is estimated to be worth more than $40 million.  Not bad for a humble dude from The Bronx who made ties.

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