Dan's Papers - August 24, 2007 -

"If you say something is 'very Ralph Lauren' you're immediately understood," Audrey Hepburn once remarked. Whether it's summering in Newport and the Hamptons, roughing it out West with cowboys and ranchers, hitting the slopes in ski-meccas like Aspen, or enjoying a glamorous life in the glittering city - Ralph Lauren has codified the iconography of America into a singular vision.

2007 marks the fortieth year of the Ralph Lauren design juggernaut, and to fete the occasion, Lauren is celebrating with a luxurious book documenting his spectacular four-decade metamorphosis from tie salesman to fashion mogul. Since 1967, Ralph Lifshitz from the Bronx has transformed his name, his image and his line of men's neckwear into an ever-expanding lifestyle brand that now includes fashion, accessories, home furnishings and fragrances. "Fashion is a function of lifestyle, and style a function of quality, integrity and timelessness," notes the designer, who compiled more than 750 photographs, personal mementos, news clippings and illustrations into a 500-page behemoth - as beefy as his fashion legacy and just as personal.

"My eyes are on my life. They are my own private camera," writes the author about the influence of living and working in New York City, being married to Ricky and family life with three kids in the Hamptons, an island retreat in Jamaica, the RRL Ranch in Colorado, and an estate in upstate New York. "I extend all the experiences from my private life into my work because that is my library."

The public face of the company is innovative lifestyle advertising, created in collaboration with an elite group of photographers including Michael Thompson, Shelia Metzner, Francois Halard, Patrick Demarchelier, Deborah Turbeville, and Oberto Gili. Bruce Weber, in particular, was instrumental in establishing the trademark Lauren look: a reflection of New England with all-American men and women setting sail in an old wooden schooner, dressed for dinner in gorgeously-appointed rooms, or preparing for a ride on one of the family's show-horses; sleekly-attired athletes kitted out for skiing St Moritz; tanned, camera-ready adventurers on African safari in crisp khaki & cool cottons; a rugged West involving faded and well-worn flannels layered with calico prints, denim, thermal shirts and boots; and the Southwest of American Indians with blanket wool coats, fringed suede and turquoise jewelry.

"When I design a collection I have a character in mind. I'll say, 'Who is she? Where does she live? When I work on a collection I feel like I'm making a movie. I want to tell a story, so I guess you could say I write through my clothes."

And yet, despite acclaim, fortune and fame - including a thriving global brand with a far-flung network of stores in Russia, Tokyo, London, Paris, Milan, Spain, Germany, Hong Kong, Australia; a fancy hometown flagship in New York's historic Rhinelander Mansion on Madison Avenue; a wall full of CFDA awards: Lifetime Achievement, Womenswear & Menswear Designer of the Year, Retailer of the Year, Humanitarian Leadership, and, most recently, the inaugural American Fashion Legend Award - what drives Ralph Lauren has remained the same since the days before his name was an adjective. "My vision continues to be as it was in the beginning. It hasn't changed. I don't want what I created in 1967 to be old, and what I created in 2007 to be new."

Ralph Lauren will be released October 16, 2007, but is currently available for pre-order at Amazon.com.

The Top 3 Must-Have's from the Ralph Lauren Fall 2007 collection:

1. SLINKY BLACK PENCIL SKIRTS - The timeless secret weapon in the femme fatale arsenal.

2. LITTLE BLACK DRESS - Please, you can never have too many of these.

3. SOFT SUIT - A feminine, gathered full-skirt and unbuttoned attitude is the freshest way to suit up.

Lesley Scott is the Editor-in-Chief of Fashiontribes.com. She blogs daily at http://fashiontribes.typepad.com recently ranked fourth in the list of the top 50 fashion blogs. She can be reached by emailing Lesley@Fashiontribes.com.