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THE OTHER SIDE OF

AMERICAN FASHION

A NEW POINT OF VIEW

FOR RALPH LAUREN

By Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher

James Jeter (seated lower right) is a design director with Ralph Lauren and Morehouse graduate who helped
Lauren understand the fashion history of HBCUs. photo: Nadine Ijewere/Polo Ralph Lauren

alph Lauren, the billion-dollar brand what was shown, and really, from that point empowered me to take the
associated with prepster chic, has gone lead on making this a collection and presenting this to the world.”
Rback to school for design inspiration, The clothing itself draws inspiration from styles actually worn by
launching a limited release line in March that students at Morehouse, an institution dedicated to men, and Spelman,
celebrates an extensive history of elite Black a college created for women, from the 1920s through the 1950s. There
collegiate style. are all the usual suspects—outerwear, knits, dresses, suits—you might
Typically, a fashion designer’s launch of a expect in a collegiate-inspired collection. But this time around,
new line gets little coverage outside of the according to a feature in Oprah Daily, the pieces tell a story, like an
fashion press but this collection and its new ad eyelet dress that calls to Spelman’s induction ceremony where students
campaign are revolutionary for Ralph Lauren, wear all white, or the flannel blazer given to Morehouse students when
Ralph Lauren both as a brand creating the fashions that define they begin their journey at the institution.
celebrating his 80th a white, preppy, affluent, and aspirational
birthday and his America, and for the man behind the brand, a
company’s 50th boy from the Bronx who launched a multi-
anniversary.
billion dollar company by peddling high-end
men’s neckties for a world outside of his own.

Alumni of Spellman College pose in looks from the new Ralph Lauren collection.
photo: Nadine Ijewere/Polo Ralph Lauren

Honoring Authenticity
A classic Ralph Lauren “Lifestyle” ad from the 1980s To tell the story behind the collection authentically, Ralph Lauren
enlisted its first, entirely all-Black cast—creative directors, cinema-
tographers, models (including students, faculty, and alumni at Spelman
and Moorehouse colleges), and the photographer, Nadine Ijewere—
Discovering the Inspiration
In 2020, when the then 82-year-old fashion icon took part in a
series of company-wide conversations about race, he found himself and introduced an educational and interactive experience to give the
collection for more context, which includes a film, A Portrait of an
talking with a young designer named James Jeter, whose association American Dream (view here: https://youtu.be/pghBWnm5NeA) and a
with Ralph Lauren began right before attending college when he commemorative yearbook.
worked as a salesperson in one of its stores. The ad campaign that launched the collection features a set of
“As a student at Morehouse, my chapter advisor would take us
through these old yearbooks from the 1920s and ‘30s to show us some images and aesthetics of the sort one might expect from Ralph Lauren,
a brand associated with prepster chic, yet its references to the fashions
of the earlier chapter memories from our fraternity,” Jeter told NPR in of the day at these schools in the first half of the century are as symbolic,
a recent interview. “And I couldn’t help but see all the beautiful images aspirational, and relevant as they are polished and artfully presented,
from the ‘20s, ‘30s, and ‘40s of the students within those yearbooks. I according to fashion critics.
presented those images to Ralph, and he had not been aware of that “By sharing the early history of Spelman, as reflected in archival
history from HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges & Universities) and research, through clothing, the collection encourages conversations
had not seen those photos before. And he was immensely inspired by
about the creative power of the Black experience and the ways in which
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