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'''Ralph Lauren''' (born '''Ralph Lifshitz''' October 14, 1939 in [[New York City]]) is an [[United States|American]] [[fashion design]]er and business executive, best known for his [[Ralph Lauren Corporation|Polo Ralph Lauren]] clothing brand. He heads a highly successful, international corporation producing billions in revenues. He has became well known for his collection of rare automobiles, some of which have been displayed in museum exhibits. As of September 2012, ''[[Forbes (magazine)|Forbes]]'' estimates his wealth at $6.5 [[List of billionaires|billion]] dollars, which makes Ralph Lauren the 162nd [[richest person in the world]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.forbes.com/profile/ralph-lauren/ | title=Ralph Lauren Forbes | publisher=Forbes.com | date=September 2012 | accessdate=December 27, 2012}}</ref>
'''Ralph Lauren''' (born '''Ralph Lifshitz''' October 14, 1939 in [[New York City]]) is an [[United States|American]] [[fashion design]]er and business executive, best known for his [[Ralph Lauren Corporation|Polo Ralph Lauren]] clothing brand. He heads a highly successful, international corporation producing billions in revenues. He has become well known for his collection of rare automobiles, some of which have been displayed in museum exhibits. As of September 2012, ''[[Forbes (magazine)|Forbes]]'' estimates his wealth at $6.5 [[List of billionaires|billion]] dollars, which makes Ralph Lauren the 162nd [[richest person in the world]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.forbes.com/profile/ralph-lauren/ | title=Ralph Lauren Forbes | publisher=Forbes.com | date=September 2012 | accessdate=December 27, 2012}}</ref>


==Early life and education==
==Early life and education==

Revision as of 14:25, 26 May 2013

For the company, see Polo Ralph Lauren.

Ralph Lauren
Lauren in his office 1979 by Edgar de Evia
Born
Ralph Lifshitz

(1939-10-14) October 14, 1939 (age 85)
Bronx, New York, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
EducationJohn Jay College
LabelPolo Ralph Lauren
Board member ofPolo Ralph Lauren

Rugby Ralph Lauren

Club Monaco
SpouseRicky Anne Loew-Beer (1964–present)
Children3
AwardsChevalier de la Légion d'Honneur

Ralph Lauren (born Ralph Lifshitz October 14, 1939 in New York City) is an American fashion designer and business executive, best known for his Polo Ralph Lauren clothing brand. He heads a highly successful, international corporation producing billions in revenues. He has become well known for his collection of rare automobiles, some of which have been displayed in museum exhibits. As of September 2012, Forbes estimates his wealth at $6.5 billion dollars, which makes Ralph Lauren the 162nd richest person in the world.[1]

Early life and education

Ralph Lauren (pronounced loren) was born Ralph Lifshitz in the Bronx, New York,[2] to Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants, from Pinsk, Poland (now Belarus):[3] Fraydl (née Kotlar) and Frank Lifshitz, a house painter.[4]

Lauren attended the John Jay College Jewish Day School followed by MTA (now known as the Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy), before eventually graduating from DeWitt Clinton High School in 1957.[5][6] Ralph Lauren also had other, strong childhood heroes, such as John F. Kennedy and James Stewart, hoping to acquire a "movie star" type of personality.[7] In MTA Lauren was known by his classmates for selling ties to his fellow students. In a moment of spontaneity, when asked what he wanted to do in[8] his Clinton yearbook he stated under his picture that he wanted to be a millionaire.[9]

Ralph Lauren's family name was originally Lifschitz, but he changed it to Lauren when he was 15 years old. “My given name has the word shit in it,” he told Oprah Winfrey. “When I was a kid, the other kids would make a lot of fun of me. It was a tough name. That's why I decided to change it. Then people said, "Did you change your name because you don't want to be Jewish?" I said, "Absolutely not. That's not what it's about. My cousins who lived in California had changed their last name to Lawrence. So I just thought, "I'm going to pick a nice last name"—it wasn't particularly connected to anything or anyone."[10]

Career

He went to Baruch College where he studied business, although he dropped out after two years. From 1962 to 1964 he served in the United States Army and left to work briefly for Brooks Brothers as a sales assistant before leaving to become a salesman for a tie company. In 1966, when he was 26, he was inspired to design a wide, European-style necktie he had seen Douglas Fairbanks Jr wearing but the idea was rejected by the company he worked for as not being commercially viable. He left to establish his own company working out of a drawer in the Empire State Building, taking rags and turning them into ties. He sold the ties to small shops in New York and hit it big time when he was approached by Neiman Marcus, who bought 100 dozen[10]

In 1967, with the financial backing of Manhattan clothing manufacturer Norman Hilton, Lauren opened a necktie store where he also sold ties of his own design, under the label "Polo."[11] He later received the rights to use the trademark Polo from Brooks Brothers, however Brooks Brothers managed to retain its rights to the iconic "original polo button-down collar" shirt (still produced today), in spite of Lauren's Polo trademark. In 1971, he expanded his line and opened a Polo boutique on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.[12]

The Polo Ralph Lauren flagship store occupying the Rhinelander Mansion on Madison Avenue in New York City

In 1970, Ralph Lauren won the COTY Award for his menswear line. Around that same time he released a line of women's suits that were tailored in a classic men's style, which was when the first Polo emblem was seen. It was on the cuff of the women's suit. Ralph Lauren released Polo's famous short sleeve mesh shirt with the Polo logo in 1972 and unveiled his first Ralph Lauren collection for women.[13] It came out in 24 colors and soon became a classic.[14] He also gained recognition for his design after he was contracted to provide clothing styles for the movie The Great Gatsby[15] as well as for Diane Keaton's title character in the 1977 film, Annie Hall.[16]

A Polo Ralph Lauren store on the Magnificent Mile in Chicago

In 1984, he transformed the Rhinelander Mansion, former home of the photographer Edgar de Evia and Robert Denning, into the flagship store for Polo Ralph Lauren. This same year de Evia photographed the cover feature story for House & Garden on the Lauren home Round Hill in Jamaica,[17] which had formerly been the home of Babe and Bill Paley.[18] On June 11, 1997, Ralph Lauren Corporation became a public company, traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol RL.

By 2007 Ralph Lauren had over 35 boutiques in the United States. 23 locations carried the Ralph Lauren Purple Label, including Atlanta, Beverly Hills, Boston, Charlotte, Washington DC, Chicago, Costa Mesa, Dallas, Denver, Honolulu, Houston, Las Vegas, Manhasset, New York, Palm Beach, Palo Alto, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, Short Hills, Montreal and Troy. [citation needed] The Financial Times reported in its edition of January 2–3, 2010 that the firm had revenues of $5 billion for fiscal year 2009. The article addresses succession plans and the future of the overall business.

Awards and honors

In 2010, Ralph Lauren was declared Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur by French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris.

Automobile collection

Ralph Lauren with his Porsche GT3 RS (2010)

Ralph Lauren is also well known as a collector of automobiles, some of which are extremely rare. A large portion of his over 70 automobiles are held in his estate in Katonah, New York. He owns a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO, two Ferrari 250 Testa Rossas, three 1996 McLaren F1s (one of them an ultra-rare F1 LM), a Mercedes 300SL Gullwing, a 1929 Blower Bentley, one Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic, a Porsche 997 GT3 RS, a Bugatti Veyron, a 1930 Mercedes-Benz CountTrossi SSK (aka "The Black Prince") a 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Mille Miglia.,[19] a Lamborghini Reventón and the rare Reventón Roadster. His cars have won "best in show" at the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance multiple times. In 2005 his collection was displayed at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts.[20] In 2011 17 prime members of his collection were exhibited at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.[21]

Personal life

On December 20, 1964, he married Ricky Anne Loew-Beer in New York City. Ricky is the daughter of an Austrian Catholic mother, Margaret Vytouch, and a Jewish father, Rudolph Loew-Beer.[22] The two met six months earlier, in an eye doctor's office where Ricky was working as a receptionist.[23] Ralph kept it a secret from his parents that his new bride was only half Jewish and that her mother was a gentile.[22] They have three children:

In early 1987, Ralph Lauren was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor. In April 1987 he underwent surgery to remove the tumor and made a full recovery.[25]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Ralph Lauren Forbes". Forbes.com. September 2012. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  2. ^ Steven T. Katz (October 11, 2010). Why Is America Different?: American Jewry on its 350th Anniversary. University Press of America. pp. 237–. ISBN 978-0-7618-4770-0. Retrieved November 12, 2012.
  3. ^ Menkes, Suzy (May 14, 2007). "Ralph Lauren returns to his Russian roots". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved May 1, 2011.
  4. ^ Gross (2004), p. 28
  5. ^ "Selling a Dream of Elegance and the Good Life", Time (magazine), September 1, 1986. Retrieved September 15, 2009. "At DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, Lauren attended business classes but paid little attention to studies. His adolescent idols were British and American style setters: the Duke of Windsor, for example, and Katharine Hepburn."
  6. ^ "DeWitt Clinton High School, Bronx, New York". Retrieved July 30, 2007.
  7. ^ Oprah Winfrey. O Oct. 2002: n. pag. Oprah. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. Oprah Interviews Ralph Lauren>
  8. ^ "An hour with fashion designer Ralph Lauren". Charlie Rose. January 22, 1993. Retrieved May 1, 2011.
  9. ^ Gross (2004), p. 38
  10. ^ a b "Oprah Interviews Ralph Lauren". Oprah.com. Retrieved May 1, 2011.
  11. ^ "Polo/Ralph Lauren Corporation – International Directory of Company Histories". Findarticles.com. October 14, 1939. Retrieved May 1, 2011.
  12. ^ Winfrey, Oprah. Oct. 2002: Oprah. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. Oprah Interviews Ralph Lauren
  13. ^ Lambert, Eleanor. "Ralph Lauren." 1980. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. EBSCOhost. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/ detail?sid=285adf3c-9c59-49d2-a576-6b451f1fdf68%40sessionmgr15&vid=4&bk=1&hid=25&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=brb&AN=203039587>.
  14. ^ Gross (2004), 186.
  15. ^ Canadeo, Anne. "Ralph Lauren". Advameg Incorporated.
  16. ^ Sasha Charnin Morrison (April 27, 2011). Secrets of Stylists: An Insider's Guide to Styling the Stars. Chronicle Books. p. 76.
  17. ^ House & Garden, October, 1984
  18. ^ Domino magazine's "Editor's Pick — Babe Paley, featuring a photo of Paley at her Round Hill Villa in Jamaica online[dead link‍] Retrieved September 25, 2007
  19. ^ "1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Mille Miglia Spider". paulrussell.com. Retrieved May 1, 2011.
  20. ^ "Speed, Style, and Beauty: Cars from the Ralph Lauren Collection". Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. March 6, 2005. Retrieved April 7, 2010.
  21. ^ "Forthcoming Events". lesartsdecoratifs.fr. Retrieved May 1, 2011.
  22. ^ a b "Genuine Authentic: The Real Life of Ralph Lauren" By Michael Gross p 92-93
  23. ^ Gross (2004), pp. 91–93
  24. ^ New York Observer: "Andrew Lauren, Son of Ralph, Worships Redford, Beatty, Welles" By Irina Aleksander April 30, 2008
  25. ^ "''New York Times'' report on Ralph Lauren's brain tumor surgery". New York Times. April 16, 1987. Retrieved May 1, 2011.

Further reading

  • Gross, Michael: Genuine Authentic: The Real Life of Ralph Lauren. Harper, New York 2003.
  • Trachtenberg, Jeffrey A.: Ralph Lauren: The Man behind the Mystique. Little, Brown and Company New York 1981.
  • McDowell, Colin: Ralph Lauren: The Man, The Vision, The Style. Rizzoli, New York 2002.
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