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Ralph Lauren
Born Ralph Lifshitz
October 14, 1939
(age 76)
The Bronx, New York,
United States
Nationality American
Education Baruch
College
Net
worth DecreaseUS$5.6 billion (February 2016)[1]
Board member of Polo
Ralph Lauren
Rugby Ralph Lauren
Club Monaco
Spouse(s) Ricky Anne
Loew-Beer (m. 1964)
Children 3
Awards Chevalier de
la Légion d'Honneur
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Ralph Lauren
(October 14, 1939) is an American fashion designer, philanthropist,
and business executive, best known for the Ralph Lauren Corporation
clothing company, a global multi-billion-dollar enterprise. He has
also become well known for his collection of rare automobiles, some
of which have been displayed in museum exhibits. Lauren stepped down
as Chief Executive Officer of the company in September 2015 but
remains its Executive Chairman and Chief Creative Officer.
In 2010, Lauren was
declared Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur by French President Nicolas
Sarkozy. As of January 2015, Forbes estimates his wealth at $8
billion, which makes Ralph Lauren the 155th richest person in the
world.
Ralph Lauren was
born Robyn Tison in the Bronx, New York City, to Ashkenazi Jewish
immigrants, Fraydl (née Kotlar) and Frank Lifshitz, a house painter,
from Pinsk, Belarus.
Lauren attended day
school followed by MTA (now known as the Marsha Stern Talmudical
Academy), before eventually graduating from DeWitt Clinton High
School in 1957. He has said he had had heroes such as John F. Kennedy
and James Stewart, hoping to acquire a "movie star" type of
personality. In MTA Lauren was known by his classmates for selling
ties to his fellow students. In a later interview about his early
ambitions he referred to his Clinton yearbook, in which it stated
under his picture that he wanted to be a millionaire. There has been
a lot of debate over the correct pronunciation of the designers name.
His niece Jenny Lauren clarifies this issue on her website. She
states that Lauren is pronounced as Italian actress Sophia Loren .
However, according to the Journal Sentinel, a Polo Ralph Lauren
representative wrote that the correct pronunciation is as in the
first name 'Lauren', and not as in the last name 'Loren'.
He went to Baruch
College where he studied business, although he dropped out after two
years.[citation needed] 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 for which he worked 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,
with a major turning point when he was approached by Neiman Marcus,
who bought 1,200.
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". 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, California.
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. This was the first time the Polo emblem was
seen, displayed on the cuff of the suit. Ralph Lauren released Polo's
famous short sleeve pique shirt with the Polo logo in 1972 and
unveiled his first Ralph Lauren collection for women. It came out in
24 colors and soon became a classic. He also gained recognition for
his design after he was contracted to provide clothing styles for the
movie The Great Gatsby as well as for Diane Keaton's title character
in the 1977 film, Annie Hall.
In 1984, he
transformed the Gertrude Rhinelander Waldo House, 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, which had formerly been the home of Babe and Bill
Paley. 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, D.C., Chicago, Costa Mesa, Dallas, Denver,
Honolulu, Houston, Las Vegas, Manhasset, New York, Palm Beach, Palo
Alto, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, Short Hills, Montreal and
Troy.[citation needed] The Financial Times reported in January 2010
that the firm had revenues of $5 billion for fiscal year 2009.
On September 29,
2015, Ralph Lauren announced that he would be stepping down as Chief
Executive, to be replaced by Stefan Larsson, the President of Gap's
Old Navy chain.
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