Behind the Jeans

“I have always loved contradiction and the unexpected,” Ralph says. “When Ricky and I first started going to black-tie events, I hated wearing a straight tuxedo. I felt that I had somehow lost my identity. I’d wear my jeans and boots with a tuxedo jacket or a Western shirt and cowboy tie.” The look has since become a Ralph Lauren signature, and it made its debut with this 1976 Saks ad.

“You’re one of the arbiters of men’s fashion, Mr. Lauren, and there you are in a pair of cowboy boots and blue jeans,” says a theatrically befuddled young host by the name of Tom Brokaw. Ralph, true to form, keeps his cool. “I’m not trying to make a social statement by wearing jeans,” he replies. He’s just expressing his individuality—a cornerstone of Polo style since day one.

In 1988, Ralph and his brother Jerry, longtime head of RL men’s design, were trying to decide which of two sweater prototypes to produce: one with an American eagle or one featuring the American flag. Jerry was in favor of the eagle, Ralph favored the flag. To settle things, they made a gentleman’s bet. They’d produce both, and the one that sold best would stay in the line. Ralph wore his preferred version, with double denim, in an ad for Polo Country, and the rest, as they say, is history.

To launch his new athletic-inspired line, Ralph paired his now-iconic Stadium pullover not with athletic gear but with an oversize denim shirt—an expression that true Polo style isn’t about meeting expectations; it’s about upending them.

By 2006, the runways were awash in skinny silhouettes—in everything from suits to jeans. So naturally, when it came time to take a bow for his Fall 2006 collection, Ralph chose to wear high-volume, perfectly broken-in jeans, cinched effortlessly at the waist.