Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26481 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-16
• Released on: 2007-10-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 482 pages

Amazon.com Review
Ralph Lauren isn’t easy to define. Unlike many designers, he is not known for a single signature look, but rather for his sweeping dreams of American living. Over the course of his career, the images of luxury, adventure, and beauty that he created have come to define American style. In this visually stunning book, Lauren speaks candidly for the first time ever about himself and his art. In part one, we get to know the designer through never-before-seen pictures of him in private life and with his family, living the lives he designs for. In his own words, we hear about his life, work, and inspiration. In the second part, Lauren displays and writes about his most important, most iconic, and most beloved work, hand-picked from hundreds of runway shows, collections, and his signature cinematic advertising campaigns. Lauren’s aesthetic influence and unique design sensibility are captured here by fashion’s finest photographers, including Bruce Weber, Deborah Turbeville, and Patrick Demarchelier. Featuring an introduction by Audrey Hepburn (from her 1992 presentation speech at the CFDA awards), this is truly a unique fashion monograph, a personal expression of the artist, and a rare peek into the mind of one of America’s most accomplished fashion designers of all times.

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From Publishers Weekly
Larger than life, luxuriantly priced, and filled with simple, elegant work, this volume mirrors the universal style and global reputation of its subject, American fashion icon Ralph Lauren. At first heft, this 14-and-a-half pound retrospective might seem excessive and ostentatious; once one starts turning the pages, however, it's hard to imagine the work any smaller. Following a warm introduction by Audrey Hepburn (presenting Lauren with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1992), Lauren takes readers on a pictorial history of his life, family and work. Every photograph is rich with texture and depth, rendered in a style immediately familiar to anyone who's flipped through a fashion mag over the past several decades, but far more striking and sumptuous in this large format (each easily worth two or three times the standard thousand words). The variety of gifted photographers included (Bruce Weber, Claus Wickrath and Sheila Metzner among them) capture well Lauren's talent for anyman elegance, even on the imposing frames of such models as Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell and Tyson Beckford. Those with a fever for fashion (and a strong back) will find this largely text-free tome a real page-turner.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
Fashion week last September found Ralph Lauren in familiar territory. His landmark show, marking his 40th year in fashion, was heaped with Edwardian charm on a set inspired by My Fair Lady's famed "Royal Ascot" scene. Lauren's clothes were, as ever, admirable and wonderfully beside the point. What has always mattered most is the dream realm the designer creates and has marketed so powerfully for so long. Lauren's fantasy was most fulsomely captured by photographer Bruce Weber during the 1980s. As critic Owen Edwards once wrote in American Photo, "Not since the Victorian portraitist Julia Margaret Cameron dragooned her wellborn friends into posing for Arthurian tableaux has a mythical kingdom been more lavishly photographed." Now, to further mark Lauren's anniversary, Rizzoli has brought out this extravagant volume, which, fittingly, blurs creative lines by celebrating Lauren the man, Lauren the icon, and Lauren the ad campaign. The heart of the book is its collection of work by several generations of photographers, including Patrick Demarchelier, Deborah Turbeville, Francois Halard, Anthony Edgeworth, and Carter Berg. The book is essential for historians of advertising and for photo enthusiasts. If you're feeling aristocratic, check out the deluxe edition with a slipcase cover. -- PopPhoto.com December 2007 - David Schonauer

One of America's ultimate stylemakers has to be Ralph Lauren. In 40 years in the fashion business, he has literally defined how we dress.

With the launch of Polo, he offered a sophisticated tweed look symbolic of the posh sport and lifestyle. He brought life to F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and the glamour of Long Island in the 1920s. We learned we could embody the spirit of the Old West, even if we happened to live in Philadelphia or Tampa. And we embraced Ralph's trademark preppy style, inspired by the traditional look found on Ivy League campuses.

It takes a big book to document Ralph's fashion empire, and his retrospective--called, simply, Ralph Lauren--is huge. It's filled with 700 photographs and weighs 15 pounds!

"I love the book so much, I think it's the perfect gift this holiday season," Oprah says. -- Oprah.com Oct/Nov 2007

Customer Reviews

Beautiful Book
I had the opportunity to view this book in the store and it is gorgeous. Gigantic glossy photographs, many of Ralph Lauren and his family. I was waiting for this book to come out because I am a huge Ralph Lauren fan. That said, in my mind, I sort of thought this book would dissect his fashions over the past four decades. While his styles have the reputation of being timeless, the designer certainly has evolved and a book that started with his ties to his initial designs, perhaps examples of the tweed jacket he bought for his wife, etc. then moving to the polos, Blue and Black Label, Home and lifestyle, that would have made a fantastic book. This is not quite a book on the evolution of Ralph Lauren designs over the past four decades. This is more a collection of very beautiful photographs and some editorial. It is beautiful, no question. But had I purchased it sight unseen, I would have been expecting a different book, a forty year retrospective, with initial designs, runway, retail versions, fabrics, British lifestyle influences, etc.

STUNNING HUGE 14 pound book showing Mr Ralph at his best.....BUT....
First....This is an AWESOME book. No doubt about it. It is HUGE. It weights 14 1/2 pounds!!! It is really beautiful. The photos are just what you'd expect from Mr. Ralph. Sweeping, grand and elegant. There are over 700 photos..Large and small. Not a lot of text but enough to keep you well wrapped up.

BUT....Well...Really 2 buts....I am a HUGE fan of Lauren's western vintage inspired line of clothing called "RRL" or "Double RL". Have been since 1993. Was a little let down that there are only about 8 pics related to this line which Ralph admits many many times is his true passion and love in his vast empire of styles and brands.
On the upside...There are LOTS of photos from the first western collection in 1979 that was really the groundbreaking for all his RRL and Western/Roughwear/Santa Fe collections since. Many not seen in some 25 years. AA++ on that.

SECOND BUT....There are little to NO STORE photos. Inside or out of the shops. In my humble opinion...This is about 75% of Lauren's pure gift. HIS STORES!! There are unlike any other stores in the world!! Th sheer scope that each store has..It's own style depending on it's location, the accents, the style direction, etc. You can spend hours just wondering through his stores in awe. MAJOR minus in this book. DDD---

Upside again....There are many many photos NEVER published before. Most from early ad spreads. Lauren's early ads were often 15 to 20 magazine pages long...Like mini movies. Remember them all quite well from my early adulthood. Very nice to see new/old images. AAA+++

OVERALL...Excellent book. We all know Lauren could have (without any effort due to the wealth of material to draw from) split this book up into 3 or 4 or even 5 volumes. His life, the stores, the ads, the designs...hell....even the millions of dogs just used in his ads alone could fill a 200+ page coffee table book. I guess to totally cover all the Lauren aspects, you'd need a 30 pound book!

If you and Mr Ralph are very very close friends. You will WANT this book. Well worth the hefty price. Thanks Mr. Ralph for 40 years of letting us live our movies with you as the director, scripter and set designer. GREAT RIDE!!

P.S. You will need a REALLY BIG and REALLY strong coffee table for this book. Take my word.

rather lackluster
Mostly pictures of Ralph himself. Would have liked to see more inspiration and background to his amazing collections in rtw, home and men's.