Ralph Lauren on Brooks Brothers

Q: I guess you're more than partially responsible for the preppy rage --

A: Brooks Brothers was the foundation, and I revived it. I worked for them and wore all their clothes; I also left them as a consumer when they started making Dacron and polyester. They no longer had a style, and I was a traditional guy. So I saw the opening in the whole market and said, "Well, I want to look like this, and I don't want to shop here anymore. They're not moving." They did change, but they became more ordinary, more mundane. I was not going to be high fashion, but I did believe in individual sophistication, a more customized look - what Brooks Brothers used to be when they were great. That was what I went after, what I love, which is a life-style. Men who had a lot of money would go into Brooks Brothers to buy shirts, and say, "Give me three white, three blue, and three pink," and they'd walk out. They'd do it every year, year in and out. They weren't interested in what was the latest this or the latest that. I recognized a certain mentality and security about them. Working there was like going to an Ivy League school; there was an "in-ness," a quiet "in-ness" about that kind of place.

Source:

New York magazine - 10/21/85

Sporty Emblems Sell Shirts, 1980

Sporty Emblems Sell Shirts

New York Times - 6/13/80
by Barbara Ettorre

Who would have thought that the insignia of a penguin, a rooster, a fox or an alligator could transport a simple cotton shirt from the confines of a sports arena onto the chests of middle America?

Yet according to retailers, the simple cotton knit short-sleeved sports shirt - epitomized by the classic Izod Lacoste shirt with the alligator trademark emblem - is outselling just about every other item in men's apparel this year.
...

Market share information is unavailable, but retailers agree that the Izod Lacoste sport shirt, which retails for about $20, is probably Number One, while Munsingwear's $14 Grand Slam shirt with a penguin emblem is a very close Number Two.

The shirts with the emblems seem to have all the prime ingredients for success in a dismal economy; status, practicality, price, fashion, flexibility and the ultimate benediction, enduring trendiness.

The more insignia appearing in the sports shirt marketplace, the better customers seem to like them. There are now at least a dozen emblems adorning shirts made by foreign and domestic companies, double the number of two or three years ago. This figure does not include similar shirts made by sports companies bearing such names as Head, Adidas and Nike. Among the emblems are the wreath by Fred Perry, the polo player by Ralph Lauren, the "T" emblem by Tacchini, and the kangaroo by L'Alpine. The latter two are Italian companies.
...

...At Bloomingdale's, for instance, industry sources estimate that the flagship store and its 13 branches sell at least 50,000 - about $1 million worth - of a single style of the Izod Lacoste shirt. The sources say that Saks Fifth Avenue, Izod's Number One men's wear account (Bloomingdale's is number two), does a comparable business in the single style. Both stores have a multi-million-dollar retail business in Izod men's apparel.

Known in the trade as style 2058 and by consumers as the "alligator shirt," the shirt's basic all-cotton style has not changed much since it first appeared on the tennis court 50 years ago worn by Rene Lacoste, the French player, who founded the Lacoste company, now a $50 million French concern. Izod has a licensing agreement with Lacoste to produce the apparel in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean, and will approach $200 million in sales of men's, women's and children's apparel this year. The shirt alone accounts to 15 to 20 percent of the men's business.

The Izod Lacoste sport shirt and its successors have been given an aura of glamour, vital good health and old-fashioned hero worship. Many professional athletes have contracts with shirt manufacturers that require them to wear the sports shirt and related merchandise at tournaments and appearances.

The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit Strikes Again, 1973

(click each to enlarge)

For (Ralph) Lauren, "today's gray flannel suit isn't the old sack, three-button, uptight uniform. There's more individuality in accessories. Today you can wear a striped shirt with gray flannel. We're not bringing back the button-down. And hats are dead except for fun."

Source:

New York Magazine - 9/17/73

Polo Fashions, 1968

"(Ralph) and Joe Barrato, his friend from Brooks Brothers, had been lunching out regularly ever since Barrato got out of the army and joined Corbin, a trouser company, in 1963. In the mid-sixties, the well-dressed Traditional customer wore Rivetz ties, Corbin pants, Southwick natural-shoulder jackets, Gant shirts, a Canterbury belt, and Bass Weejuns. Ralph told Joe he wanted to bring them all together - in slightly more sophisticated versions - under the Polo banner. But Ralph also wanted the Brooks customer at every age - prep schooler, Ivy Leaguer, privileged adult. And then he wanted to go beyond that, and reach out to the likes of Ralph Lifshitz and Joe Barrato, and give them the tools to turn their insecurity into aspiration and motivation. "I design for my world, for the people I know, whose lives I understand," Ralph would say. "Someone like me." His pitch hit a chord."

Source:

Genuine Authentic: The Real Life of Ralph Lauren, Michael Gross, 2003

"Ivy Today", 1975

Source:

Heavy Tweed Jacket blog - "Ivy Today" - 1975

"...well bred, understated, but not fussy."

Ivy League and Preppy Look

New England is home to four colleges that comprise the Ivy League athletic conference: Harvard, Yale, Brown and Dartmouth. The other colleges - Princeton, Cornell, University of Pennsylvania and Columbia - are also in the Northeast...

In the conformist 1950s, students at these colleges popularized the Ivy League look, which had its roots in the conservative styles of New England.

For men, the Ivy League look consisted of a suit with a narrow-shouldered unfitted jacket, worn with a button-down shirt, skinny tie, and penny loafers (preferably Bass Weejuns). Charcoal gray and olive were the preferred colors. Chinos and tweed blazers offered a casual alternative. The look spread beyond campuses to young men in all parts of suburban America where details such as buckle straps from Ivy trousers were transplanted to caps, shirts, and shoes. High school students wore a more extreme four-button jacket bearing the name "Jivey Ivy."

By 1960, most men sported modified Ivy models that incorporated unpadded shoulders, narrow lapels, and tapered trousers. Brooks Brothers, a citadel of conservatism, came to the forefront as the Ivy League style became popular. When the young John Fitzgerald Kennedy, a senator from Massachusetts, became the president of the United States, the Ivy League look reached the White House.

Ivy League women wore cashmere twin sets, Shetland sweaters, or blazers with kilts or tweed skirts. In the summer, blouses with peter pan collars were worn with Bermuda shorts. A pearl necklace set off any outfit.

The Ivy look is well bred, understated, but not fussy. Many New England men and women held to the conservative, classic styles that compromised the Ivy League look during the sartorial upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s. In the late 1970s, conservative styles once again seemed right for the times, and the Ivy League look resurfaced as the preppy look.

The essential ingredients for the male preppy wardrobe included a conservative gray flannel suit, preferably made by Brooks Brothers, a long-time favorite label of New Englanders. For less formal wear, button-down oxford shirts or Lacoste polo shirts worn with khakis or corduroys sufficed. Other favorites included Harris Tweed jackets, down vests, Burberry tench coasts, L.L. Bean field coats, and camel hair Polo coats.

Preppy women wore female versions of masculine styles: khaki, flannel, or corduroy slacks; a kilt or plaid skirt, a blazer or tweed jacket; and a Shetland or Fair-Isle sweater over a ruffle-necked white blouse or cotton turtleneck.

Preppy styles for women were rather androgynous: female versions of the men's styles produced by the same companies. Both genders wore clothes of Indian madras, a cotton plaid fabric that had first become popular in the early 1960s. Shoes common to both men and women were loafers or Sperry Top-Siders (boat shoes). Socks were optional. Men donned wing tips for dressy affairs while women wore simple pumps.

Like the Ivy League look before it, the preppy look emphasized the wearing of classic fabrics from natural fibers. The only departure from conservative dressing was the bright pink and green color combinations seen in preppy ensembles. Preppy clothes were well made, with attention to detail. Brand names were important. The American designer Ralph Lauren has built a financial empire on fashions inspired by this old money New England look.

Source:

Sletcher, Michael. New England - The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Regional Cultures . Greenwood Press, 2004. Pages 156-7.