There is nothing in this country that can be called a national costume, but some items of clothing help people imagine what it means to be a self-invented concept: American. This is a difficult person to understand. Despite popular culture equating them with blonde hair and blue eyes, Americans are not defined by race or ethnicity. They are not defined by their family tree. But, nevertheless, we are stubbornly trying to translate the American ideal into human form – the embodiment of all our ideas about our national character, including the glory of bootstrap progress, and the strength of sober optimism, and soft-focused romanticization of our rebellious spirit. past.
No other designer has helped us paint a picture of these desires and aspirations like Ralph Lauren. Since he founded his company in 1967 with a single product that combines tradition and opportunity, a tie that was slightly wider than usual, he has been creating clothes that are deeply rooted in the idea of heritage, although he sought to give bright, shiny lacquer in modern times. He was inspired by the beautifully dilapidated country cottages of the Atlantic Coast and the vast expanses of the West, as well as the gods of Wall Street, the offspring of country clubs. and big men on campus.
For over 50 years, Lauren has been writing a story about what it means to be an American. And so he made a significant change. This is not so much an amendment as a clarification.
His new ad campaign, which includes photographs, picture books and a 30-minute film, announces partnerships with Morehouse College and Spelman College, two institutions rich in tradition and prestige. They are two of historically, black colleges and universities that educated black students during segregation and continue to do so today, as predominantly white institutions generally view black history as a niche subject to be discussed in the safety of a separate department, rather than as a discipline native to American history. The history of Blackness is a part of our collective history that can be uncomfortable and especially under attack these days because of it.
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The clothing in this two-school licensing deal was mostly photographed on students, alumni, and faculty — against the backdrop of two campuses adjacent to each other in Atlanta. The collection was inspired by images from the school archives of students from the 1920s as they gathered in the yard, in the classroom or on the playground. The approximately 100-piece collection includes crested jackets favored by the men of Morehouse, Spelman’s signature white cotton outfit that remains a tradition along with pearls, and varsity crew-neck jackets and sweaters that are staples. broad colloquial language of the college. It would be tempting to call these looks Ivy League style. But that’s only because those who had the power the systematization of the elements of American achievement did not take into account black students. Princeton and Harvard existed before Morehouse, but what was worn on campuses up north in the 1950s, when they began to define baggy suits, Oxford shirts, and grosgrain striped ties were also worn on the campus of Morehouse, founded in 1867.
Lauren shifted his gaze to see a new perspective that had been there all along, but which he just didn’t see. Until one day in 2020, he suddenly did it.
After the killing of George Floyd, in the midst of racial justice protests sweeping the country, at a time when the population was deeply divided, the company’s 23,000 employees gathered in groups practically for conversations that were supposed to be open and honest about the turmoil around them and questions which she raised. In one of them, the founder asked James Jeter a simple question: “How are you?”
“He said, ‘Great. But you know, I’m not sure that this will be my future, ”Lauren recalled during an interview. last week. “I said, ‘What do you mean?’ And he said, “Well, you know, I just don’t know if that’s the way. Is this a company that’s going to be all white? … What is the story behind this company? ”
Basically, Jeter wanted to know, “Who are we?”
“When he told me this, I was a little surprised and said:“ James, there is a future for you here, ”said Lauren. This collaboration with Morehouse and Spelman may well be proof of that.
Jeter is one of the design directors for the New York-based company and has spent his entire professional career with the brand, from when he was a stylish black teenager obsessed with the company’s aesthetic and worked on the Rugby Ralph Lauren sales floor. store in Georgetown, Washington. Jeter rose through the ranks from trainee to design assistant to lead designer. He is also Morehouse’s man from the class of 2013. And he explained to his boss what that meant.
“I didn’t know anything about it,” Lauren said, including the aesthetic of the HBCU, black fraternities and Divine Nine sororities, and the black university experience.
“James told me,” Lauren said. “He brought these books because he was at Morehouse and said, ‘It exists.’ He felt like the world had always considered the Ivy League [style] were only white people. It exists; the college exists; levels of taste existed. And we looked at some books and he showed me around the school and I said, “It’s beautiful. I love it.’ ”
“From a company perspective, something was missing,” Lauren said. “We are chasing. we are catching up [the country’s] changes. And I want to be part of that change. I believe in it and I believe in it for our company.”
“I am not a pioneer. I don’t try to take what I don’t do. [own]but I’ve always been very honest about what I believe in.” — Lauren said, “And I always try to do the right thing.”
The Ralph Lauren ad campaign highlights the brand’s partnership with HBCU. (Contributed by Ralph Lauren)
Personal presentation has always been part of the story at Morehouse and Spelman, who focused on classical liberal arts education rather than vocational training. Students dressed to express personal dignity, as a statement of academic intent, and as a tribute to respectability, before the word implied a certain political capitulation. Collaboration with Ralph Lauren “focused Morehouse on American history. You look at these photos and you can see the connection to the same fashion sensibility that defined Ralph Lauren. They were at Morehouse before Ralph Lauren was born,” said Morehouse President David Thomas. “If we really think about Morehouse during those pictures, if we didn’t have racial discrimination, many of these young people could go to the best colleges in this country. Many could end up in Ivy League colleges.”
The images are both a reminder of how this country failed to deliver on its promise, and a celebration of how black Americans have succeeded despite these basic failings. Thomas, speaking slowly and deliberately, repeats what he said a few years earlier in a speech on campus that continues to resonate: “Morehouse is an idea in the same sense that America is an idea, namely that in this country you can create a black man.” perfection at scale,” Thomas said. “Ralph Lauren is one of our cultural icons. And Morehouse is a cultural and, more importantly, educational symbol of what a country can be.”
The photos are certainly advertising and marketing, but they also sell the idea to consumers, and to Americans, their shared story.
“We didn’t design this collection through an HBCU lens to say it’s kind of a black way to dress,” said Jeter, who oversaw the collaboration. “It’s really American style. We only changed the context, not the clothes.”
Like many other companies, Ralph Lauren Corp. fought for diversity and inclusiveness. In the 1990s, the company first addressed the issue after black and Hispanic store employees raised the alarm about discrimination and being sent to the warehouse when important executives visited the store. The brand also has a significant history of diversity in its advertising, dating back to the same time when black models Tyson Beckford and Karen Alexander were the de facto face of the brand, while many other fashion houses casually sported all-white runway models.
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Following protests against racial justice almost two years ago, the company signed a contract with the Black in Fashion Council, which aims to increase diversity on Seventh Avenue, and independently committed to building a 10 percent black and 20 percent human leadership team. colors by 2023. However, around the same time, the company was prosecuted for using the Greek letters of the historically black brotherhood to decorate a pair of trousers without the organization’s permission. The path to equality and cultural sensitivity has many twists and turns.
“The beauty of what Ralph Lauren did to us: they made us part of this project,” said Morehouse’s Thomas. “They didn’t come in and appropriate the culturally inspiring images of black people, and then they left and did something about it.”
There are those who can look at this collection and see it as an anachronism at a time when sweatpants and leggings are worn the way many people want. There is a sheen to these images that may seem unnatural at a time when improvisation is valued. The whole project is a risk in an age where social media watchers are always on the lookout for bugs. However, when Dara Douglas, Ralph Lauren librarian, and a Spelman alum, talking about the collection, her voice trembling with excitement.
“I know other women who graduated from Spelman, other men who graduated from Morehouse, all the people who went to HBCU have such reverence and respect for the Ralph Lauren brand,” Douglas said. “For us to see this culture and see how this community will look at them and show them themselves – it will be amazing. It’s stunning.”
Spelman President Mary Schmidt Campbell agreed to the collaboration in part because the project was based on archival school images and was a kind of modern version of a series of photographs of black men and women at home, at school, and at work commissioned by W. E. B. Dubois in the early 20th century.
“I thought it evoked an aspect of our history and heritage that we don’t talk about and don’t see very often in public,” Campbell said. Campbell’s assessment was that it was also a business deal that could benefit the school, and that the project involved a black creative team that included Douglas, one of Spelman’s employees.
Lauren, 82, said he didn’t want to talk about the collection, but his staff convinced him to. Not because he’s not proud of it and he’s not proud of the work done by Jeter and Douglas. But because these are treacherous times to stumble, correct course, try. Capitalism gives man almost everything except the presumption of doubt.
“I don’t worry about my heritage. I have three children and grandchildren, and I want them to be happy, do everything they do, and not worry about me, ”he said. “I do what I love to do. I have good days and bad days. On good days you feel good, on bad days you feel bad.
“We all make mistakes and things like that,” he said. “But we will fix it, find out about it and find out about what we did not know. It’s good.”