CNN

Anne Hathaway, Michelle Williams among A-listers at Ralph Lauren show

By CNN Newsource

Published April 18, 2025 7:57 am

By Nick Remsen, CNN

New York (CNN) — In the borderlands between New York City’s Tribeca and Financial District, Ralph Lauren — the man whose name is synonymous with a certain well-heeled, sporty, and nostalgic vein of American style — staged his latest runway show on Thursday.

Among the crowd were Anne Hathaway, Condé Nast’s Anna Wintour, “Stranger Things” star Sadie Sink, and Sarah Catherine Hook, riding high off her turn in the recently concluded “The White Lotus,” season 3. (Hook was overheard saying that the first thing her character, Piper Ratliff, wears in the show is, as it happens, a Ralph Lauren dress.)

Actors Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michelle Williams, Naomi Watts, Ariana Debose, and Eiza Gonzalez were also in attendance.

Lauren’s chosen venue — Jack Shainman Gallery — echoed golden age Gotham, with its marble columns, towering windows, and coffered ceilings. Here, Lauren’s fall 2025 womenswear designs glimmered with the spirit of family heirlooms in the making: a collection meant to last the ages and, importantly, to appeal to all ages.

Speaking to CNN ahead of the show, Lauren explained that the collection, titled “The Modern Romantics”, was “a celebration of individual style and timeless sophistication,” with “each piece reflect(ing) the confidence of a woman who defines style on her own terms.”

The result was a mash-up of Ralph Lauren signatures that felt broodier, a little more bohemian, and, in that, perhaps a touch more eclectic. See the Victorian or Edwardian collars beneath barn jackets, outerwear that juxtaposed finished leather and brushed suede (these were excellent), leather bustiers styled with riding boots, and frilly dresses with dark floral prints (instead of Lauren’s usual palette of off-white, cream and equine brown). The finale gown with a mermaid tail bonded by lace insets marked one of the most experimental looks the designer has shown in recent memory.

A constant presence

While Ralph Lauren’s sales rose 11 per cent in the three months ending December 28, 2024 to $2.1 billion, prompting the company to raise the outlook for its 2025 full-year fiscal revenue, no brand is immune to the world’s mounting geopolitical challenges. The luxury sector is grappling with some of its slowest growth in years, as well as US President Trump’s quickly evolving tariff plans, which threaten to drive up clothing prices.

Over a phone call with CNN a few days before the show, Patrice Louvet, CEO and president of Ralph Lauren Corporation, acknowledged the “relatively volatile” environment. Emphasizing Ralph Lauren’s resilience, he noted that throughout 2024 the brand “saw strong responses across generations.”

Louvet has been focused on maintaining a constant presence in customers’ lives by translating the well-developed Ralph Lauren ethos — one of good-life Americana — into experiences that can be enjoyed by a greater number of people. Younger age groups, he noted, are a focus.

Ralph’s Coffee, which has outposts in over 35 locations including New York, London, Beijing, Doha and Tokyo, reaches 4 million people a year, according to Louvet. “The population that’s consuming Ralph’s is disproportionately younger consumers,” he added. These patrons are likely drawn by the cafés’ Instagram-friendly feel, with its preppy green-striped branding and playful merchandise, including oversized stuffed animal Polo bears in situ, which make for great pictures.

Sports have also been key in broadening Ralph Lauren’s cultural relevance. The brand regularly invests in sponsorships and partnerships that range from baseball activations in Japan to support for tennis and golf via the US Open, Wimbledon and the Ryder Cup. It will also be a title sponsor at the upcoming Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, Italy, as it was at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, France.

“We’re making sure we engage with the younger generation while continuing to delight and surprise our 30-year-olds, our 50-year-olds, our 80-year-olds,” said Louvet. “It’s one of the challenges (we constantly pose) to our marketing team.”

Consistency is key, he believes. “(Other brands) kind of have moments, and then (they) go quiet. And then there’s another moment, a show, or something with an influencer, and then it’s quiet again,” said Louvet. “Our philosophy is ‘no, we have to always be on.’”