TOUR DE FORCE
Panache defines Ralph Lauren’s Purple Label Spring 2018 collection
WHEN WE CONSIDER the international man of style and luxury – relaxed and elegant in the be-linened limelight – we think of Ralph Lauren. And the designer’s latest Purple Label Spring 2018 collection, a eulogy to luxe sportswear and lightweight suiting, continues in similarly upscale vein.
“My Spring 2018 Purple Label collection is about a new softness in tailoring created with lightweight, luxurious fabrics and a unique variety of sportswear from active to rugged elegance to glamorous eveningwear,” says Ralph Lauren. “The Purple Label sensibility speaks to that international gentleman who seeks a quality that is modern yet timeless.”
The collection’s focal point is an elevated expression of vintage racing style, manifest in a graphic palette of black, cream, and red. References to the Tour de France and bicycle racing, including the playful slogan “Tour de Ralph”, are threaded throughout the collection, while oversize crests on novelty knits and athletic taping details on trousers evoke Purple Label’s sporting heritage. Sweaters with meticulously rendered graphics, including a winged “P” and a gymnast on a pommel horse, recalibrate the iconic Stadium collection from 1992.
For evening, classic formalwear is reinvented with unexpected fabrics and new twists on timeless sartorial patterns. Of particular note is a cream dinner jacket in tonal houndstooth and an evening jacket in a Glen plaid print – both crafted from the finest necktie silk – as well as an impeccable double-breasted dinner jacket made from linen rather than wool.
This is expressive personal style at its Laurenesque best.