The many faces of Ralph Lauren
America's billion-dollar designer is going global and upscale while creating a new in-house brand for J.C. Penney. Can he really sell all things to all people?
FORTUNE, September 17, 2007 — Ralph Lauren was doing reconnaissance, lingering outside one of his stores watching customers. On this crisp fall Saturday afternoon a few years ago, he had driven one of his vintage cars from his estate in Katonah, N.Y., through the leafy back roads of Westchester County to the nearby town of New Canaan, Conn.
At the store Lauren made an observation that would add a new chapter to his legacy. The mothers were leaving with shopping bags, he noticed, but the daughters were exiting either empty-handed or with just a shirt for their dad or boyfriend.
As Lauren stared at this demographic segment that had evaded his $4 billion fashion empire, he had a feeling that reminded him of the character played by Steve McQueen in "The Thomas Crown Affair".
In that 1968 movie, McQueen portrays a polo-playing Boston Brahmin who is no longer challenged by running his conglomerate, so he masterminds the perfect bank heist. Lauren loves the line that comes after Crown has spent the day on Cape Cod putting a dune buggy through its paces (and the night with Faye Dunaway's character). As Crown enjoys a cigar, he bets his love interest that he can't be caught. "I did it once. I can do it again," he says.
