Ralph Lauren delivers modern take on romance with sensual silhouettes

The Ralph Lauren womenswear brand is a love letter to the designer’s wife of more than 60 years.

Ricky Lauren, his lifelong muse, is present in each of the designer’s collections.

At the designer’s New York Fashion Week show, Ricky Lauren sat front row along with other members of the Lauren family as her husband took guests on a whirlwind romantic escape ahead of the official launch of New York Fashion Week.

Actors Meghann Fahy, Cynthia Erivo, Viola Davis, Elizabeth Debicki and Ella Hunt were a few of the celebrity guests in attendance at the downtown Manhattan show.

“Ralph just generally designs so beautifully for a woman’s body,” Hunt told The Associated Press after the show.

Lauren pared down the lavish setting from his fall ready-to-wear show of opulent rugs and antique chairs, keeping the setting white and minimalist with attendees sitting on ivory fabric benches and models emerging from behind white doors.

Models glided down the rows of fashionable guests in soft and sensual silhouettes with a color palette of navy and white to the tunes of love songs, including “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” by The Police.

For Lauren, the collection was an “irreverent take on romance” that “upends traditional notions of chic.”

“It’s about ways of dressing that celebrate ingenuity, character, and originality — the freedom and fun of creating a style that is truly personal,” the designer said in his show notes.

Lauren opened the show with a white corseted top and white tailored pants before an array of deep, rich blues unfurled down the runway.

The 86-year-old designer played with his signature tailored designs incorporating billowing white pinstriped pants and dramatic floor-length overcoats.

Lauren accentuated his refined looks with touches of flair from oversized flowered brooches, feathered bolero jackets draped over evening gowns with plunging necklines to fringed scarves tied at the waist. While some models strutted in heels, others walked the runway in slipper-like flats. Either way, the models looked ready to jet off on a European getaway in their elegantly laid-back white pants and straw hats or pose on a red carpet in his evening gowns.

“What Ralph Lauren is doing this year is writing through his clothes about a very kind of modern dream,” David Lauren, the label’s chief branding and innovation officer, said.

In his classic take of mixing the masculine and feminine, Lauren overlaid a golden fringed gown over a pair of navy trousers, and in an homage to his first suit for women, the designer featured two pantsuits in his collection.

Lauren even brought out a youthful side to his modern romance story, pairing slim-fitting jackets with low-slung pants and distressed denim.

“What I love about coming to a Ralph Lauren show and wearing Ralph Lauren is that no matter where I am in time or space, or as I’m growing and changing in my styles and preferences and tastes change, I can grow with Ralph,” Ariana DeBose said.

The stylish crowd was eager to catch a glimpse of Lauren as the line of models returned behind the doors to close the show. As the applause rang out, Lauren arrived in his aviator glasses and varsity jacket to wave to his guests before his wife, Ricky, joined him with a kiss.

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Associated Press journalist Brooke Lefferts contributed to this report.