As a fitting retrospective look and tip of the hat for a job well done, Ralph Lauren, the book, is being published this month by Rizzoli. It celebrates a life quest of 40 years in the business of evolving a style and living philosophy. Counting in at 480 pages and 750 photos and illustrations Ralph Lauren (the book and the man) shares a vision (and, most interestingly, the origins of that vision) personified by a name. Lauren, indeed, was not his birth-name but perhaps the ultimate accolade of his accomplishment is that his name now represents an understood description often used by nearly everyone. That is, when someone says something or someone is “very Ralph Lauren” EVERYONE knows what they mean. Audrey Hepburn noted that accolade when awarding Lauren the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) Lifetime Achievement Award in 1992. And in a complimentary way Ralph Lauren (again meaning the book and the person) is “very Ralph Lauren.” —James J. Spina
