Ralph Lauren | His Legacy and Creating His Look

Summary

Podcast Summary: Dear Alice | Interior Design
Episode: Ralph Lauren | His Legacy and Creating His Look
Release Date: January 9, 2025

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Introduction to Ralph Lauren’s Legacy

In this episode of Dear Alice, hosts Jessica Bennett and Suzanne Hall delve into the enduring legacy of Ralph Lauren, exploring how his principles and designs have shaped both the fashion and interior design landscapes. From personal anecdotes to an in-depth look at his design philosophy, Bennett and Hall celebrate Ralph Lauren’s contributions to American design.

Notable Quotes:

• Becky: "Ralph Lauren is foundational. His rules and principles are just... so foundational." [00:31]
• Corey: "You can't tell the American lifestyle story without talking about him. That's like, man, that's a fingerprint in our culture for sure." [10:21]

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Personal Connections and Early Influences

The episode begins with the hosts sharing their personal stories related to Ralph Lauren. Corey recounts his childhood memories of wearing Ralph Lauren polos, blending his love for skateboarding with preppy style by layering a blue long-sleeve shirt underneath his polo [02:07]. Becky shares her early attempts to emulate Ralph Lauren by borrowing her brothers' polos and later working at Denonville, where she developed an appreciation for vintage Levi’s and Ralph Lauren’s denim-on-denim looks [05:18].

Notable Quotes:

• Corey: "I was able to kind of pull 12-year-old Corey. That's one of the first times I remember really like feeling like I was expressing myself." [03:35]
• Becky: "Even if I couldn't afford to buy Polo, I remember being inspired by the look of the denim on denim." [05:18]

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Ralph Lauren: The Man Behind the Brand

Jessica Bennett provides a brief history of Ralph Lauren, highlighting his origins as Ralph Lauren Lipschitz, his service in the military, and his early career at Brooks Brothers before launching his own line of ties. The hosts emphasize his unwavering vision, such as his refusal to alter his tie designs for Bloomingdale's, demonstrating his commitment to authenticity and quality [10:44].

Notable Quotes:

• Becky: "He had this unwavering vision of what it should be, and he could have had that sale." [12:09]
• Corey: "He just creates something, and in 30 years from now, he's always going to come back, you know, just come back into culture just because he's timeless." [16:57]

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Core Principles Learned from Ralph Lauren

Bennett and Hall outline four key principles they've learned from Ralph Lauren, which have influenced their approach to interior design:

1. Storytelling
   Ralph Lauren’s designs are deeply rooted in storytelling, creating entire scenes and lifestyles that resonate with people’s aspirations. From his cinematic advertisements to the immersive environments in his stores, storytelling is central to his brand ethos [20:10].

   Notable Quotes:

   • Becky: "He tells the story and he really conjures up the feelings." [25:06]
   • Allice: "He creates the most idealized version of that lifestyle. And I think that is the master of it." [25:06]

2. Scale
   The importance of scale is emphasized, showcasing Ralph Lauren’s preference for large, generous pieces that create a sense of abundance and comfort. Whether it’s a 48-inch round dining table used as a nightstand or large mirrors that open up a space, scale plays a crucial role in achieving a luxurious layered look [34:16].

   Notable Quotes:

   • Becky: "Always bigger art, bigger mirrors, bigger lamps, bigger tables, bigger rugs, bigger furniture because it will grow your space." [35:23]
   • Alice: "Give yourself massive surfaces. And buy big things because little things look knick knacky." [34:18]

3. Layering
   Layering is presented as a cornerstone of Ralph Lauren’s design philosophy. The hosts discuss how layering adds depth and interest to spaces, using examples like oversized rugs, multiple pillows in varying sizes, and curated collections of books and art pieces [41:31].

   Notable Quotes:

   • Becky: "The rug is the biggest piece of art in the room. The art that he uses, the scale of it." [45:33]
   • Corey: "He’s flipping things on its head, like thinking outside the box." [46:52]

4. Uncompromising Vision
   Ralph Lauren’s dedication to his vision, even in the face of industry pressures, underscores the importance of staying true to one’s design principles. This unwavering commitment ensures that every element in his collections aligns with his brand’s story and aesthetic [52:44].

   Notable Quotes:

   • Alice: "Don’t be phoning that in. Know who you are and what you want to say." [27:28]
   • Corey: "He’s doing the time, right? He’s doing the design laboratory." [47:40]

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Applying Ralph Lauren’s Principles to Interior Design

The hosts transition into practical advice on how listeners can incorporate Ralph Lauren’s principles into their own homes. They emphasize the importance of choosing pieces that tell a story, maintaining appropriate scale, embracing layering, and remaining steadfast in one’s design vision. Examples include selecting large rugs as base layers, using oversized furniture to allow for layering accessories, and integrating personal collections of books and art to enrich the narrative of a space.

Notable Quotes:

• Becky: "Find books and find more than you think that you need of anything that you're interested in." [50:18]
• Alice: "Tell your story. What does your heart say?" [27:30]

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Ralph Lauren’s Lifestyle Influence

Throughout the episode, Bennett and Hall highlight how Ralph Lauren’s designs transcend individual pieces, creating a cohesive and aspirational lifestyle. Whether in his homes in Jamaica, Colorado, or Manhattan, each space reflects his ability to blend grandeur with comfort, embodying the American dream in diverse settings.

Notable Quotes:

• Becky: "He makes you want to go there. Like, he makes you want to explore the mountains or wherever it is." [38:36]
• Alice: "It makes you proud to be an American." [38:33]

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Conclusion: Embracing Ralph Lauren’s Timelessness

In wrapping up, the hosts reiterate the timelessness of Ralph Lauren’s designs and the importance of adopting his principles to create spaces that are both authentic and enduring. They encourage listeners to embrace storytelling, appropriate scale, thoughtful layering, and an uncompromising vision to achieve a Ralph Lauren-inspired look in their own homes.

Notable Quotes:

• Becky: "What does your heart say? It has to come from an honest place." [27:28]
• Corey: "His success is because he took the risks. And it didn't come easy." [49:27]

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Final Thoughts

Dear Alice offers a comprehensive exploration of Ralph Lauren’s impact on interior design, providing both inspiration and actionable insights for listeners. By weaving personal narratives with professional analysis, Bennett and Hall paint a vivid picture of how Ralph Lauren’s legacy continues to influence and inspire the world of design.

Notable Quotes:

• Alice: "Our homes should tell the story of who we are and what we love." [General Theme]
• Becky: "The storytelling is just money. It's so good. And it's why you feel something when you look there and you want to be in those spaces." [51:55]

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Additional Information:
For listeners interested in exploring Ralph Lauren’s collections and design philosophy further, the hosts recommend the documentary Very Ralph, available on HBO, which offers an intimate look into his creative process and iconic designs.

Transcript

[Alice]

Foreign.

[Becky]

Welcome to Dear Alice. A lifestyle approach to interior design.

[Alice]

Hello, everyone. Welcome to Dear Alice. We are going to be doing an episode today on the beloved Ralph Lauren.

[Becky]

Ralph Lauren, guys.

[Alice]

Yes.

[Becky]

Standing ovation. I think he's all of our favorites. I think there's like a root of Ralph Lauren, I think, in everything that we all do. Because his rules and his principles and what he's built is just. It's so foundational.

[Alice]

It is so foundational.

[Becky]

Foundational.

[Alice]

It is American design, when we think about it.

[Becky]

I will say it's timeless, which is really fun because he can, like, tackle any style demographic, anything. And all of them are timeless because they're all true and authentic. And that is what Ralph Lauren is.

[Alice]

Yes.

[Corey]

Probably the most iconic. Like, I feel like everybody knows that name.

[Becky]

Yeah.

[Corey]

You know what I mean?

[Alice]

It's also a verb. Yeah, right? Yeah. It's a fashion house. It's a lifestyle. It's like, so it's the idyllic American dream. And somebody said this, that he's built his entire empire. That anyone can enter the fantasy and live the American dream. You know, wherever. Wherever it is, whatever it is, whatever style you are, whether it be Southwestern, whether it be cowboy, whether it be Jamaican or Manhattan or it. It's. He. He does so many styles of both fashion and home that you can really try this on for yourself. Whatever. If it's a beach or if it's the country or if it's the city or whatever. Yeah. It's for everybody. And we all love it. We all love it. So good. So this actually was. This came in from a listener question, a listener topic. But first, I want to know from you guys, what is the first piece of Ralph Lauren that you ever bought? How old were you? Do you remember? Do you have an early memory?

[Corey]

I. I remember. Do you guys remember when I told you, like, I. When I was, like, when I was 12, when I started skateboarding, my mom would, like, make me wear certain clothes to school, and then I would take other ones in my backpack and change near the bus stop behind some trees. So much. So those, some of those clothes were polo by Ralph Lauren. I'd go to JCPenney. My mom make me wear the polos. One thing I would do, I love. So I had a navy blue polo. With the polo. Yeah, the red.

[Alice]

Red pony.

[Corey]

Yep, Red pony polo dude on it. And I don't know why, but I've always loved the combination of black and blue together. And I had this long sleeve blue shirt, so I would put that underneath my polo and I thought that was cool because it felt like skateboarder to me.

[Alice]

Street.

[Corey]

Yeah, exactly. So I was just like a little, you know, like little skateboarder mixed with like Ralph and I thought that was cool. And I.

[Alice]

So you leave the house in your blue polo and then you would slip you or your black polo and you'd slip your blue long sleeve shirt.

[Corey]

Yeah, I would have like slacks and then I would put like my jeans that I could wear on the, you know, with like holes and stuff. And they're a little bit baggier back then. Knee pipes. I don't know if you remember those. Okay.

[Becky]

Yeah.

[Corey]

Late 90s, Gene.

[Alice]

And how old are you?

[Corey]

12.

[Alice]

12?

[Corey]

Yeah.

[Alice]

Wow, that's amazing.

[Corey]

I thought it was cool that like.

[Alice]

I, you know, I think Ralph would approve of you taking this in and making the layers your own because he's all about that.

[Corey]

Yeah, I, I thought it was, I thought it was cool. At the time I didn't really understand but like the ju. Ju. Position of like, you know, I'm like wearing a polo but like with this like skater like long sleeve skater shirt underneath it and yeah, I felt that's what felt like me at the time, you know, and I was able to kind of pull 12 year old Corey. Yeah. And it was. That's one of the first times I remember really like feeling like I was expressing myself, if that makes sense. And looking back on it now, I just thought it was cool that I was like the shirt that I turned something that I didn't love, but I kind of like made it my own and I was like proud of that at the time, you know.

[Alice]

That's so cool. Yeah, Naomi Campbell. There's like iconic look that she has. They're showing it, the documentary. Several of you have seen it. If not, you have to watch it. It's called Very Ralph. It's on hbo and I just watched it last night for fun, just getting juiced up for this episode. And there's this moment where Naomi Campbell is in this really slinky, beautiful silver, almost fishnetty dress and it just clings to her six foot tall figure in. Just drapes so beautifully. And then he added a military jacket to this slinky, gorgeous gown. And it was always the juxtaposition because he wouldn't want it to be too high, he'd always add something low. And that juxtaposition is like a total Ralph move. So I love that you were doing that when you were 12. So what's your earliest memory of. Of something Ralph?

[Becky]

I will Say I had three older brothers, like, quite a bit older than me. So, like, they were always, like, they worked at the Gap or they worked at the mall. And so, like, polos were a big deal, like, in their wardrobe. So I always remember, like, trying to, like, sneak one of their polos, like, and, like, put it on, you know, me. And then, like, go to junior high or whatever when they weren't looking. So that. But I will say that my first memory, this was, like, before, like, Pinterest, Instagram, all those things, right when we were growing up. And I worked one of my first jobs When I was 15 or 16, I worked for a guy in our neighborhood, and he bought and sold used Levi's and, like, from Japan and all those things. And so. And like, there was always. And it was like, kind of in the Skittle part of the. Of Provo, and I would walk there after school, I'd park myself, and I'd work there every day. And I got really good at, like. You can identify vintage Levi's by, like, you turn the inseam and if there's a red stripe happening on, that's when, you know, it's like. Yeah, like a certain year. Like, that. Those are creative and that's what you were always looking for as you bought and sold them. Right. And so I just remember, like, we always had, like, magazines, like Vogue, and I love magazines, so I just, like, collect them. And I remember seeing, like, ads and things, and even if I couldn't afford to buy Polo, I remember being inspired by the look of, like, the denim on denim. And like, you know, I was in the world of denim. And so, like, that was probably. I think I probably got. I think I got, like, a chambray shirt.

[Alice]

Yeah.

[Becky]

Was probably like, my first, like, actual, like, Ralph Lauren purchase. And I probably paired it with Levi's and just that whole layering, again, color drenching. Like back in the day. I didn't know it was called that, but I was. I would say that just like the Levi. The Levi, Levi, denim on denim. Denim on denim, I think was like, my first, like, big influence from Ralph Lauren. Aside from just.

[Alice]

Was that in the 90s?

[Becky]

Yeah. Yeah, that was like, in mid-90s. 97.

[Alice]

Yeah. Yeah, totally.

[Becky]

I was working at Denonville. It's called Denonville. That's amazing.

[Alice]

Oh, my gosh. That's so fun. Well, I have an older sister that's about two years older than me. And so I'm trying to remember. I don't know my earliest memory was, but I Was. I feel like I was always really name brand conscious. I probably have been my whole life. It was one of those things that I wanted to aspire to. Right. And so same thing, all the magazines. I would go to the pharmacy and I would charge magazines. Sorry, mom. To her account and because back then you could go downtown in our tiny town, Richfield, Utah, and you could put things on your tab. And so I would just always charge things to my mom's account and just get all of the magazines.

[Corey]

That's so awesome.

[Alice]

Yeah. And then, you know, you rip them apart, you tape them to your walls and all of that. Yeah. And his lifestyles were so ideally first Instagram right there.

[Becky]

Yeah.

[Alice]

The first pictures. Yeah. But I can. When we were thinking about this, in my mind, I can picture being 16 and having my keychain be this camel colored leather fob and it had the pony burnt branded into it and it was kind of pillowed and stitched around the edge and that was my keychain when I was 16.

[Corey]

I swear, I can like, I can like. I know, see that. Yeah, I know exactly what that was.

[Alice]

You know, the longer you have it.

[Becky]

Like, make sure everybody nobody sees it.

[Alice]

The more that, you know, the more worn it got, the better looking it got. Which I think is also such a Ralph principle. But yeah. And I had that through college and I mean, it never wore out, so I just had it forever. I don't even. I don't even know what I would have ever gotten rid of it, but it was like this real staple piece that I always had. Yeah. My first keychain was Ralph. Was Polo.

[Becky]

I love that.

[Alice]

Yeah. So fun.

[Corey]

Doesn't Ralph Lauren kind of like feel like I don't ever like first remember? I feel like I've. I was born knowing that. And it was kind of like Walt.

[Becky]

Disney's always been there, you know?

[Corey]

Yeah. It's like as, as iconic as. Yeah. As. As, as like Disney. It's like it's just something that always has been. And it's so defined, like, and iconic, I guess.

[Alice]

In fact, at the very beginning of Very Ralph, Audrey Hepburn is speaking and it's like she's giving a speech about his life or something. And they take that clip and they make it the beginning of Very Ralph. And Audrey Hepburn says he conjures up all the best things in life. Everything we care about in America. The values, things that last Misty Mornings Gardens, the best things in life. His name has become a verb. We say it's so Ralph, you know.

[Corey]

So good, so true.

[Alice]

Yeah. And I think it is. It's Nike, it's Coca Cola, it's Disney. It's all of those brands that when we think about American values, you can't not see an ad or an image that he has created this absolute lifestyle from every point, from what you wear to what you could sit in, the houses, all of it. It's very Ralph.

[Corey]

You can't tell the American lifestyle story without talking about him. And that's like, man, that's a fingerprint in our culture for sure.

[Alice]

Yeah.

[Becky]

Which hats off to him because I'm like to go from, like, a fashion, because he started out, you know, with ties. You know, let's take it like a quick history lesson on Ralph. Right. He was born in 39. He, like, I just found this out. I don't even think it was on very Ralph that he served in the military. Like, his family were Jewish immigrants. He was born, like, grew up in the Bronx. And his real last name is Lipschitz.

[Alice]

Yeah.

[Becky]

And, like, when he was 16, he and his brother ended up, like, changing their last name.

[Alice]

The older brother. Yeah. In fact, a very rap. The older brother is telling the story of he couldn't take the bullying anymore by. They kept being called shits, you know, Lip shits. And he's like, I couldn't take it one more minute. Because they had these idealistic values, and they're Ashkenazi Jews, and so they're very intelligent people. And they didn't like being boiled down to this part of their name, which I can a little bit relate to. I grew up. My last. My main name's looking gay. And we got called gay all the time or looking gay, or all of these different slurs and different things with your name that you're just. At some point, you're like, come on, guys, get over it. It's more than just a name. It doesn't define you. And so the older brother changed the last name to Lauren. And I want to make a quick call out. Suze was just saying this. It's Lauren. So many people say Ralph Lauren, but it's Lauren. Yeah. I mean, I think we should all just get it right if we're going to do it right.

[Becky]

Yeah.

[Alice]

Yeah. So, yeah. So the brother chose the name Lauren. No family ties, no anything. Just. Yeah. They just didn't want to be lip Shits anymore. And the dad was. The parents were okay with it, the grandparents and everything. Yeah.

[Becky]

Which is amazing.

[Alice]

Which is interesting, because as Jewish people, since my husband, he's raised Jewish, tradition is really important. So it's amazing that the family was okay with this. Yeah, yeah.

[Becky]

So changed their last name. And then from 60. Let's see, 60.

[Corey]

62 to 64. You served?

[Becky]

Yeah, 62 to 64. He served in the army. When he was discharged, he started working for Brooks Brothers, which I thought was really fun, because when we think about Brooks Brothers, like, you can totally see just, like, again, speaking of our stories and how they tell our story, I'm like, of course that that's where he worked. And then he, like, went from there to another famous tie company, and then he. And another famous Thai company where he convinced the president to help him, like, launch his own line of ties. And then later, like, released to Bloomingdale's, I think, in 67.

[Alice]

Yeah, he brought his ties. He brought his ties to Bloomingdale's, and they have the president of Bloomingdale's on there. Rem remembering him bringing those ties to him. And he said, okay, we'll take your ties, but you need to narrow them. Because Ralph wanted a fatter tie. He wanted four inches for it to flare out to four. And he's like, if you narrow those back into three inches, take your brand name off, put Bloomingdale's on the back, then we'll take him. And he said no. And he had this unwavering vision of what it should be, and he could have had that sale. And later on, they went back to him and said, okay, let's sell the ties. Yeah. So it's amazing, you know, Ricky, his wife was talking about how gutsy that was for him to be walk. Be willing to walk away here. He's manufactured all these ties, needs to sell them. That's a really hard thing to do.

[Becky]

Right.

[Corey]

When you give up a piece of your vision for a little bit of success, I think you're just damaging yourself. In the long run, though, he doesn't become Ralph Lauren, like, with doing that. You know what I mean? He becomes making white label, selling ties for people.

[Alice]

Yeah. No, totally.

[Becky]

Yeah. I just. I love that he started with ties. And I was just gonna say, like, to go to foray from ties to fashion, and then just, like, speaking to his lifestyle and then to home in 1983 is when they launched Ralph Lauren Home. Like, that's written to have it be such a success. And so because he was true to, like, his vision, like, that's really hard. Think of a fashion house. There's very few that have transitioned, like, lifestyle. You have, like, Armani. You have, like. I don't think of any others. That have actually successfully have, like, a full lifestyle that you like.

[Alice]

Fendi Casa Banana Republic just launched home. Yeah. So it is interesting that that fashion will sometimes foray into lifestyle. Right.

[Becky]

But you did it so successfully. Like, I don't think you can think of, like, the fashion without thinking of the lifestyle and the setting that you would sit. What the room looks like.

[Alice]

Yeah.

[Becky]

Sit in those clothes. In.

[Alice]

Yeah.

[Becky]

Like, no other brand I can think, like, has done it as successfully.

[Alice]

Yeah.

[Becky]

As he has. And, like, it's so emotional because, like, whether you are, like, in a city, you know, a cityscape, you're in New York or you're in Jamaica or you're in Denver or in the mountains, you know, in Vail, like, you know what Ralph Lauren looks like in all those places, which is just incredible that he's had, like, such a breadth, you know, of demographics and that. That style, that very Ralph Lauren verb, like, can translate to anyone. It's really, like. It's just, like, phenomenal. Like.

[Alice]

Yeah.

[Becky]

I think he's, like, the most amazing brand study, and I'm just excited that we get to talk about it today and the things that we've learned from Ralph, I think in what we do, I think is what we really want to unpack today. So there's your history lesson. What else you got?

[Corey]

No, I was gonna say, as we're getting into it, though, like. Like Jess mentioned, this came from a listener of ours, Tessa Russell. Yeah. Gave us this great topics suggestion. She asked how to create a layered look like Ralph Lauren. That got us thinking about him. Like, obviously, he's iconic. We love him this year. His Ralph Lauren Stock is up 44% just this year, which is insane. And the net income is up 27.6%. That is probably largely to do because he, like, designed the Olympic. All the apparel for the Olympic apparel. And. Yeah.

[Alice]

And the younger generation has discovered them for themselves.

[Corey]

Yes.

[Alice]

This wasn't influenced by their parents, which. I don't know. I don't know if you guys generationally. If your mom was buying you the polo shirt or if that was your decision. Okay.

[Corey]

Yeah.

[Alice]

Yeah. And see, your brothers were buying the polo shirts. Right. And so that helped influence you. But for some reason, the younger generation, it's not coming from their parents because Ralph kind of got just a little bit quiet and tired for a minute. And this younger generation is coming up, and they're loving these looks. We've seen tennis culture pop up again. Right. These preppy looks. All the things that we grew up 90s fashion, which is Quintessential, like academia. Yeah.

[Becky]

You know, like more books, the better. Like, that is so Ralph.

[Alice]

Yeah.

[Corey]

It's also, I think, a reaction to like the minimalism that has been happening because Ralph is not minimal. Like.

[Alice]

Yeah.

[Corey]

Layering is a huge part of, you know, everything that he does.

[Becky]

Isn't that cool, though, that he never. He never bends to a trend.

[Corey]

Yeah.

[Becky]

Never bends to a trend.

[Corey]

That's why I.

[Alice]

Creates the trend.

[Corey]

Yeah. That's why he is timeless, I think, because he just creates something and I. In 30 years from now, I mean, he's always going to come back, you know, like, just come back into culture just because he's. He's timeless. Yeah. Yeah. So really cool, really inspiring. But yeah, so we, we created some points to kind of like talk about, you know, how to layer like Ralph. And so, yeah, if you guys want, we can get into those.

[Alice]

Yeah. We have like four things that we feel like we've learned from Ralph over the years. I. Number one is storytelling. Number two is scale.

[Becky]

Yeah, 100%.

[Alice]

Number three is for sure layering. He's the king of it. And I think people that work for him also really get that down. And it's a real feeling thing as you watch him and very Ralph pull the layering in and off. It's a very living, breathing thing as he's trying to figure it out. And it's fun to watch him do it because we all know we're trying to figure out in our own homes. And then the number four that we've learned from him is just to be uncompromising on your vision.

[Becky]

Yeah.

[Alice]

So that's what we wanted to unpack today as we answer Tessa Russell in wanting to know, how do we create that layered look like Ralph? Guys, make your new year resolution to just sleep better. I don't know about you guys, but I require eight or nine hours of sleep to feel really, really good. And I have to say that sleeping on the cozy earth sheets has made a huge difference. There's something about the breathability of the sheet. You're going to sleep several degrees cooler. It's really, truly incredible. And I love the hand on the sheets. There's a reason why these are Cozy Earth's best selling sheet set. It's made from 100% premium viscose from bamboo, and they get uniquely soft after every wash. And get this, they're guaranteed for 10 years. Their durable weave fabric doesn't pill, so you're not going to get those little pillings that come up. It's just incredible. Incredible. Product. You're going to love it. The other thing I love that helps me sleep better is their bamboo pajama set. They're timeless, they're classic. They have this stretch knit that features an enhanced breathability also. And then there's this great drape. So you look great in them, you feel great, and it's lightweight enough to allow you to sleep cooler than cotton. And you are going to regulate your temperature to help you stay asleep all night long. So a better year starts with better sleep. Wrap yourself in Cozy Earth. Don't wait. Head to cozyearth.com deeralice now and use my exclusive code Dear Alice to get up to 40% off. That's cozyearth.com Dear Alice if you get a post purchase survey say that you heard about Cozy Earth from the Dear Alice podcast. So the first one I wanted to talk about was storytelling. You guys feel free to add your points. But one of the things that I learned from re watching Dear not Dear Alice, Dear Ralph.

[Becky]

Dear Ralph.

[Corey]

That's the next podcast we're doing. We're gonna have him on.

[Becky]

I know, I can't wait for watching.

[Alice]

Barry Ralph is that he loved movies. And so he's always had this cinematic eye. He loves watching movies from the 30s and 40s.

[Corey]

You can tell in his ads.

[Alice]

Yes, yes. In his ads, both print and for television, is he would create an entire scene, an entire set. And he would really create the feeling of it. He wouldn't use models in the beginning. He would use friends or people or an interesting architect. And he would just really get this really honest look.

[Corey]

Relatable too.

[Alice]

He would tell the girls to wipe their makeup off. Yeah, the relatability thing. He likes girls with long hair because he likes when their hair blows in the wind. And he just wants the this all America, clean faced, happy lifestyle. He wants everything to be happy. And he would create these scenes. In fact, one of the reasons why he's created his own stores instead of just exclusively selling in Bloomingdale's or Saks or whatever else is because he didn't like the way his clothing looked on the mannequins, the way that they were dressing them and just khaki pants and a yellow shirt and maybe a sweater over the shoulder and a tie. It just didn't look right in the fluorescent lighting. And the way they were putting it together didn't look amazing. And so he was like, I gotta create a setting for this, right? So he buys the Ralph Lauren mansion in Manhattan and he creates the entire scene and then puts you know, the low lighting, the right music, the click of the floors, the whole scene, the Oriental rugs going up the stairs, and then he puts the clothes on the mannequins, and they have masters layering the window scenes. And then you get the look, and then you're part of the lifestyle. You're just experiencing it, and.

[Becky]

And you want a piece of it.

[Alice]

Yeah.

[Becky]

When you see it, you're just like. You find something to take home because you want that to stay with you 100%. Storytelling is amazing.

[Alice]

Yeah. Yeah. He. He said that the cowboy, the working man, can be just as stylish as the aristocrat. And he loves all of. He loves all of these styles so good. Yeah. He finds beauty in every aspect of American culture, whether it be Native American cowboy, Ivy League culture, military safari, English writing. He finds nobility in all of them. And he creates the most idealized version of that lifestyle. And I think that is. It's just such romantic stories that we can all really buy into. And so that is the master of it. He tells the story and he really conjures up the feelings. And we see that in the print ads, and we see it in the way that you walk into the store and it smells a certain way and the floors are so certain thing. And, you know, all of the. All of the different furniture and just the whole experience. He. You know, they said he would go over budget in every aspect of creating the store or creating the clothing or whatever, but it had to be right. And he was unbending on his vision, like you talked about, Corey. But I think the storytelling, one of the things that we've learned from that in creating homes for other people is to just really lean into who they are. And don't just tell that story in. In your voice, in your. You've got to lean way in. If you can imagine if Ralph Lauren had just put in a table and chairs and a rug, that's not the story. That's just jeans and a T shirt. Right. That's not layering in the right belt, the sweater over the shoulders, the purse, the earrings, the backdrop, the lighting, the right. The right backpack over the shoulder, the certain socks, the perfume that you're going to be wearing. There's a huge story to be told. And I think as interior designers, if we can take a page out of that book and just really lean way into those family photos, those black and whites that are in the frame, the, you know, the smell of the room, the soundtrack of the home, the authenticity. Yes. Of every piece in the fabrics like, really digging into the family culture. And I know I was talking to my mom over the holidays, and we were talking about her home that she built about 20 years ago. And she said, you know, I. I grew up in Seattle, and I grew up going to these old schools. And so when I built my home, she would lean back to those big, beautiful old schools, the newel posts and. Right. The types of wood, the fireplace mantel that's, like, taller than I am at her house. And so she had this vision in her head of these beautiful old buildings in Seattle as she was building this house, and that was, like her North Star. And, you know, and then, of course, they have a lot of family heirlooms and pictures, and, you know, they've. They've told this beautiful. This quilted, beautiful story of their life in it. And I think the more that we do that and we can do that for people and lean all the way in, like, think about Ralph and the storytelling. That is what makes us great. And I think that's one of the things that I've definitely learned from Ralph Lauren.

[Corey]

Definitely.

[Becky]

We just barely finished a presentation, just actually right before we hopped into this, and we were showing some renderings of this. This home in Mexico. And she is very romantic, and she has a feminine style. And so, again, kind think of, like, New York, Ralph Lauren. But then we're presenting this media room, like, where her husband, like, has a bar and things, so it has to relate to it. And we showed her the rendering. She's like, I can smell. I know what that smells like.

[Corey]

Exactly.

[Becky]

Look at it. Like, even. Just, like, a picture of that storytelling. She's like, I know where that smells. I know what that smells like. Another thing she said that I thought was so fun, especially leading up to this podcast, is that she's like, like, in my home. I just want to, like that I can be a romantic girl. I can be a pretty girl. I can be a sexy girl. I can be, like, all these different things, but it's still my home. And, like, the environment will tell that story, and it's a total movie set for how to reflect yourself. And he's just, like, brilliant at it, you know, wherever you're at. Again, we mentioned it. His storytelling for Cowboy, you know, his storytelling for New York. His storytelling just wherever you're at in your. In Interiors journey. Really, really take a page from his book on that. Like, who. Who are you? And, like, how are you reflecting who into your space? And how can you lean a little bit deeper into it? And if it's authentic and it's not trendy, then it will be timeless, like Ralph. Do you know what I mean? That's the storytelling that you should be craving as you're building this backdrop for your family.

[Alice]

Yeah. He says, know who you are and what you want to say.

[Becky]

Yeah.

[Alice]

Right. You have to really know who you are when you're building a home or you're going about doing a remodel.

[Becky]

Any purchasing decision.

[Alice]

Because otherwise you can get lost in the sauce.

[Becky]

Totally.

[Alice]

Because the decisions you're making are expensive. The timing has to be right. Or you have to choose something that's in stock. And you're like, if I choose something that's in stock, it means everybody else is choosing in that. And that's why you stock it.

[Becky]

Yeah.

[Alice]

Right. Yeah. And so you're almost like, I want anti. What's in stock because I want to tell my story.

[Corey]

Give me the longest lead time.

[Alice]

Yeah, yeah, exactly, though, right?

[Corey]

Yeah.

[Becky]

Or you see him, like, he, like Ralph, like, goes around. He wears that Walmart flannel, and he loves it.

[Alice]

Yeah, he loves it.

[Becky]

And because, like, if it's in good taste and it's something that he likes, then it's worth grabbing because it tells this story. So again, it's not about the highest price.

[Alice]

It's not about what it costs. Yeah.

[Becky]

It's just about what is your story. Tell your heart say.

[Alice]

Yeah, tell your story.

[Becky]

What does your heart say?

[Alice]

But truly, truly, truly know who you are and what you want to say. And I think another fun thing is that he's aspirational, but he's always optimistic. His point of view. Do you know what I mean? You have to be. To believe in this dream and just to be from the Bronx in New York and. Right. He just absolutely believes in something. This. This bright light out there that he continues to. To chase and put forth in the most grand vision of. Of their life possible.

[Corey]

Yeah. Positivity comes from optimism. You know what I mean? It doesn't come from pessimism like that. That's. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's. That's just true in life in general. But that's. Yeah, that's awesome. And I think that, yeah, it tells. It gives a good insight to his. To his storytelling and just how. Just thoughtful he is about it and hard to do. There's definitely an art to it. But he gives us the blueprint, you.

[Becky]

Know, down to the necktie. Like all the details matter.

[Corey]

Yeah.

[Becky]

It's all important. It can all be great, you know, which I think is so great.

[Alice]

Definitely Suze is going to share a couple. I'm going to share a couple favorite lifestyles. Those of you watching the podcast, we're going to describe what you're looking at first and foremost. This is a picture of Ralph and Ricky at their Jamaica home. And you can just see the dark, beautiful, louvered shutters in the background. And then just these gorgeous white walls. The crisp contrast between the dark and.

[Becky]

Light foliage and the plaster. Always palms and the earth, like the earthen. Like, there's always warmth to it. Like there's never a cold interior when you're looking at Ralph's faces and that he dresses. He dresses the part, you know, like we always say that we always look in people's closets because that's really revealing on what their style is. So look in your closet and, like, what are you the most comfortable in? You know what I mean? Because that's how you should feel in your space.

[Alice]

I love that he's in bare feet, but he's wearing a white dinner jacket, a white suit, no tie, just his top button unbuttoned.

[Becky]

Yeah. Such a fox. She's such a fox. Like, yeah, go her. Did you know that Ricky Lauren, she's a psychotherapist.

[Alice]

It's amazing.

[Becky]

An artist and like all these things, she has such a pedigree. Both of them do. This is also in their Jamaica home. And it's just. It's beautiful. But you can tell that it's Ralph. And we'll go into all the other aspects that we find aspirational about him, his layering, the scale, all those things. But you can still tell, regardless of, like, the part of the world that he's in, that he's touched that space.

[Corey]

Yep.

[Becky]

Which is true to his brand. What's the last one from Jamaica? Before. It's just. There's such an ease to it. I think anybody would feel comfortable here, which I think is also something he does really well. He makes people feel comfortable, but it.

[Corey]

Also, like, feels edited, too. You know what I mean?

[Alice]

Like, like, yeah, this is his Colorado home and this is on a big, huge, like, ranch.

[Becky]

I know it's like tons of, like, tons of acres.

[Alice]

Yeah. You can see, like, teepees out in the distance and. And he probably put them up. But it is just beautiful wood log cabins. Lots of layered flat weave rugs. Just beauty in every detail. So generous. I think scale is one of the things that he's really known for.

[Corey]

Look how wide the planks, like, are on the hardwood floor, too. I just like. Yeah. To me, that's so rad when he.

[Becky]

Talks about going like, vintage shopping with his team and just like to find these, like, Native American rugs. And you always. Speaking of storytelling, you always, like, ask who you're buying the thing from about the story of it. You find out as much as you can about Navajo, you know, heritage and, like, why. And there's so there's stories in every single rug, in every blanket. And that's like what he finds so beautiful.

[Corey]

That's like what makes us fall in love with people. Right. Is like knowing their story. And it's. Yeah. So that's such a huge.

[Alice]

This is in the. The mansion, the New York store. Yeah. So beautiful. That lifestyle is very New York. This home is the Bedford home. And I just wanted to make a quick. A quick note about this. His mom asked him, why do you need this big house? And he said, I bought this house so that I could get that little red barn that was on the property. And he said, that little red barn is for my soul.

[Corey]

Oh, that's amazing.

[Alice]

That's sweet. There's these, like, little intimate moments. I remember when they did this print ad saying they were coming out for with Ralph Lauren Country. The country store, which. The country store is what a lot of those antiques they were buying for. And there's just these things that he does that do have so much soul. And when you know that about the Bedford home that he had to get that little red barn that's down by the water for his soul, you know, you can feel that in that he always mixes the humble right in with the grand just to make sure there's something there for his soul.

[Corey]

Yep.

[Alice]

Yeah. Really beautiful.

[Becky]

What a good lesson.

[Alice]

Yeah, so, so good. So many amazing lifestyles to learn from Ralph. The second thing we want to talk about is scale that I think we've really taken a page out of his book. I think one of the things you hear me say the most is that he will often use a 48 inch round dining table or center hall table as a nightstand or a side table. And we saw great examples of this as they were going through the lifestyles of Ralph Von. Very Ralph. Here. I'm holding up a picture for those of you that are just listening. In a bedroom, they've got the big 48 inch round table. And he has his own lighting line through Visual Comfort. He's got an oil painting on this, several picture frames, books, a glass of water. It's just such a generous big surface. And with those generous big surfaces, just really feel well collected and Homey. And he loves objects and beautiful things, so.

[Becky]

And again. And all these things that we're talking about are gonna like relate to each other because I'm like the storytelling of how you use the. There's a function to it. There's something like meaningful. The images in this picture that Jess is holding up of the frames. Those intimate moments that should be by your bed, not on your entry table necessarily because he's using such generous scaled pieces like 48 inch dining table for a nightstand. You're able to get this layered look, but you're able to still have some white space to actually use the surface. And I think that that's something that his spaces, even though that they're very layered and very cozy and all these things that you feel when you think of Ralph, they're, they're livable because you still have a place to put your drink. There is a matter of restraint. So when you are layering and doing, you know, with these like large scales pieces, know that you don't have to fill the entire thing. The reason it's large is so that you can have enough, but you can also like pull back, which I think he's genius at, and study that. You know, if you really want the Ralph Lauren learned look to understand those.

[Alice]

Things, give yourself massive surfaces.

[Becky]

Massive surfaces.

[Alice]

And buy big things because little things look knick knacky. But when we use scale to our advantage, that's when you start to get that really generous big lifestyle look, you know, and also big things make your room feel bigger so much. Right. We're going to use the larger rug. We're going to use those larger tables. We're going to get that biggest mirror.

[Becky]

The biggest mirror. I was looking at my dear friend of mine, she was just like trying to put together her room. And again, like I think she was compromised by what was available and the scale floor mirror. And so she showed me a picture. I was just like, oh no, Amber. I'm like, like you need a bigger mirror that I'm just like, I bet you can't even see your head. You stand back and look in there. You know, I'm just like, yeah, don't be compromised by what's available. Like there are things available like out there. You just have to be patient. And it's worth the wait. Yeah, it really is worth the wait to get the storytelling right.

[Alice]

Yes.

[Becky]

You know, and that's such a waste of money and a waste of like your time and your story, you know?

[Alice]

Yeah.

[Becky]

So like go for bigger. Yeah, always bigger art Bigger mirrors, bigger lamps, bigger tables, bigger rugs, bigger furniture because it will grow your space.

[Alice]

Yeah, yeah, definitely. I think a great example of scale. I'm gonna hold up this image. I don't know if this is from one of his homes or if this is from the lifestyle, Ralph Lauren, but you can see this desk. It's like probably 90 inches. It looks like a dining table. It's huge. And then how many things he can load up. He's not got not just one lamp, but two. A task lamp. And then also this beautiful crystal lamp.

[Becky]

Cooler than all of us, right? Yeah.

[Alice]

And the leather blotter both front and back. How you can sit on either direction.

[Becky]

Yeah. Massive, large coffee table. Books to be inspired by. You just have like every. Everything there, but you still have blank space.

[Alice]

I'll say, too. Like the crystal blocks, these crystal risers. My love of crystal definitely comes from Ralph. You know, we've got like so many crystal things. We've got crystal blocks and crystal slabs for us to layer jewelry or objects on. It's a really good styling tool. I probably haven't articulated that very well when we talk about the collection, but it just adds a little bit of what I always say, like wetness or transparency or glossiness to styling because it can get so stuffed looking. And so here, one of Ralph Lauren's favorite things is cars. And you see that his collection kind of come to life in a lot of his work. And he kind of feels like he's playing the part in a movie when he gets in his car and he puts on the driving gloves. Whatever part he's playing. Right. That Phantom, what is that big, beautiful old, you know, that sort of 1936 Mercedes or whatever it is. Oh, yeah, you know that one. Anyway. Anyway, he just has. He loves chrome, he loves crystal, he loves leather, he loves wood. And this is just a really beautiful image from a space that they've done.

[Corey]

I feel like he, you know, you said like he loves movies. He's kind of just realized who he is as the main character and has just brought us all into his movies, which is his. His life, which is so cool. And. Yeah. Whether he's in Jamaica or Colorado or Manhattan. You know what I mean? And we're all just like watching the movie of Ralph.

[Alice]

Yeah.

[Becky]

They say.

[Alice]

They say it's performance art in which we can all participate. I love that that's what he's doing. And his personal success, his social success, his cultural success, it's all self made. And if you listen to the critics, you. If he listened to the critics, he would have had to quit. Isn't that interesting? Yeah. But he took the fantasies of what Americ could be, and he made worlds and narratives out of them over the last 60 years. That's so good, you know.

[Becky]

Yeah.

[Alice]

It's like idealized America. Whatever part of the pie that you live in, from country to city or whatever else, and that we get to all sort of participate in this great performance and this great narrative.

[Becky]

There's such beauty in each one of them. I think that's also why he's, like, extraordinary.

[Alice]

Yeah.

[Becky]

Is that just that little red barn, you know, that he found his soul in? Like, there's something just, like, beautiful wherever you go. The people, you know, the history. Like, he is just, like, taking that and embodied it. And you're just like, God, I love being American.

[Alice]

It makes you proud to be an American.

[Becky]

And he makes you want to go there.

[Alice]

Yeah.

[Becky]

Like, he makes you want to go, like, explore the mountains or wherever it is, or go to the city or go to his mansion or any of the thing. It's so transformative. It's amazing.

[Alice]

So good. I think the other thing with scale that. That we've been able to participate in having is his lamps, his lighting fixtures.

[Becky]

No one does it.

[Alice]

Yeah. In our. In our last store that we had downtown Salt Lake, we were one of them that got chosen to get to have Ralph Lauren lighting. I don't know how they decided in the lottery who gets it and who doesn't, but we had to create our own separate room for Ralph Lauren lighting, different than the Visual Comfort Gallery. And it had to be displayed on its own, in its own way, on its own pedestals. And I actually lived with two of the early Ralph Lauren lamps, and they're huge, and I can't replace them because nobody else is making a 48 inch table lamp made in black alligator leather, you know, and chrome. And he just does such an extraordinary job with his finishes and his scale, and it makes everything else around it amazing. I cannot say enough good about the lighting line. We really, really love it.

[Becky]

I know. I have one of his floor lamp, the stage lights. They have it in Nolan's room because he's at, like, a thespian of a thing.

[Alice]

Yeah.

[Becky]

And it's just like, I just turn that on and it doesn't have a bright light at all, but it's just like a subtle glow. And one thing that I thought was interesting when I first started going to market with you and we learned about Ralph Lauren and how, like, usually when you go to market, it's usually like a six month span between when you see it and then when they launch the collection, it's available for everybody. And they're like, it'll be six months so you can get this. But for the Ralph Lauren collection, it'll be at least a year. And that's because, like, if you look under the carriage of like any of like the hardware, the, like how things are fitted, the chain, everything, everything is better on Ralph's lighting. Like the details are there and like it's details where nobody's looking for them unless you're looking for them. And like that's the difference of Ralph Lauren and everyone else. Yeah, his lighting and everything he does.

[Alice]

Just, even the way you switch on and off the lamps is different than what is standard for the rest of the company. You know, the, the cords that you plug in the lamps with are different, the shades are different. The, the. All the materiality, the. It's just a different ball game that they had to raise to a whole new standard to be the ones that were selected for, you know, for making the line. And, and we've seen actually in the industry, we have seen different vendors take on Ralph Lauren. First they were at. But I feel like, I feel like Henri, Don and then EJ Victor and then they went to ta was making them. TA got it pulled from them. I don't know who's gonna be making the furniture now, but they have to be at a certain excellence. And I don't know what happens in these partnerships, but it's gotta be right.

[Becky]

I know.

[Alice]

Or he's not gonna do it. Yeah, yeah. Unwavering, unwavering, which is our fourth point. But yeah, we were on scale. Let's talk about layering.

[Becky]

We can talk about this forever.

[Alice]

Yeah, yeah. Layering, I think, is obviously the question that got us to this podcast. This is something that, you know, we obviously continue seeing the project, the projects. This is something that was published in ARC Digest. This is one of his own homes. If you look at the scale of this cocktail table, I don't know what that is. That's probably like 60 by 60.

[Corey]

Looks like it. Yeah.

[Alice]

Layered with probably no less than 40 books and a big, beautiful chrome car in the middle of it. But it's all the things he loves. I think he's a great collector. Sue and I were listening to a podcast this morning from one of the gentlemen that collects things for him and he's always looking for the very best. And Ralph had said to him, if you don't want it for yourself, then I don't want it. And so having to go through and filter these things as he goes to swap meets, antique shows, the Rose bowl, all these places for big blankets and rugs and denim and, you know, all of the things that they were selling at the Double RL store, it had to be the very best. Otherwise Ralph wasn't interested in it. And that's how they layered the windows. People that would do the windows would sit and talk about that too. But you can just see the layers of extraordinary things. Even like the little. The little air flying machines hanging from the ceiling and black and white photography.

[Becky]

Doses of curiosity. Like curious objects that like, make you want to like, ask questions. Which I think is a really beautiful thing for any. Anyone's home. That's such a beautiful part about layering is so I keep people curious because, like, you have the story and they need to ask the question. But be like, wow, he's fascinating. Like, you can like just like stay. I'm sure if he had a museum, which I have no doubt that there's museums based on Ralph Lauren. If there will be.

[Corey]

There should be.

[Becky]

There will be that. You'd have to like loop it 10 times to be able to like, see everything. You still wouldn't see everything because he is just like that good at the layering game and like, it just makes you want to go back.

[Corey]

He paid.

[Becky]

Your home should be like that.

[Corey]

Yeah. He pays attention to the like the details of, of. Of everything. And I mean, I didn't know that he was like, you know, a huge car lover, but now that you're like mentioning it, there's like a little like model car and like almost all of these spaces and yeah. It's just cool because then it's like a little like glimpse to like who he is, you know?

[Alice]

Yeah.

[Corey]

It's awesome when we go to style.

[Becky]

For like photo shoots and things. Like, he's like someone to take a page from his book because he like, you look at this and like, it looks like it's always been this way. This room that Jess is holding up and there's just. There's such a composition to it. Such a composition to it. But it's so effortless.

[Alice]

I thought we would.

[Becky]

So effortless.

[Alice]

We talk about the layering in with this scene because you have art layered on top of built ins, full of.

[Corey]

Books, you know, and then art in front of that too.

[Becky]

Like, yeah, my collection is so abundant.

[Alice]

Yeah.

[Becky]

That I have to just like place it everywhere. Which is such a good story to.

[Alice]

Yeah. So if you were to teach the people how to layer like Ralph using this image, sue, what would you tell them to do?

[Becky]

Gosh, I would start with a really large rug. You know, like something that's interesting and tells your story and, like, feels like the scene. Again, the rug is the biggest piece of art in the room. The art that he uses, the scale of it. Do you see how it's going from like side to side? And he does that probably just for composition wise. That's the largest backdrop to then layer more things, things in front of. So again, kind of like the big dining table as a nightstand, you go larger because then you can layer things. If you're dealing with like small pillows, like five 18 by 18 pillows, that's not going to be a luxurious layering story. You need larger things. You need like the 26 by 26 or then to like layer 20 by 20, which means that you need a larger sofa to be able to handle that. So with layering, you do have to have like a really, really generous base layer. Your rug needs to be larger, your sofas need to be larger. You need to span from wall to wall so that you can then add all the things that you've been collecting your whole life.

[Alice]

Let's make this point really quick about pillows, because everybody listening, all has a sofa and all have pillows. I remember wanting to get these layers right in the store. And we used to always refer to the store as like a design laboratory for us to be able to really figure out how to get these layers and how to work these things out in people's homes. And so we would often play around with this at night. And I remember taking Euro Shams off of a bed and putting it on a sofa and being like this was what Ralph would do. He would use a 26 by 26 inch pillow if the sofa depth is right. Today I feel like a 24 inch pillow is just like the size. It's really all we have in the back. Sometimes we'll do a 22 to step down in front. But I'm not interested in a 20 inch pillow. Definitely not 19 or 18 inch at all. Unless it's around round ball and it's made of, you know, sherpa fur or something like that. So, yeah, I think that's one of the things as designers and design enthusiasts today that we can all learn from Ralph and the layers is let's make sure our pillows are the right scale and also make sure they're filled with down, down fills. Because when you sit down, you do not want to have to move that pillow. You want to sink into it and have it add to your comfort. It needs to be an authentic story and you need to really be able to live that way. Having to pull pillows off and put them on the floor isn't living with, with them, it's just decorating with them.

[Corey]

One thing I've noticed from him, like, going back to the dining table as a, as a nightstand or like, you know, this art being hung on a bookshelf in front of books. It's like, it kind of seems that he's like flipping things on its head, like thinking outside of the box. And when I saw the photo of the dining table as a, as a nightstand, it almost looks like, like we don't have a nice hand. Like, oh, hell, just like use the, you know, use the dining table. It almost. It's so. It seems very. Like there's something scrappy about it. Yeah, yeah. And it's something crappy about it. So what would you guys say is like, the best way to like, kind of think outside the box and maybe like, because to me, like, that's. This is where the interest is right here. You know, like, it's something that is uncommon.

[Alice]

Yeah.

[Corey]

But like used. It's in a very smart way.

[Alice]

Naomi Campbell gown and then putting the military jacket on it. Right. You're always going to mix in that low or that high or that unexpected element. And I think we should all like do this in 20, 25. We all need to rearrange our furniture. Right. And get clever with it. Ralph Lauren had a new book come out a couple years ago that have his own homes in it. It's just a book of all of his homes. Or just study pin Pinterest and really study the layers because you're going to know what layers are missing from your repertoire. Right. You're going to be able to get courage to do the wild thing, which is pull that old dining table that was Grandma's, that little 48 inch one in her kitchen, and just try it for size, Right. Put your lamp on it, work it out. And those risks are how you're going to get the reward. That's how Ralph got the reward of being Ralph was by taking the risks. And it didn't come easy. Right. He has to work that out, figure it out. It's not that it's an automatic formula that he's going to say A plus B equals C, see? It's that he's doing the time, right. He's doing the design laboratory. You guys are all working on your own homes like design laboratories. We read your notes. We know that you're trying to figure things out. And I think some of these own risks are just like rearrange some of the stuff in your house, Figure it out. Stare at his work, stare at why is that working? And it's a lot of times it's the scale of things. Right. The layer of things. Being generous with it makes you look like you have a generous lifestyle. When you're buying teeny tiny tables and teeny tiny pillows and a rug that's too small, you're never going to get there. You got to use that rug that you bought and go put that in your entryway. Right. Because that little 8x10 isn't serving you in your living room. That's, that's going to be good for your entry if you want to go for it and look like Ralph.

[Corey]

Yep.

[Becky]

I think to take a page out of his like thrifting book. Do you know what I mean? It's like to go. I'm like, I grew up going to yard sales and estate sales with my mom in the back. When you were saying like, what was your first like, like thing of Ralph again? It was like being more inspired by it. But I was, I would. I loved going to estate sales and I loved going to things because they had collections and they had things. I'm like, what is like interesting that I could like rescue from this.

[Alice]

Yeah.

[Becky]

That like I'm drawn to for my own personal style that I could like reflect in a really beautiful layered way. That's a really good thing to look at. Because if you look at any of his spaces, back to this one that Jess was asking about, how do we layer more like Ralph, like the blanket's there for you to cuddle up right there. You know, that's how you get the layers. You put the blanket where you'd want to sit and you have a blanket. I think another thing that he does, phenomenal as far as in the school of layering is the amount of books that he uses. We saw it on that cocktail table.

[Alice]

Yes.

[Becky]

But they're just piled and like that's something that I think just naturally we both have a lot of books and so naturally they're just like piled everywhere. But my sister in law was at our home for a vacation and she was just like, she was just flipping through all my books. I was just. It made me so happy because that's what they're there for is to like open up and be inspired by. So find Books and find more than you think that you need of anything that you're interested in, anything that your kids are interested in, anything that your husband or wife or whoever your grandmother, like, inherit those books, look through them, because there's treasures there, you know, and like, those are the things, especially when you do get them previously owned. And like, there's history to it, There's a smell to it, there's a story, there's a story to it. And there's usually, like writing in the margins and like, that is stuff that you can't just, like, create. And that's the magic of Ralph is the old with the new, the expensive with the less expensive. And the storytelling, the storytelling is just money. It's so good. And it's why you feel something when you look there and you want to be in those spaces.

[Alice]

Yeah. If I were to boil down the layers of Ralph, I would say the books, original art, whether it be leaning or hung, you need it both. Lots of lamp light, pattern on pattern. Right. We're seeing that in the telegraphy.

[Becky]

So study it.

[Alice]

Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah. That low light and always big oriental rugs. Really great rugs. Leather. There's usually always leather in the room too.

[Becky]

But it's artisan, like oriental, Native American, whatever it is like an artist and a storyteller created that thing that everything is art in his spaces.

[Alice]

Yeah. Totally.

[Becky]

Fantastic.

[Alice]

Our last point we want to make is just to be uncompromising in your vision and to just really know who you are and what you want to say, you know, like they said, whatever language it is that you want to speak about your experience. Like my mom growing up in Seattle and wanting. Loving these old school houses. Right. We can all picture different lifestyles and which of Ralph's lives that we would want to live, you know, and just like lean way into that. But to your point about being so unapologetic, because then otherwise Ralph wouldn't have been Ralph. He would have just been white labeling for somebody else. And so if you're designing for somebody else else in their home, you've got to lean way in to understand their life. To be able to really tell that story in a big way and being unapologetic about it. Don't be phoning that in. Right?

[Corey]

Yep.

[Alice]

Yeah. I think those. Those things really matter. This is what he says. He says you have a full life to be able to create. You can't create from emptiness. Yeah. It has to come from an honest place. So as a designer, you can help people get that. I think that's really great. They also say sometimes you have to fulfill your dreams to know what the real dream is. And he says family and having peace is his real dream today, which is really sweet. You can see him celebrate his family right after every fashion show or any award. He goes straight to his family, hugs them first and and then he'll start hugging Oprah Winfrey and everybody else is there, you know, which is really great. Yeah. I think those are a few things. A few take homes that we've learned about Ralph. And I hope that this has been a fun listen for you guys. It was fun for us to do a deep dive. Yeah. Thank you so much for writing in. If you guys have any episode ideas, just send those to dear alicellislanehome.com and if you would leave us a review that really helps us get noticed and like subscribe all the things. Follow us on Instagram if you aren't already. We're Alice lanehome or Alice Lane Interiors. Thanks so much guys. We'll catch you next time. Hey, thanks for listening. If you like our show, please leave a five star.