How Ralph Lauren Invented the Old Money Aesthetic

images like this Define the old money aesthetic as we know it today but would you believe these styles are born in the mind of a Jewish man who grew up poor in the Bronx in this video I'm going to explain how Ralph Lauren born Ralph lifshitz is the single biggest influence behind the old money aesthetic I'll tell you where he got his inspiration from how he made it distinctly Ralph and why it resonates so much with the current generation and and I'll explain how you can apply his genius philosophy to your own style to understand how much imagination was required to create the aesthetic that we now know as old money we have to go back to Ralph's Roots he was born Ralph livshitz in 1939 to a Jewish immigrant family in the Bronx of New York City he was the youngest of four children and had to share a room with his two brothers growing up his decision to change his surname to Lauren at the age of 16 is the first sign we have of Ralph's Vision although it was mainly prompted by terrible teasing from his classmates it's a clue that Ralph was aspiring to live and create a life that was different from the one he'd known so far after he got out of the army he worked as a sales assistant for Brooks Brothers this is where he would have had his eyes opened to the existing preppy Styles in the Northeast this trend sprung out of ivy league universities and hit Peak popularity in the late 1950s and Ralph was living and working in New York City where he would have been surrounded by a lot of wealthy men wearing these Styles after working for a couple of necktie companies he founded the Ralph Lauren Corporation in 1967 and the Empire as we know it today had begun Ralph initially just made neck ties but he didn't follow the fashion at the time for skinny ties for his inspiration he looked back to the wide ties from the the Golden Age of Hollywood and this era in time and all the glamour that goes with it is still a major influence over the old money aesthetic today the' 70s was when Ralph Lauren expanded into a full range men's wear and women's wear line and he was really able to carve out his vision for the brand The Genius of Ralph is that he was able to take a pre-existing relatively conservative aesthetic and turned it on its head then he sold it back to the middle and upper class of America before exporting his vision to the rest of the world what Ralph did was make everything more glamorous more aspirational exciting and more diverse than other brands so let's take a look at some vintage ads from Ralph Lauren and see how he really created the old money aesthetic in this one the guy is wearing a white suit which wouldn't be unheard of for a wealthy guy in the summer but then Ralph has added this necer Chief this is the twist that catches your attention and it puts a can you spin on people's image of a guy in a white suit it looks flamboyant it looks glamorous it looks so elegant you know this guy looks like an aristocrat from the 1800s reimagined for the 1980s I assume that this next one is also from the80s and that Ralph is taking inspiration from the new Romantic Movement and adding this trend to an existing ideal of old money so here he's borrowing interesting features from a trend of the time and blending it with that classic aesthetic and that's what we see a lot of old money boys doing today introducing new items like heavy jewelry and birken stocks with the more traditional pieces meanwhile the two-tone shoes in this ad are a nod to the classic styles of the 1940s sport has always been an important part of both the Ralph Lauren brand and the old money lifestyle here he's incorporating elements of Cricut wear into ivy league outfits Ralph had an ability to blend British and American culture that was very ahead of its time these days the internet has made fashion much more Global and with today's old money aesthetic it's hard to distinguish what's a British outfit what's an American outfit what's an Italian or european outfit but we can see how Ralph was already blurring these lines decades ago finally I don't think there's any Ralph ad that encapsulates our understanding of old money any more than this this is what teenage boys and girls put on their Pinterest vision boards and share on Tik Tok it's like you've asked an AI to produce the ultimate old money photo but Ralph made this nearly 40 years ago and in all of these ads Ralph wasn't just selling clothes he was selling a lifestyle in fact he even once released an ad that had no clothing and no models at all and this is similar to what we see with the old money aesthetic now it's not just your clothes it's everything down to the way you speak your hobbies even the way you eat a sandwich the final reason I believe Ralph Lauren was the originator of the old money aesthetic is because he was a pioneer of the anti-fashion movement although the brand has experienced Peaks and lows over the decades it's never really been too concerned with the world of fashion unlike most designers he never went to Fashion school and for that reason he's never thought in the same way that many other fashion innovators do he instead has a deep understanding of an aesthetic that he likes and he works hard to recreate that today we see this anti-fashion mentality all over the old money movement the very idea of the subculture relies on it not being a trend although it's kind of oxymoronic it's a fashion movement that's not a movement and the truth is people have been dressing this way for decades and those who recently got into the old money look whether it's true or not they believe that they will be dressing this way forever it's meant to be classic and Timeless and that's exactly what Ralph values too there's a lot of magic behind Ralph lawren philosophy that you can use in your own style Ralph inspired men to dress like the main character in their own movie and that's exactly how Ralph lives his life too if you wanted to be very critical of Ralph you could call him inauthentic a fraud maybe a copycat because his upbringing certainly resembled nothing like old money you know instead it was a fantasy that he dived into and recreated with tremendous success and the truth is today's old money aesthetic really is a fabrication the way the real old money people dress is on the whole quite boring and quite uninspiring but what Ralph did and perhaps what you should do is allow your imagination to run free and craft the vision the way you want it regardless of what other people might think I believe Ralph's philosophy and the old money aesthetic are incredibly freeing the whole idea is that you don't have to be constrained by the humdrum of everyday life and what everybody else is wearing you don't have to dress like a certain social class you don't have to dress how your company wants you to and ever since the lockdowns I think we have a deep desire to dress our best and enjoy life through clothing and I really see Ralph's philosophy and style as a celebration of life and a celebration of imagination and inspiration gentlemen I hope this video has been as enjoyable for you to watch as it was for me to make let me know in the comments if you enjoyed learning about Ralph Lauren because I think there's a lot more to explore and unpack both about this man and his life and his style and his philosophy it was far too much to cover in just one video but I would happily make future videos about him and address all those different topics and get into detail now if you are in love with the old money aesthetic but you want to make it your own then I have the video for you check out my five variations on the old money aesthetic which will show you how to introduce themes like nautical Countryside and Western it will help you uncover your own unique style while enjoying all the benefits of this beautiful way of dressing and of course there's plenty of inspiration from Ralph Lauren in that video too so until the next time thank you as always for watching

Channel: Gent Z

Views: 101,118

Keywords: gent z, gentz, men's style, male self improvement, mens style, mens fashion, men's fashion, style tips for men, fashion tips for men, ralph lauren, ralph, lauren, old money, old, money, ralph lauren old money, old money aesthetic explained, old money for guys, old money style, how to dress old money, how to old money style, who invented old money, why is old money popular

Id: A2Df2TFUrR0

Length: 8min 32sec (512 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 17 2024