Ralph Lauren Fall Winter 2025-2026 “The Modern Romantics”. Story by RUNWAY MAGAZINE. Photo / Video Courtesy: Ralph Lauren.

In the opulent Beaux Arts interior of the newly inaugurated Jack Shainman Gallery in TriBeCa—a space still glowing from its recent Nick Cave exhibition—Ralph Lauren unveiled his Fall/Winter 2025–2026 collection titled The Modern Romantics. Set beneath a soaring 29-foot coffered ceiling, the former New York Life Insurance headquarters provided a fitting backdrop for a collection that romanticized the past without ever getting stuck in it.

Outside, the city’s elite and fashion insiders gathered to catch glimpses of Anne Hathaway, Naomi Watts, and Michelle Williams. Inside, however, the real stars were cascading jabot shirts, velvet jackets, and lace-panelled gowns—each silhouette a carefully orchestrated nod to Victorian refinement, seen through a distinctly Ralph Lauren lens.

Lauren’s penchant for theatrical, off-calendar shows has always given his collections the feeling of a cultural event rather than a standard runway. In September’s Hamptons presentation, he showed everything from Purple Label to Polo across men’s, women’s, and children’s looks. But this season, the designer offered something more distilled—a single message collection rooted in poetic dualities: “masculine-and-feminine” and “rugged-and-refined.”

The heart of The Modern Romantics beat through Lauren’s signature codes, elevated with quiet grandeur. The jabot blouse—a romantic relic if there ever was one—was revived and reimagined in white cotton, cascading beneath sleek black sweaters or styled under tailored evening coats and structured riding jackets. In a standout moment, a black lace jabot transformed an ivory panné velvet halter gown into a work of sensual art, complete with a dramatic open back that whispered luxury.

For Ralph Lauren, these flourishes are less trend-chasing and more homecoming. His 1980s and ’90s ad campaigns, long admired by a new generation of designers mining them for inspiration, were subtly referenced here. But this was not a revival—it was a renewal. The velvet jackets, the pleated chiffon skirts, and the soft, Victorian blouses spoke not of nostalgia but of clarity. Lauren isn’t quoting the past—he’s writing its sequel.

Eveningwear shimmered with restraint. Gone were the sequins and beads typical of Lauren’s black-tie soirées. Instead, models floated down the runway in bohemian-tiered dresses and belted taffeta shirt gowns, like the off-white lace-inset number worn by Mona Tougaard to close the show. The piece seemed destined for country-glam royalty—perhaps Kacey Musgraves, who watched from the front row in a ten-gallon hat and a tank top, no less.

Then came a moment of sweet déjà vu: a black sequined sweater with a delicately beaded floral motif paired with tailored trousers—an homage to an ’80s campaign featuring model Clotilde Holby. Google her, as the show notes invite, and you’ll find the look—a quiet nod to Lauren’s own visual legacy, effortlessly reborn for today.

In a season awash with performative frills, Ralph Lauren’s Modern Romantics whispered rather than shouted. Yet it left a lasting echo—of softness with edge, elegance without excess, and of a designer who knows that true romance is timeless.

See All Looks Ralph Lauren Fall Winter 2025-2026