As a nephew of Ralph, Greg Lauren grew up with precise
notions of what a man should wear. And as an artist, he explored them:
For his 2009 show, "Alteration," he painstakingly created traditional
pieces of clothing out of delicate Japanese paper. Now Lauren, who has
often said that he was taught to dress like Cary Grant but felt more
like Oliver Twist, has produced a men's and women's collection that is
wearable but still subverts the classics. Among the mostly one-of-a-kind
items are a military coat made from old army duffel bags, and a tailored
tuxedo jacket cut from washed silk faille. Each piece comes with a
signed label, as if it were one of his paintings. "I don't consider
myself a designer," Lauren says. "I'm more an artist exploring a new
medium" (at Barneys New York; from $1,200 to $2,500).Photograph by Hannah Whitaker
