Ralph Lauren: Catwalk Is a Celebration of America’s Most Influential Designer

Almost sixty years ago, Ralph Lauren began his career as a designer. He started small, making neckties under the label Polo in 1967. In the six decades since, Ralph Lauren has become one of the most influential fashion brands in not only America, but the world—touching everything from ready-to-wear and accessories, to home goods and even coffee. In celebration of Ralph Lauren’s immense impact on the fashion industry, Thames & Hudson has released Ralph Lauren: Catwalk, the eleventh volume of its Catwalk series and the first to feature an American artist.

Ralph Lauren Catwalk presents a visual timeline of the brand’s history. With words by fashion journalist Bridget Foley and over 1,300 runway images from more than 100 collections, the book documents Lauren’s journey, from his debut womenswear collection in fall 1972 up until fall 2025.

Five years after releasing those first ties, Lauren turned his gaze to women’s fashion, inspired by his wife, Ricky, and her effortless style. Lauren quickly became known for his ability to play with contradictions—mixing masculine and feminine, Western wear with New England prep, and the rugged with the refined. The Ralph Lauren brand has become synonymous with timelessness, and many of the looks that walked the runway in those first collections—pinstripe blazers fitted at the waist, pleated knee-length skirts, and windowpane-checked tailored trousers—could easily fit into a collection today. As Foley says in the book’s introduction, “The consistency is remarkable.”

The images in Catwalk also display Lauren’s aversion to trends, as well as the strength of his design codes. Suiting is prevalent throughout, evolving over the decades—but in a way that feels tied to Lauren’s own whims, not those of time and fads. Lauren is now the longest-running creative director in history, following the death of Giorgio Armani last year, and Catwalk clarifies his endurance.