HHD
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2008
- Messages
- 807
- Reaction score
- 7
I had a good look around Ralph Lauren's huge new shop on the Boulevard St Germain yesterday. It's an elegant space: It's built around a stairwell with an old-fashioned lift; the ground floor has a separate boutique for RL watches (expensive and not particularly appealing) and a restaurant (Ralph Burgers 27 euros - don't know if they come complete with Polo player logo).
It's a lot less cramped that the older store on the other side of the river. I thought Purple Label was quite impressive: I liked the loud paisley ties and a beautiful charcoal chalkstripe double breasted linen suit, though at the price (around €2500) I'd prefer to go to a tailor. Same for the shirts: They were nice, but one can get far superior MTM or bespoke from Lucca or Courtot for less. Pocket squares were €250 euros. Basically... run.
Interestingly all the shoppers in the Purple Label section were American tourists. Seeing a fellow unbuckle his fanny pack to try on a €2000 jacket is interesting.
Black Label is on the same floor. I've always thought Black Label is a very suburban concept of how city people dress: Black suits, buckled and belted jackets... it's very boring.
Moving swiftly on. Upstairs is Polo. I'm not exactly great Ralph fan - I have a couple of items but I dislike logos and I've always been able to find better-priced or better-made stuff in Europe - but I thought this season's Polo collection was excellent. I found three superb pieces: A linen and silk Fair Isle pullover, a tan linen short cardigan with a martingale at the back, and a linen "Masai Cardigan" which was very "Bloomsbury Bohemian." All very expensive, sadly.
Again, this level feels quite spacious compared to the other shop (though your experience might be different on a Saturday). Not so many of that awful sort of shopper Ralph Lauren tends to attract, the ones who bark orders at the shop assistants (though there was one old French queen who was trying to negotiate a discount based on "the beautiful boy" who had served him many times in one of the New York branches.
It's a lot less cramped that the older store on the other side of the river. I thought Purple Label was quite impressive: I liked the loud paisley ties and a beautiful charcoal chalkstripe double breasted linen suit, though at the price (around €2500) I'd prefer to go to a tailor. Same for the shirts: They were nice, but one can get far superior MTM or bespoke from Lucca or Courtot for less. Pocket squares were €250 euros. Basically... run.
Interestingly all the shoppers in the Purple Label section were American tourists. Seeing a fellow unbuckle his fanny pack to try on a €2000 jacket is interesting.
Black Label is on the same floor. I've always thought Black Label is a very suburban concept of how city people dress: Black suits, buckled and belted jackets... it's very boring.
Moving swiftly on. Upstairs is Polo. I'm not exactly great Ralph fan - I have a couple of items but I dislike logos and I've always been able to find better-priced or better-made stuff in Europe - but I thought this season's Polo collection was excellent. I found three superb pieces: A linen and silk Fair Isle pullover, a tan linen short cardigan with a martingale at the back, and a linen "Masai Cardigan" which was very "Bloomsbury Bohemian." All very expensive, sadly.
Again, this level feels quite spacious compared to the other shop (though your experience might be different on a Saturday). Not so many of that awful sort of shopper Ralph Lauren tends to attract, the ones who bark orders at the shop assistants (though there was one old French queen who was trying to negotiate a discount based on "the beautiful boy" who had served him many times in one of the New York branches.
