Kathleen Baird-Murray

Vogue on: Ralph Lauren - Vogue on Designers Kathleen Baird-Murray

Ralph Lauren's designs vividly embody the American Dream and he has risen to become his country's foremost fashion designer. His visionary ability has created a multi-billion-dollar brand, still very successful almost 50 years on. His genius lies in his innate skill for interpreting key cultural elementsof Americana - whether Folk Art, or the world of polo-playing Hamptons' socialites, or Navajo motifs - and encapsulating them in appealing garments. Also a natural fit with Hollywood, he designed costumes for film classics such as The Great Gatsby and Annie Hall. Celebrated in Vogue by leading photographers such as Annie Leibovitz, Bruce Weber and Mario Testino, Lauren's clothes have appeared on countless covers, on everyone from Cher to a young Gwyneth Paltrow. From his ubiquitous Polo Ralph Lauren shirts with their much-imitated equestrian logo to his American country-club take on upperclass Englishness, his skill in making aspiration accessible is second to none.