Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren, born in the Bronx, started his company in 1967 selling wide neckties under the Polo name, then built a full clothing line around a picture of Ivy League campuses and the American West. The polo player logo became one of the most recognized marks in fashion. Coverage of the brand on Quiet Menace starts with the shirts. Ralph Lauren kept the Oxford cloth button-down, first popularized by Brooks Brothers, at the center of the American wardrobe, and the Polo version is the one many people picture when they hear the name. The other half of the story comes from Brooklyn. In the late 1980s the Lo-Lifes, a crew from Crown Heights and Brownsville, built their style around Polo, especially the bold outerwear, ski gear and sportswear, and went to great lengths to get it. Hip-hop took the brand from there, and rappers wore Polo in videos and on album covers through the 1990s. The stories trace how a designer's version of old money was picked up by people it was never marketed to. The 1992 Stadium collection and the Snow Beach pullover from 1993 are still among the most sought-after Polo pieces.