Anyone that calls me a friend knows that I have only one church, one sanctuary, one place I can turn to when the chips are down. If on a horrible winter’s day I can’t see my way out of things I head for the basement of Ralph Lauren. For within this basement I have my own playground. Hidden underneath the posh stores of New Bond Street one encounters Ralph Lauren Home. Just repeating the name runs shivers up my spine.
When I first moved to London eight years ago I was all alone. I didn’t know a soul, didn’t have a job and didn’t have any sort of flat lined up. I had jumped on a plane and come over to an unknown country from a Southern town in America. Yup, I was a country girl in the big bad city. However, growing up a “country girl” didn’t mean my mother and father weren’t at the top of their game when it came to home decoration. I grew up in a house that might as well have been a Ralph Lauren home advert. My mother’s home interior styling is second to none. So on my third day in London, when I couldn’t stop crying because I believed I had made a huge mistake, I happened to be walking down New Bond Street when I spotted the Ralph Lauren store. I stepped inside and saw the signs pointing me in the direction of salvation…the home section! As I made my way down the stairs my tear stains began to fade away and hopelessness was a thought from the past. I walked straight into the first display room and sat on the big brown leather sofa that only Ralph Lauren could construct. It was there that I made a deal with the devil. I promised myself I would do whatever it took to make a home in London for myself and have that home be decorated in Ralph Lauren decor. I mean, everything! I wanted the candlesticks, the wallpaper, the linens, the soap dishes; You name it, it had to be mine. It sounds horrible and shallow. However, the thought of making a home that reminded me of my mother’s, with furnishings from a company that I loved and respected since I put on my first floral sundress in 1985, was as comforting as anything else I could imagine.
My first bit of extra money I made in London was spent right there in that very spot. I returned to the store one year later and spent over £1,000 on bed linens. I thought,”hey, you spend most of your life in bed, why not start there?” It’s a ritual now to return to the store and purchase an item for my home every year. And when the time comes that I can afford more than that I will definitely be back with a truck waiting outside to have it all delivered immediately. For now, the dream has to be enough. The thought of reclining on a large black leather sofa surrounded by cashmere pillows and silk throws keeps me in check!
However, something changed recently. Today I was invited along to the Ralph Lauren Home Preview. Can you just imagine the shriek that was let out when that invitation arrived?! I don’t think you can imagine it. It was a heart stopping scream! It was if the Pope himself had asked me to breakfast!
So off I went to attend the breakfast at Ralph Lauren Home on behalf of Fashion Foie Gras. I was being asked to write a review. I have to tell you up front, if you can’t already see, that of course this review is going to be biased. I will only say the best things because, quite simply put, it is impossible to say even one negative thing about Ralph Lauren in any department!
Enough back story, let’s get started here. I toyed with the idea of writing odes to each and every piece I couldn’t live without but realized I would be here forever and so would you! So, instead, I’ll show you images of the pieces or set-ups that I was most taken with. Every six months a team of designers take over the basement and transform the space into three different rooms. What I saw today is some of their best work ever…so if they happen to be reading this…your work is worshipped!
Without further ado…I present to you Ralph Lauren Home…The Autumn Winter Collection 2010…
