Ralph Lauren's see-now, buy-now show stops traffic

NEW YORK — Few designers can shut down a New York City street. Fewer still can turn rainy skies to blue. But Wednesday night, heaven and Earth seemed to stop along Madison Avenue for the Ralph Lauren fall women’s collection.

Passing on the typical downtown warehouse debut, Lauren instead built a glass and steel cube in front of his Upper East Side storefront. The unique setting was chosen, in part, so that the flagship store could open to guests immediately after the show. For these were not mere show pieces, designed to pique interest and create breathless headlines. Every item in the show would be available to the public immediately, a growing trend among designers to capitalize on the buzz created by Fashion Week.

The classically well-dressed, spanning the generations raised on the seemingly eternal designer, were seated on crisp white benches atop woven burlap platforms — a signal that the evening would feature the Lauren hallmark, simple elegance mixed with the rugged frontier.

Soon sounds reminiscent of a classic Ennio Morricone score began to float through the glass and stone courtyard. Black and white was the early palette, with plaid shirts and monochromatic, embroidered designs reminiscent of the rhinestone cowboys of the 1970s. Wide, silver belts and long fringe accented virtually every flowing skirt and wide-bottomed pant. The jackets and ponchos recalled the spaghetti westerns of Clint Eastwood, shades of brown, long and loose, with Native American inspired prints.

There were dresses and pant suits, variations of the classic little black dress, but with touches that rendered them decidedly unique — leather and metal, southwestern embellishments, large silver necklaces and chokers.

Then, to close out the show, a vibrant explosion. As if stumbling upon an oasis after a week in the desert, everything was technicolor. A parade of the boldest purple and red and yellow shimmering, body-hugging gowns.

At the conclusion, out strode the man himself. Seeing him, in his signature denim and blue, a large, bronze belt buckle on his waist, only confirmed that this collection, and this night, could only have been created by Ralph Lauren.