Ralph Lauren Continues Its Winter Marketing Blitz at Home

It’s been a busy start to 2026 for Ralph Lauren.

Already this year, the brand has staged a menswear show at Milan Fashion Week in January, hosted a group of top creators in Aspen and dressed Team USA’s athletes for the opening ceremonies at the Winter Olympics in Milan.

On Tuesday evening, Ralph Lauren made time to return home to New York City to stage its Autumn/Winter 2026 runway show, held at the Jack Shainman art gallery in Tribeca, the same location it staged its Autumn/Winter 2025 show last year. Though not officially on the New York Fashion Week calendar, for a number of recent seasons, Ralph Lauren has shown the night before the schedule begins, serving, alongside Marc Jacobs’ pre-schedule showing, as an unofficial kick-off. Though this wasn’t one of the brand’s splashier shows location-wise — September 2024’s was staged in the Hamptons, complete with a one-night-only reconstruction of the Polo Bar, while in February of that year, the Brooklyn Navy Yard was transformed into a recreation of Lauren’s Colorado ranch — it was still meant to transport attendees.

From the clothes that walked the runway to the decor in the room, the show evoked a glamorous hunting weekend — the show notes said this season’s woman is defined by “a passion for adventure.” Along the walls was a backdrop showcasing a pastoral landscape while vibrant multi-coloured oriental rugs covered the floors. Models wore a palette of dark, earthy tones mixed with classic plaid and jacquard prints. There were plenty of pieces that would be at home at a country estate in the Cotswolds, either today or 100 years ago — think tweed blazers, caped trench coats, over-the-knee riding boots. But mixed in were more modern touches — sequined mini dresses, velvet gowns and cheetah-print coats — as well as those that blended the two, like cravat-style collars secured with a brooch, a silk skirt printed with hunting scenes or a vest made to look like chainmail.

Beyond the brand’s world-building prowess, the show also had a hefty dose of star power: Among those sitting in the front row were Lana Del Rey, Anne Hathaway, Morgan Spector and Ariana DeBose, as well as K-pop stars like Krystal Jung and Kim Do-yeon.

Even amid its busy winter, giving womenswear its own standalone moment was a priority for the brand, said David Lauren, Ralph Lauren’s chief branding and innovation officer (and son of the designer himself). The category has been named as a major source of growth potential for the brand.

“There’s a very clear vision for this brand and for this show,” said Lauren. “When we did the men’s show, the clothes were very eclectic and … can work across Polo or Purple Label.

This show, we wanted to be very focused and didn’t want to distract from that.”

In the last few years, Ralph Lauren has done a stellar job in harnessing its potential and channeling it into sales growth. Much ink has been spilt on Ralph Lauren’s comeback, which has seen it reposition itself from an overexposed, often-discounted American brand into a premium label for an increasingly global audience. At its investor day last fall, chief executive Patrice Louvet introduced the latest phase of the plan, focused on continuing to elevate the brand, and targeting growth in underdeveloped categories and markets, including the womenswear on display Tuesday night.

As the successes have compounded — Ralph Lauren earlier this month reported its 19th consecutive quarter of sales growth — so have the expectations. While its fourth-quarter results were objectively strong, with sales and profits topping forecasts, the company’s stock dropped after the results came out. Investors were displeased that the 7 percent sales increase fell short of last year’s even better 8 percent growth.

Shares have since recovered. But that brief wobble reflects the enviable challenge Ralph Lauren faces right now: The company’s success has set a high standard, and anything less can feel like falling short.

“It’s a question of, how long can they continue the strong momentum?” said Blake Anderson, senior analyst at Jefferies. “They’ve set the bar high, so investors want to see them continue to perform at this level.”

The brand is confident more growth potential remains. Beyond womenswear, on last week’s earnings call, Louvet called out handbags and outerwear as other areas of focus. The latter, in particular, has been on display lately, both on the Olympians during the parade of nations last week as well as on the creators, including Meredith Hayden of Wishbone Kitchen and Devon Lee Carlson, both in Milan and Aspen.

“There are many different stories, different brands and different aesthetics that all play in the world of Ralph,” said Lauren. “To go from the elegance of a collection show in New York to the top of the mountain with the Olympics is very exciting.”

By and large, major marketing moments are how they’ll get there. The company upped marketing spend last quarter to 8 percent of sales from 7.1 percent the year before, and increased its marketing outlook to a range of 7.5 percent to 8 percent for the year. Louvet said they have “stronger confidence than ever in our marketing ROI.”

“Our job is to just keep doing what we do and do it as well as we can,” said Lauren.