Ralph Lauren Home Collections Archive ... PART ONE

I was so happy that so many of you were pleased with the last post about the iconic Ralph Lauren, after I noticed his September 2013 Architectural Digest Cover story and decided to go nuts looking for pictures of his best work.

I got several emails, and comments asking if I had or could find pictures of any of the Ralph Lauren Home past collections. Well, my extraordinary readers and followers, I dug and dug ... and I think you are in luck!

The Ralph Lauren Home line has been in effect since 1983, when Ralph Lauren, tired of the sea of chintz and floral decided to manufacture sheets and linens in his classic stripes and men's suiting plaids. The comprehensive collection included paint, furniture, wall coverings, and lighting. He then, and even now, strives to create an experience with his Home collection, rather than just selling products.

His most current collections, Iconic Design and Left Bank Collection are both less staged than prior Ralph Lauren Home Lifestyle Collections. They're very prop filled, less of that overall "home" experience from collections in the past.

You can view them if you wish at the website, along with a few of the older collections, dating to Spring of 2010. A few of my favorites from the site ...

Alpine Lodge - Fall 2012

Gorgeous, right? Inspired by the international glamour of a ski chalet, the Fall 2012 Ralph Lauren Home Collection was probably my favorite since St. Germain, and Indian Cove Lodge ... which we will get to, I promise! Alpine Lodge is romantic, restful and serene. I could move right in ... can't you? You can take the 360 room tour of the prop house here.

I also loved this image from the Desert Modern Collection:

Talk about creating a mood! You can view more of this modern take on desert living on their website here.
The other Spring 2012 Collection, Watch Hill, took a much more feminine look at summer ...

Filled with wicker, loosely slipcovered chairs and French painted pieces covered in stripes ... it was all Nantucket, via Rachel Ashwell. If that's your thing, you'll enjoy looking through all the photos on the website here.

I showed you the One Fifth and Brookfield Collections in the post from last time. Oh how I loved Brookfield:

Looks like my house, right? HA! I wish! I love it when they offer 360 degree views of the staged rooms, and they do that for Brookfield here.

Spring of 2011 introduced The California Romantic Collection. It was beautiful, of course ...

... but I don't find it realistic. Living with things draped over furniture never ends well ... you're constantly fussing and primping. But it certainly sets the mood! 

Fall 2010 gave us the Heiress Collection. It was magical: 

Totally that bohemian feeling we love with Ralph mixing traditional with unconventional, feminine with masculine. It was so successful! To counter the opulence though, Ralph also introduced Brook Street in Fall 2010: 

And Spring of 2010 gave us two blue and white beauties, La Plage and Le Grande Hotel. La Plage was the more laid back of the two ... 

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and the aptly named Le Grande Hotel was much more grand:

But they both were excellent at detailing that easy island way of life, ala the Billion Dollar window of Ralph Lauren. Now, this is where the Ralph Lauren Home website leaves off, and the real digging had to start. 

Fall 2009 gave us, and me, one of my most favorite of the RL Home collections, Indian Cove Lodge:

At one point, when this collection came out, I started looking for Navajo and Indian threaded rugs on Ebay. I so wanted to copy this in my own home. It was, and is, my favorite collection of all the fabrics I love, and it has given me lots of ideas for pattern pairing for my clients ... like this bedroom:

My client wanted florals, her husband wanted a more masculine fabric. So, we compromised with this Ralph floral bedding, Ralph plaid from Calico Corners, Jamil velvet Cheetah, and Pottery Barn's pinstripe in blue and white. I loved this finished bed. Ok, I know ... you didn't come here to see my work, you came here to see Ralph's. Back to business: 

Spring of 2009 brought the Black Sands Collection. It was dark and moody, while being all tropics ... 

No real living room shots, though. They saved those for the other collection, Summer House: 

Now I have tried to maintain the timeline after this point. It's impossible. All the beauty seems to run together, and in my digging, even the sources seem to be confused. So from here on out, unless I know for sure, I'll give you just the names of the collections! Ralph Lauren introduced Noble Estate, and I think I actually swooned!

Then Hither Hills: 

Bedford Manor was and is my idea of the perfect equestrian estate ... if I only had one ...

The St. Germain collection from Ralph Lauren was and is probably still my all-time favorite. It was my introduction to Ralph Lauren Home, and it captivated me:

Lovely, right? It's that sort of decayed elegance that just has me wanting to curl up with a book and a glass of merlot. Still cluttered but a bit more colorful, is the Fall collection of Hudson Valley:

I quite loved the sparse opulence of the Rue Royale collection. It's not "sparse" in the traditional sense, but it's got that whole Biedermeier thing going for it ...

Mayfair was a spring, all white, uber-glamorous, luxury collection that just screamed Park Avenue:

Rue Madame was another (older) very feminine, but chic and glamorous collection along the same lines of Mayfair:

And that's where I'll leave you all for today. I think I've taken up enough of your time with dear ole' Ralph. It was lovely though spending some time with you ... hope I dug up a few of your old favorites, lost but not forgotten!