Ralph Lauren Dreams in California
Ralph Lauren took one look at California’s Pacific coastline and immediately thought of its signature designer suit, which will be made for Fall 2012.
“I spent more than five years in the fashion business,” says the 45-year-old designer. “I’ve spent a lot of time in California, and it’s always been a favorite and a dream of mine to get a major fashion house here.”
So it was no surprise when Lauren announced via his blog that the fashion house, which specializes in tailored sportswear and accessories, was building a new store at the Sofitel in San Francisco’s Mission District in January.
“Our store is going to be an extension of our fashion house,” he says. “It’s going to be about a decade smaller than the Sofitel was at first. But we don’t have to build a new store. We only have to build a smaller space to fill.”
California
With more than half the earth’s population, California has long been America’s playground. It boasts seven million more square miles of land than the next nearest state, New York, and about 19 million more residents than Texas. At the heart of the state are the Pacific Ocean, which stretches over 1,500 miles and holds three large bodies of water: San Francisco Bay, the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez, which is larger than the Mediterranean.
In the 1950s, when San Francisco, Los Angeles and other cities established their fashion districts, it was not yet the fashion capital of the world. But over time, the city’s fashion district has become an industry unto itself, with boutiques and stores that catered to the high-end clientele.
Most of the city’s fashion district is built on hillsides surrounded by large parks and is connected to the city