4 Stylish & Timeless Outfits Inspired By Vintage Ralph Lauren Ads

Equestrian motifs

A major part of the Ralph Lauren world is equestrian. So, I had to recreate an equestrian-style outfit. Plus, I am a little bit of a horse girl at heart. 

The first outfit I recreated was this one. You’ll have to extend your imagination because I don’t have a beautiful horse to model with.

Also, I extended my imagination a little bit to what the model might be wearing on the bottom half as that’s cut off.

Here is my version of the outfit. I popped on my pink striped button-down Ralph Lauren shirt and added my trusty jodhpurs.

For the boots, I’ve gone for a pair of tall English riding style boots. I really love the chocolate brown shade.

Lastly, I popped on my pearl necklace to finish the look, which adds that classic, "old money" Ralph Lauren style to an outfit.

Menswear vs womenswear

Outfit number two is still in that equestrian sphere. In many of these vintage Ralph Lauren ads, I noticed that a lot of the time, the women were styled in these sort of menswear looks with oversized brown tweed blazers. So I wanted to do a look inspired by that.

The bottom half of this outfit is identical to the first outfit, but then I popped on my white Ralph Lauren Oxford shirt. This Oxford is the workhorse of my wardrobe, I get a lot of use out of it, and it’s great for layering.

Around my neck, I have a scarf that I picked up in a thrift store, and then I have the perfect oversized men’s tweed blazer for this Ralph Lauren look.

This was actually my dad’s blazer, and I took it in. I still wanted it to be oversized but not like man-size oversized, and this blazer looks like it’s straight out of a vintage Ralph Lauren ad.

This outfit is very dramatic, and wearing it, I felt a bit like a brooding Regency gentleman, sort of like a Mr Darcy type. 

All-white ensemble

Moving onto the next outfit, I wanted to do an all-white luxe ensemble.

In a lot of the old money, Spring/Summer campaigns that Ralph Lauren would do, the ladies would be dressed in cream and white, maybe a little bit of beige. It was a very pure all-white outfit look.

I popped on that white Oxford shirt again, then a pair of white culottes. Next, I added a brown leather belt, first of all for a bit of waist accentuation, but also, I wanted to break up the outfit into the top third of white and then the bottom two-thirds.

Then, I went for my wide-brim cream hat. 

Wide hats

Wide hats popped up a lot in vintage Ralph Lauren ad campaigns, especially in the early 1980s when they were doing their safari looks - you’ve got to have your big hat while out on the Savannah!

There’s no denying that there is something very rich looking, very old money when you’re wearing a glamorous big hat. Plus, you get some sun protection!

Tartan tights

The last outfit is definitely my favorite one. When I saw this vintage Ralph Lauren ad, I just knew that I had to recreate it. The tartan tights are everything.

You can get tartan tights in a few different colorways; I went for this burgundy and red pair. Next, I popped on a knit top with ruffle details on the sleeves, and I’m wearing it underneath a black velvet dress. Then for the shoes, my trusty black patent leather ballet flats. 

There is a lot going on in this outfit, but for some reason, it really works; I love it. I love the tights so much that I think I’ll get a pair in another color. They’re fun, but they’re also classic.

Keeping the rest of the outfit quite neutral colorwise, just black and white, really makes the tights pop.

Creating outfits from vintage Ralph Lauren ads

Those are my recreations of some classic Ralph Lauren outfits. I picked up so much inspiration from the vintage Ralph Lauren ads, and I’m glad that I could incorporate that into my own wardrobe.

As the famous quote goes “fashions fade, style is eternal.”