THE RL Q&A: Marcus Allen
Lived-in clothes just look better. Few people demonstrate this as well as Marcus Allen, whose easygoing style and closet full of vintage Ralph look like they were pulled directly from the pages of a Polo photo shoot from decades gone by. As the multi-hyphenate creative and founder of his own vintage archive/styling consultancy, The Society Archive, Allen has a knack for both curating the kind of relaxed, worn-in, and classic styles you’ll want to live in all day long and all year round and for wearing them himself. And it all started with a fateful job—and a few carefully chosen purchases—at the Ralph Lauren store in New York.
How’d you get into fashion to begin with, let alone your niche of vintage curation?
I went to college in New York and started working at the Ralph store there. That’s really where I started collecting. I just started buying and buying. Mostly Ralph Lauren pieces, obviously, but then I started getting more and more into vintage, too. I started to really appreciate things that were worn in, that had a story, that had a whole life before I came across them.
As I was doing that, I was also working on photography. My major in school was fine arts photography, and I started photographing models. So, I started accumulating a bit of a clothing archive, a collection I could shop from each time I was shooting.
Like your own personal styling closet.
Exactly. And oftentimes it was exactly that, a lot of my own old clothes that I bought when I was in high school and college. Lots of Ralph Lauren and lots of cool vintage pieces. Thankfully, pretty much everything I’ve ever bought, I’ve held onto. And that’s what formed the bulk of my vintage collection here, which became The Society Archive.
Speaking of personal styling—how would you describe your own style?
It’s become a bit of a uniform. I always wear some kind of utility pant. Then on top, either a flannel or a linen shirt, depending on the season. I think of it as a refined kind of lumberjack style.
In that uniform, though, I love mixing new clothes and vintage ones and playing with silhouette. If I’m wearing a looser pant, I’ll go for a more fitted flannel shirt. Or vice versa. I love having a mix. And I try to put myself together with a mix of past and present. Having something that has some patina, some wear and tear, especially if you’re wearing that with something more polished—I don’t really feel like I’m in a complete look if I’m not naturally checking each of those boxes.
Why is that, do you think? What makes vintage clothing special to you and a necessity?
For me, vintage has really been a way to take a very personal approach to style. What you’re wearing and buying is one of a kind, with its own story.
How did The Society Archive grow into what it is today?
The archive really started with those pieces that I purchased and loved and held onto over the past 15 or 20 years. When I started working as a styling director, I would just bring some of my own pieces to a photo shoot that I thought would speak to the story that a design team was trying to tell. It really grew from there, to the point where I was working with stylists, and designers, and brands, doing appointments in my apartment. Designers would purchase or rent vintage pieces from us for references, or stylists would come into the showroom to pull clothes for editorial shoots. It became a really strong community of creatives who appreciate and understand what we’re doing aesthetically.
How would you describe that aesthetic?
It’s very approachable, but there’s something high-end to the way we curate. I do have a luxury background and interest, which I think you can sense, even though what we really like is fundamentally very “normal” clothing. It’s familiar; it’s comfortable. It’s not too tricky, I like to say. I think a lot of people and brands really resonate with that.
I love familiar clothing, especially garments that are created out of a sense of utility and practicality. But how do you show those in a way that feels fresh and elevated? That’s something I really try to champion within my work: taking everyday garments and making them look and feel more nuanced.
Along those lines, you wear and collect a lot of Ralph. What are some of your go-to Ralph styles?
Vintage Polo shirts. At The Society Archive, we have a grouping of these, and they’re washed out, worn in, sun-faded, stretched out, and shrunken. But they’re evergreen pieces, no matter how thrashed they are.
How about when it comes to different Polo lifestyles and aesthetics? Are there any particular collections or looks you’re inspired by?
My favorite would be the kind of cozy holiday cabin look. The Polo Fall/Winter 2008 collection is one I’m greatly inspired by—the buffalo check shirting with evening skirts, plaids made from luxury fabrics, oversize knit cardigans as outerwear. The ski lifestyle is another Ralph Lauren one I’m inspired by, like how Polo pairs ski pants with cashmere knits and Western boots.
What are the most memorable pieces you’ve curated?
It’s hard to think about “favorites,” but I do have some pieces that I hold in a higher kind of regard. My mentor when I first started working at Ralph gifted me a jacket. It’s got these conch buttons and a beautiful mix of sunset colors. I actually lost it. Then I found another and bought it again … then I lost it, again. I also have this sport coat from Polo’s Fall ’06 collection in an amazing patchwork tweed. I had been looking for one for years and finally found it last month, so I’m pretty excited about that one.
