Is there anything more romantic than lace? Delicate and detailed, lush, instinctively feminine: The fabric is idiosyncratic and in a monotony of minimalism, it is the antidote. Even newly crafted, it has a built-in patina; an aura that provides a portal to centuries of heritage, going all the way back to the merletto of Renaissance Italy’s Sforza family, the needlework of Flemish artisans, and the lace ruffs of Elizabethan times. For the daydreamer, it’s powerfully transportive and fantastical. Its handiwork contains a sartorial novel, with patterns and flourishes evocative of a life rich in romance, culture, finery, adventure, and intrigue—maybe even a bit of scandal, too. The fabric was front and center for Ralph Lauren’s Fall/Winter 2025 Collection, aptly named “Modern Romantics.” At its runway show, held in a gallery in Tribeca, Manhattan, models walked down a cascading marble staircase wearing a series of ensembles that answered the question of what it looks like to live and dress romantically today.

DELICATE DETAILS

The Josephine gown requires four artisans and 65 hours to sew various types of lacework, including a French netting lace that is placed overtop another net, and a yoke collar with two different trimmings hand-sewn onto a mesh base.

Ralph Lauren inevitably looked to the past, channeling Edwardian and Victorian periods with fluffy lace jabots, high necks, frilled cuffs, and diaphanous tiered hemlines. It wasn’t the first time, though, as the designer has long invoked these eras throughout his Collection designs. A jog back to 1980 shows white cotton jacquard separates edged in an airy lace, reminiscent of antique undergarments; in 1982, a series of ruffled blouses were done in lace and broadcloth, some with scarf-like collars. In 1985, long white lace jabots punctuated tapestry-patterned eveningwear and Victorian-esque garnet brooches sat at the throat of high-necked blouses, worn with equestrian-tinged jodhpurs, suede vests, and tweed jackets. This time around, Ralph and his design team focused on the craftsmanship that goes into making lace, working with their artisan atelier in Italy to bring to life a series of blouses, dresses, and gowns that fuse past notions of romanticism into a wholly modern look.

That includes the Kensley blouse, a delicate piece whose body is made with a woven sheer voile fabric of extra-fine cotton-and-silk yarns comprised of 70 percent cotton and 30 percent silk mulberry. A layer of fine cotton tulle was added to the blouse to create the ruched and ruffled effect on the neckline, which is finished with an embroidered “RL,” and the cuffs have an extra layer of lace built into the frilled flourishes. There’s also the Lizzie top, another Victorian-inspired piece in cotton-and-silk voile with pintucking, puffed sleeves, scalloped barrel cuffs, and a high neck that features embroidery work at the chest. It takes four trained artisans nearly 10 hours to complete the hand-stitching that runs along the yoke, neckline, and sleeve cuffs. And then there is the Beonca blouse, which is done in 100 percent cotton with a ruffled tuxedo bib made entirely of macramé embroidery, all of which requires five artisans and nearly 11 hours to create the lace technique.

MODERN PATINA

Hand-sewn lacework adds a layer of authenticity to the Fall/Winter 2025 Collection, tapping into Ralph Lauren’s heritage of craftsmanship and Victorian- and Edwardian-era inspiration.

The dark beauties are the Gemma bodysuit in an ultrafine black lace, and a series of floral devoré pieces, done in a seasonal lilac motif against black. The latter was first hand-painted in-house by Ralph Lauren artists and then reproduced as a print in a renowned Como, Italy, mill, utilizing two printing techniques to achieve the devoré method by dissolving viscose yarns to reveal transparency (for some pieces the process can take upward of 65 hours to complete). The piece de resistance of Modern Romantics is undoubtedly the Josephine dress, a long, diaphanous gown that incorporates various types of lacework, including a delicate French netting lace, plus a yoke collar that incorporates two different trimmings on a mesh base, all hand-done at the front and back neckline. The process also takes 65 hours—another time commitment that honors the hand-sewn artistry of lace.