Last night, Ralph Lauren (the man) celebrated over five decades of Ralph Lauren (the brand) with a starry runway show at his 650 Madison Avenue headquarters. Among the evening’s many attendees was Jessica Chastain whose front row look, fittingly, referenced one of Lauren’s hallmark ’90s collections.
For the occasion, Chastain and her stylist Elizabeth Stewart dipped into Lauren’s staggering archives. The actress sported a look from the designer’s fall 1997 collection—an outfit originally modeled by Naomi Campbell, nonetheless—that featured a plunging party top and pleated pants. Chastain’s halter top was designed with silver disco ball sequins and a low-cut neckline. The Oscar winner accented her look with a pair of high-waisted black pants that pooled into a major flare towards the bottom. Chastain kept the silver theme going with a coordinating metallic bag and topped off her ensemble with tousled waves, a coral lip, and smokey eyeshadow. Once inside the Polo Bar—the apropos venue for the show’s after-party—Chastain slipped on a black tuxedo jacket over her top.
“Jessica Chastain in an archival Fall 1997 Ralph Lauren look for tonight’s show, which proved Ralph still got it!” Stewart wrote on Instagram.
Like Chastain, Campbell sported the same halter piece on the catwalk in 1997. Instead of Chastain’s black trousers, however, the supermodel instead wore a pinstripe pair that was accessorized with a metallic statement belt. Campbell’s look was punctuated by open-toe sandal heels while Chastain went with simple black stilettos.
As it turns out, the evening was full of Ralph Lauren references both on and off the runway. The designer staged the catwalk presentation at his Madison Avenue office which is the exact spot he unveiled his debut womenswear show in 1972. Fashion geeks will point out that during the intimate presentation, the famed fashion photographer Bill Cunningham snapped photos from the floor, a total of six years before he joined the New York Times.
Lauren’s latest collection—full of his classic, unfussy signatures—was opened by the supermodel Christy Turlington Burns who, like Campbell, was a mainstay of the designer’s ’90s catwalks. Well, between Chastain’s archival pull and the nostalgic references, it’s fitting that Lauren described his fall offering as “a style that is forever.”
