MILAN — After a long second day of Milan Fashion Week Saturday, Ralph Lauren invited guests to enjoy the breezy summer atmosphere of the city at an al fresco dinner bash in partnership with the American Esquireto to fete its latest Purple Label collection, unveiled earlier in the day.
The starry guests — who included Chris Pine, Colman Domingo, Usher, Rufus Wainwright and John Legend, among others — mingled in the colonnaded courtyard where a shiny vintage coupé car nodding to the spring men’s collection’s French Riviera inspiration was placed.
Pine and Domingo were among the first to arrive, showing two very different facets of the Ralph Lauren fashion lexicon — the former sporting a linen double-breasted suit worn with a white shirt, tie and tassel loafers, the latter in an all-black look spiced up with a melon orange blazer.
“Coming up at Ralph Lauren is really just beautiful because it feels like tradition around Milan, it is so embedded not only in the American sort of culture and zeitgeist, but also across the pond,” said Domingo, a longtime fan of the brand who appreciates Lauren’s American vision of luxury, tailoring and elegance.
The actor, who has had a stellar awards season, said he’s passionate about vintage Ralph Lauren gear and has scooped a black cowboy jacket with white trim, as well as the suit he wore on his first episode of “Fear of the Walking Dead,” which the American brand pulled from the archives for him.
His penchant for fashion is rooted in his family DNA, he confessed. “There are a lot of peacocks in my family,” he said. “We love to dress when we go out.”
His style has been informed by the different projects he’s worked on. “I’m up trying to help amplify the stories,” he offered.
Perhaps his style will hit a new zenith when his new movie “Sing Sing” comes out next month. The Greg Kwedar-directed film centers on a group of inmates involved in the creation of theatrical stage shows through the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program at the Sing Sing maximum security prison.
As Domingo, Pine and other guests took their seats in the al fresco dining area with long tables decked in blue and white striped linen, very much reminiscent of Southern France’s style, Usher made his way into the party, posing for pictures in a tuxedo jacket and bow tie paired with denim pants.
Usher
Delphine Achard/WWD
Expressing his gratitude for “being an extended member of the [Ralph Lauren] family,” Usher said Purple Label is just the latest of the brand’s lines he’s tapped into after years of supporting the company. “It all started with polo shirts,” he said. “I think it’s all about finding your personality… I kind of consider myself someone who’s been a fan of the past, obviously still representing the present and looking to the future,” he said about his relationship with the brand.
Legend arrived fashionably late — in an emerald green blazer — just before the dinner started, and shared a live piano performance with Wainwright that had guests tapping their feet.
Delphine Achard/WWD
Wainwright — who had just arrived in Milan from Paris, where he debuted his “Dream Requiem” performance at the Auditorium de Radio France with Meryl Streep as a narrator and the accompanying Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Maîtrise de Radio France and the Choeur de Radio France choir — said he still feels a bit nervous before performances.
“My mother told me ‘if you’re not nervous something’s wrong’ so I try to get nervous,” he said with a chuckle. Like many attendees he’s been a longtime fan of Ralph Lauren. “I just hit 50 and you can kind of wear Ralph Lauren for your entire life, I’m continuing the love affair,” he said.