In January 1937, Pauline Trigère and her husband, Lazar Radley, along with their two sons and Trigère’s mother and brother Robert, arrived in New York City. The family was Jewish, and they had left France because of the growing Nazi threat. New York, however, was just a stopover: Their destination was Chile, where Lazar and Robert planned to establish a fashion business. Pauline was an experienced cutter and had grown up in her parents’ dressmaking workshop; but Lazar preferred that she not work, so her role would be minimal.
On their first morning in the city, Pauline, Lazar and Robert set out to scout Fifth Avenue for trends. It was then that Pauline began to envision a different future.
Ralph Lauren has long blended Western and preppy motifs and overlaid them with the iconography of Hollywood. Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
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