Why the Palace x Ralph Lauren collection will be the best of the year

The announcement came as a surprise: those three giant billboards popping up in Tokyo have blown Instagram away, as the entire fashion world and in the past few weeks we got more and more leaks and details. Today, finally, the Palace x Ralph Lauren will drop. It has been years since the last time a collection was so anticipated and hyped, and the reasons are perfectly justifiable. They might seem like two opposite realities, an American fashion house founded 50 years ago and a 'newly-born' London skate brand, but the conditions to be a success are all there. 

For many, Ralph Lauren has always been synonymous with a preppy and posh fashion, when it actually has always placed itself halfway between high fashion and streetwear, long before this term became mainstream, thanks to technical items that are still very appealing. It's impossible not to mention the importance and the role played by the American brand in many subcultures, first and foremost Lo-Life. Polo and Ralph Lauren became the favorite brand of the hip-hop world, Brooklyn crews would wear it from head to toe, items decorated with little horses, bears, and crowns. A trend that the founder of the Lauren label has probably never truly appreciated, but having seen the profits of those years, he must have just come to terms with it. As the years went by, even though it has always been a hip-hop favorite, Ralph Lauren has progressively lost its younger audience, turning into the brand worn by parents and grandparents. And this is exactly why the decision to collaborate with a brand like Palace (the first collaboration of this type for Lauren in its long history, a detail not to be underestimated) is, simply, brilliant. 

This collaboration will, in fact, allow Lauren to take back that a portion of the young audience that it has been losing in these years, and it will also be the perfect occasion to become better-known to even younger fashion enthusiasts who have always considered Ralph Lauren too 'grown-up'. At the same time, Ralph will embrace its position in the streetwear world, an operation inaugurated a few seasons ago with the re-release of some of its most coveted collection, like the ’92 Stadium Series and the Snow Beach. Even when we look at the items of the collection it's clear that the aesthetic and the taste of Lauren are dominating, though reworked in that typically cool and vibrant Palace way.  

On the one hand, Ralph Lauren's move was genius, on the other Palace Skateboards will only obtain positive outcomes from this collaboration. Despite the 'sold-outs' at every drop and the capsules designed with adidas, Palace is still considered by many to be that little skate brand born on the banks of the Thames, worn by skaters and posers. While Supreme is now viewed in every respect as a global fashion brand, Palace is still missing this further step, a gap that will probably be filled with this collection. Palace will officially be entering the high fashion world, leaving behind the Southbank skate parks and Blondey's golden teeth. From a small brand known only among the skaters (as it was for Supreme), Palace will most definitely become a global brand, opening to a wider and more diverse audience.  

Palace's earlier fans and Ralph Lauren collectors have mixed feelings for this collection, but what prevails is the feeling that both brands have betrayed a little part of themselves, sacrificing their subcultural origins, just for the sake of a marketing operation. It's undeniable that with a platform of this kind that it is hard to remain true to themselves, and that's exactly why the Palace x Ralph Lauren collection is a bet for both brands. 
A bet that will definitely pay off.