The first day of what we fear will be an excruciatingly hot Milan fashion week ended with Ralph Lauren’s classic men’s wear fashion fantasies and Americana mania. Arriving from Pitti today ourselves, the forefront of all new suiting happenings, not much has moved in that department over at Ralph Lauren. Starting off the collection with navy blue pinstripe ensembles and slowly but surely opening up the lineup to some summery alternatives in beige linen or a cool raffia-like jacket with some leather outerwear highlights, or used denim patches turned into jackets, Ralph Lauren was back in full swing. Standouts in the first part of the show, the Purple label part, was a brown velour jacket with a couple of oversized pockets and tightly cinched around the model’s waist, which felt fresh for the brand whose styling is normally on point but seemed a bit too borrowed from other recent preppy Parisian runways at times. But Lauren is the original king of prep after all. And he’s not one to shy away from aspirational storytelling. His idea of a man is clearly structured and with every next collection reiterated. Drawing somewhat of a full circle to his first show almost 60 years ago, the designer used his men’s S/S 2027 outing to highlight what got him into this business in the first place: Collegiate style, camaraderie, a certain old-worldness and plenty of romantic mystery. Which probably is the reason why the brand is doing so well: Americans filling up European streets in the pursuit of spending the perfect cobblestoned Euro summer dressed in, well, old-money aspirational preppy clothing. One could say, Ralph Lauren is more Zeitgeist than ever before.