INVEST

The Ralph Lauren Black Stirrup collection

It’s reasonable to speculate that the invention of the stirrup, and its journey to Middle Ages Europe from Jin Dynasty China — allowing horse riders at either end of the Silk Route far greater control of the animal, especially while wielding weapons — affected the course of history as profoundly as did the knitting needle.

Ralph Lauren’s emotional link to all things equestrian, meanwhile, goes back further than the brand’s introduction of the polo player logo in 1971 — a few years before, in fact, shortly after Ricky Loew-Beer became Ricky Lauren in late 1964. “After we were married, Ricky and I were shopping in one of those authentic riding stores, and I bought her a boy’s tweed hacking jacket,” Lauren has explained. “Whenever she’d wear it, other women would say, ‘Oh, I love that jacket’. That’s when I decided to do women’s clothes. I started with tweed hacking jackets, then shirts