When our team sat down to brainstorm Robb Report's inaugural Success Issue, our first challenge was to define the term. We knew we weren't interested in only money—the world is swimming with billionaires these days—but in the often hard-to-pinpoint traits that elevate some to next-level status.Ralph Lauren, mastermind of the preeminent fashion and lifestyle brand, epitomizes the drive and vision we were trying to put our finger on. Equal parts creative genius and brilliant businessman, Lauren has achieved the American Dream by selling, well, the American Dream. The others who made the cut may not be household names, but they share Lauren's imagination and grit, from Sampriti Bhattacharyya, whose ambition is nothing less than to revolutionize waterborne travel, to Kwame Onwuachi, who took a circuitous (and at times dangerous) route to opening one of the most lauded restaurants in the country. This crew also has no shortage of guts: BET cofounder Sheila Johnson proved her billionaire-entrepreneur status was no fluke when she decided to tackle the world of hospitality, and Marvina S. Robinson showed her mettle by walking away from a thriving Wall Street career to launch her own unique take on Champagne. We raise a glass to all of them.
Ralph Lauren is the most successful American fashion designer of all time, having built his brand upon an idealized, optimistic vision of America, a greatest hits of the 50 states, which he disseminated throughout his homeland and exported around the world. But such is Lauren's global influence that labeling him merely an American fashion designer feels miserly. Because isn't Ralph Lauren simply the most successful living designer, fashion or otherwise, in the world?
Name another. In Europe, Giorgio Armani arrived not too long after Lauren and has had arguably as much impact on men's style over the years, by ripping the innards out of his jackets and normalizing, indeed elevating, deconstructed tailoring. But didn't Lauren actually get there first, fashioning soft blazers and suiting to emulate his Hollywood heroes? Lauren was first to create a homewares line, too, and released his debut fragrance a few years before Armani. Philippe Starck, Tom Ford, Norman Forster, Miuccia Prada, Dieter Rams? Innovators, of course, in their fields, but Lauren stands above them all. If you include those no longer with us—well, that's a longer conversation for another time: Yves Saint Laurent, Gio
