Ever since the youth of New York’s outer boroughs brought the aspirational vision of Ralph Lauren clothing to the streets, Polo has permanently embedded itself into the DNA of the city as a whole. What started as teens from Brooklyn boosting gear from department stores grew to become a lifestyle that went worldwide, and created a legacy of the gear which became synonymous with New York culture.
In the same way that producers and emcees took the music of other genres that they weren’t seen as the intended audience for, and flipped it into the samples and loops which became the foundation of their own sound, the boosted Polo gear they rocked at their parties and clubs became the visual accompaniment to the beats they rapped over.
Acts emerging from New York such as Mobb Deep, Wu-Tang Clan, and Jay-Z rhymed about the violent and dangerous lifestyles which they grew up experiencing, and their desires for a different, more financially successful lifestyle. Born to a working-class family from the Bronx, the birthplace of hip-hop itself, Ralph Lauren was the embodiment of this vision. The heavy price tags, flashy designs, and luxurious lifestyle that his clothing represented paired perfectly with the lyrics present during this period of the developing subculture.
Throughout Ralph Lauren’s storied history within New York and hip-hop, certain pieces have become artifacts within the history of the culture. During this golden era of Ralph Lauren in the ‘90s, the Snow Beach collection and the Polo Bear knit emerged as perhaps two of the most coveted and iconic releases in the history of the brand.
The Polo Bear Knit
During the ‘80s, Ralph’s brother Jerry Lauren was an avid collector of stuffed teddy bears from the German toy company Steiff. For Christmas in 1990, employees of the Ralph Lauren Corporation gifted Ralph and Jerry two Steiff bears outfitted in their likenesses.
The next year, the Polo Bear was born when Ralph Lauren produced a teddy bear of their own, created in collaboration with Steiff. The bear, originally named “Preppy Bear”, dressed in his own scale-sized Ralph Lauren outfit, was released in a limited run exclusive to their Madison Avenue flagship store. The item was an instant success, and sold out in one weekend. After this, the company released a number of clothing items featuring the teddy bear design, which quickly became one of the hottest commodities offered by the brand.
1992 would mark the first year that a Polo Bear was hand-knit onto a Ralph Lauren sweater, which featured the character wearing another one of Ralph’s iconic designs – the American Flag sweater – which was released by the company a few years prior. The knit sweater became the most popular item to feature the bear thus far, which led to the release of a number of new iterations the same year. Each release depicted the Polo Bear in a different outfit, dressed for various occasions and activities in the brand’s signature style of clothing.
Amongst serious Ralph Lauren collectors, an expansive range of bear knits was a mandatory part of one’s Polo arsenal. The Martini Bear, Skier Bear, Tuxedo Bear, Sit Down Bear, and the RL2000 Skier Bear are a few of the many classic Polo Bears that debuted during this era. The company would continue to produce new variations over the course of the ‘90s, as the Polo Bear grew to become an iconic symbol of the brand beloved by everyone from graffiti writers and rappers, to the celebrities and movie stars of the time.
Production of Polo Bear products came to an end in 2001, but the Polo Bear knits would remain one of the most sought-after items from the brand due to their timeless style and popularity amongst Polo collectors and figures in the hip-hop community. Due to an escalating demand and nostalgia for the sweaters and other items, Ralph Lauren brought back the Polo Bear in 2013.
Snow Beach
Following what is highly regarded as the best year in the history of the brand in 1992, Ralph Lauren’s reputation in the streets stayed on a hot streak. In the winter of 1993, Polo released a limited-edition line of clothing inspired by the increasingly popular outdoor activity of snowboarding, called the Snow Beach Capsule Collection. Designs included hats, hoodies, vests, and jackets in bright colors, with two phrases emblazoned across the range of items: COLD WAVE and SNOW BEACH.
The collection was well received, but it wasn’t until a few months later that Snow Beach would be immortalized in hip-hop and fashion history. That same winter in 1993, the Staten Island rap group Wu-Tang Clan had released their debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) to much critical acclaim, and were quickly rising to fame within the city.
As the story goes, on the day of the Hype Williams-directed music video shoot for “Can It Be All So Simple”, the third single from the album, Wu-Tang member Raekwon the Chef was at Abraham & Straus department store in Brooklyn, when he came across the now-iconic yellow and navy parka color-blocked parka with the red “SNOW BEACH” print across the front.
“I wanted to wear something that I felt could relate to my culture,” Raekwon recounted to Complex in a 2015 interview. “I was always a fan of Polo, but when I seen that, I felt like I was the only one who had it. So I jumped on it and wore it in the video. Next thing you know, the jacket became famous.”
In “Can It Be All So Simple”, Raekwon and Ghostface Killah traded verses about the dangerous and violent reality they grew up surrounded by, and contrasted it with a different lifestyle of wealth and fame that they wanted to escape to. Raekwon rocking the Snow Beach mountain jacket in the grimy streets of New York was symbolic of these aspirations, and the video became a defining moment in the history of Ralph Lauren’s relationship with hip-hop. The jacket became instantly coveted amongst Lo heads and Wu-Tang fans, and is often referred to simply as “the Raekwon”. Throughout the rest of the ‘90s, items from the Snow Beach collection were highly revered, with the iconic color combinations of the collection showing up in historic photos from that era.
To this day, many Polo collectors would give credit to seeing Raekwon in the Snow Beach as the launching point for their obsessions with the gear, and as the reason why the jacket has reached the ultimate grail status in the world of Ralph Lauren, and become perhaps the most legendary release in the history of the brand.
On the 25th anniversary of the Snow Beach collection in 2018, the line was re-released with a number of retro editions of items, as well as pieces re-imagined with black and white monochromatic designs.
This story was written by Eden DaSilva for the release of Outfit Architecture 2.0, a book by Living Proof that documents the culture surrounding Polo Ralph Lauren gear during the late 1990s in New York City. Now available on our Patreon.
Story: Eden DaSilva.
Photos: Tommy Rebel and WILD