2026 Ralph Lauren Lovers Nantucket to Oak Bluffs American: This Is Who We Are
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American Airlines is adding a new seasonal flight to Nantucket for Summer 2026, flying from Charlotte, NC, to the "quintessential Ralph Lauren summer" destination. American also expands new routes to Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard, building on new routes to the region added in 2024 out of New York’s Laguardia airport.
Nantucket's aesthetic—with its historic whaling town, weathered docks, and classic New England style—is often compared to the aspirational, polished Americana lifestyle promoted by Ralph Lauren. Those are the TikTok stories that reach millions of Ralph Lauren loving hearts and minds.
At Anne of Carversville, we’re devoted to honoring Ralph Lauren the humanist and the expanding horizons of Ralph’s patriotic contributions to telling the American story. I am proud to say that we’ve held the entire Ralph Lauren brands portfolio to the highest standards of truth-telling excellence; and they’ve exceeded all expectations in addressing our stories with sincerity and civic action.
Writing about the Ralph Lauren Pre-Fall 2025 Campaign in early July, shot by Tyler Mitchell, I noted that the Ralph Lauren name — and especially Polo Ralph Lauren — carries great symbolism and respect in the Black community.
If you’re familiar with Black history, you know about Oak Bluffs, one of six towns located on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. It has a rich history as a welcoming haven for African Americans, especially during the Jim Crow era, and it remains a vital part of American Black history and culture.
One doesn’t use the word ‘tenderness’ in describing a brand campaign, and yet that was AOC’s visceral response to last summer’s Polo Ralph Lauren x Oak Bluffs 2025 campaign and 20 minute documentary.
The 2025 release of Polo Ralph Lauren’s new Oak Bluff Collection was its second collaboration with Morehouse College and Spelman College and their research and archival teams.
Models in the campaign included Aaliyah Hydes, Aya Jones, Jecardi Sykes and Samuel Elie. Photographer Nadine Ijewere [IG] captured the stills for Polo Ralph Lauren x Oak Bluffs 2025 [IG]. James M. Jeter worked as Creative Director. / Hair by Mideyah Parker; makeup by Aurore Gibrien
Polo also consulted with The Cottagers Inc., The Martha’s Vineyard African American Heritage Trail, The Martha’s Vineyard Museum and The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture on the project.
The release of the Oak Bluff 20-minute documentary video is unparalleled in my knowledge of luxury brand history. It’s a gift to America in this very difficult time in our national history. Every reader of AOC knows where Anne stands on this topic.
The documentary film ‘A Portrait of the American Dream Oak Bluffs’ was directed by Cole Brown, the recipient of the 2025 CHA Young Alumnus of the Year Award at Philadelphia’s Springside Chestnut Hill Academy.
Brown, who spent summers on the Vineyard, is a critically acclaimed author and producer, recognized for his NAACP Image Award-nominated book ‘Greyboy’ and his work on the docuseries ‘Magic City’.
“It’s a story of Black aspiration, Black success in a time and place where that was far from guaranteed in most parts of the country,” Brown told ‘Good Morning America’ about the project. “We wanted to reach out to the community and say, ‘Hey, what stories have really created this place that has become so special for Black history?’”
Ralph Lauren described the new Polo campaign:
“This collection is about more than a charming coastal town; it’s a story of the American dream. Oak Bluff’s unique history, traditions and sense of community deeply inspire me to speak to what we are all searching for – a place where you can be free, uncontrived, joyful and truly at home.”
INC Magazine: Ralph Lauren’s New Marketing Campaign Is a Master Class in World Building: “As retailers shrink away from diversity, the iconic American brand has taken the opposite route—and outpaced the market.”
“ . . . the Oak Bluffs collection is more than just a capsule of $400 V-neck sweaters, and that’s why it warrants attention. The collection launched alongside a 20-minute documentary on the Black history of Martha’s Vineyard, a curated Spotify playlist, and a campaign that features actual family residents of Oak Bluff. With this, Ralph Lauren offered a master class in world building for brands, and consumers have taken notice.”
Town & Country Magazine: Polo Ralph Lauren Launches New Collection Celebrating the Historically Black Roots of Oak Bluffs: “The capsule honors the small Martha's Vineyard town that has long been home to African American communities.”
“A historic cultural haven for African American communities for more than a century, the seaside escape has long been a summer destination frequented by everyone from seasonal beachgoers to close-knit Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) alumni.”
The Ralph Lauren 2024 Citizenship & Sustainability Report
Examined through the Ralph Lauren Corporate business lens, Ralph Lauren launched in 2022 the ‘Design with Intent’ program. This project is so ambitious that it involves weekly meetings dedicated to cultural awareness and the responsible commitment to telling America’s stories with absolute truth and integrity.
To be clear, the Ralph Lauren brand teams are committed to telling the stories of all Americans. In 2024, delegations from Ralph Lauren — yes ‘delegations’ and it’s their word, not AOC’s — attended and participated in the International Folk Art Market, the Santa Fe Indian Market, the Cherokee Nation Art Market and Original 2023 in Mexico City.
Special Aug. 8th, 2025 Screening of the Film
Along with online release, a special screening of ‘A Portrait of the American Dream: Oak Bluffs’ will take place Aug. 8 during the Oscar-qualifying, 23rd annual Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival, followed by a panel discussion “on the power of narrative change and racial healing.” The screening is presented in partnership with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Criticisms of the Oak Bluffs Project
After all these efforts, has Polo Ralph Lauren been accused of cultural appropriation? Yes. But I’ve spent a lot of time reading comments about this campaign from ordinary people of all skin colors and backgrounds. They love the campaign with both hearts and minds.
My late mother was one of those people you just could not please under any circumstances. She was consumed by a need to negatively comment on the world-at-large and all its people. I don’t know that she contributed in any way to make the world a better place. But her kind is proud and loud in America.
My goal is stay as far away from them as possible and follow the light to multiple projects like this one from Polo Ralph Lauren.
Our greatest collective bond on AOC is that most of us are like-minded humanists — and I now use the term New Humanism to reflect the philosophy’s current reality in 2025. In a world grappling with the triumphs of Renaissance humanism but also the pain and suffering involved in the forcible relocations of millions of humans in the global slave trade, we must acknowledge humanism’s ardent abolitionists but also its slave traders.
The critics of this campaign also call it a celebration of black elitism.
Much of my 2025 study and research has focused on stories like Oak Bluffs. Specifically, it was model Vittoria Ceretti who inspired me to research whales, because she was one in another life. That research thread took me to whaling in New England and the startling discovery about how many free people of color or slaves using their whaling wages to buy their freedom were crew on those whaling voyages.
I learned of Black men who came to own their own whaling ships and the wealth they accrued, along with their roles as abolitionists working side-by-side with white abolitionists. These stories of united purpose are not well-known in America. But they are stories that bind us in making what beloved Civil Rights Leader and Congressman John Lewis called “good trouble”.
Making “good trouble” is what Anne of Carversville is all about. These stories inspire us to keep moving forward with conviction, even in frightening times as we see now in America. Love to all ~ Anne
