Humanism 101: Polo Ralph Lauren x Oak Bluffs: A Portrait of the American Dream

Today it’s time for a retraction, and Anne doesn’t do retractions often.

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.

I’ve mentioned my three young men Trump voters — White, Latino and Black [the three amigos] — who revere Ralph and keep me grounded in the complexities and contradictions of progressive ideas. It was when they saw Ralph’s latest big design book in my living room, that they felt comfortable admitting that they voted for Trump because they want to be entrepreneurs like Ralph Lauren. Their knowledge of marketing and luxury branding was stunning.

Two Humanists: Cucinelli and Lauren

AOC’s history writing about the America-inspired luxury brand Ralph Lauren is a long one. In fact we’re pulling together all of the writing excerpts to support my claim. My retraction comes from this early July 2025 statement:

No one articulates humanist values like Brunello Cucinelli, but Ralph is way up there delivering major marketing changes but without a visual bullhorn.

With the release of Polo Ralph Lauren’s new Oak Bluff Collection, its second collaboration with Morehouse College and Spelman College and their research and archival teams, I’m ending the competition in my mind between the two designers, great brand builders and global humanists. They are equal as global humanists after today.

Models in the campaign include 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.

Ralph Lauren has said about the new Polo event:

“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.”

So let me share what others have written about the new campaign.

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 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 the people closest to her. I don’t know that these people make the world a better place. But they are proud and loud out there. My goal is stay as far away from them as possible.

Just consider all the people of color involved in this project — and their families and ancestors. AOC says it speaks to respect and unity of purpose among a wide range of global citizens, who embrace the Polo Ralph Lauren x Oak Bluffs project and others like it. Our greatest bond on AOC is that most of us are like-minded, creative humanists.

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. Come on, now. You know you love it. ~ Anne