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Ralph Lauren has partnered with HBCUs Spelman and Morehouse College to pay tribute to Oak Bluff and HBCU heritage with its new limited-edition collection.
Located on Martha's Vineyard's northeastern shore, Oak Bluffs has long served as a haven—a bright harbor where Black families, academics, artists, and heritage keepers find a happiness that America frequently dares to deny them elsewhere. And Ralph Lauren wants to celebrate that happiness, that rebellious leisure. However, this goes beyond fashion.
With the assistance of Morehouse and Spelman graduates, who serve as designers and storytellers in addition to being muses, the collection reflects the longstanding Black excellence traditions. Instead of serving as mascots, the Maroon Tiger of Morehouse and the Jaguar of Spelman are featured on varsity jackets as symbols of academic strength.
“It’s about more than a charming coastal town,” Ralph Lauren himself said of the collection. “It’s a story of the American dream.”
Layers of this tradition are lifted by the partnership's campaign, which was directed by Cole Brown and photographed by Nadine Ijewere and Azariah Bjørvig. A Portrait of the American Dream: Oak Bluffs, the campaign's documentary, presents a reflection on joy, memory, and the ability to change a country's perception of its own fabric via historical photos and interviews with HBCU graduates, community historians, and intergenerational homeowners.
The brand’s support of The Cottagers, Inc.—a nonprofit of Black women homeowners preserving cultural memory on the island. In addition to partnerships with the UNCF and institutions like the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, the collection acts as both tribute and archive.
Instead of demanding attention, the collection encourages reflection. The romanticism of America, from Ivy League quads to cowboy frontiers, is the foundation of Ralph Lauren's brand, but Oak Bluffs offers something more complex: an invisible but timeless picture of America.
