From Miami to Tangier, via the French Riviera, Cascais and the Hamptons, the biggest names in fashion have found summer retreats far from the catwalks and spotlights where they can express their creative genius. From legendary villas and family homes to secret workshops and castles, each of these exceptional locations embodies the spirit, audacity, and art of living of their famous owners.
This summer, LUXUS MAGAZINE takes you on a weekly tour of a prestigious residence: a nine-part journey through the iconic vacation spots of the world’s greatest fashion designers. The last chapter in our summer series on designers’ homes is Ralph Lauren‘s house in Montauk in the Hamptons, the ultimate vacation spot for the New York jet set. It is perhaps the most authentic of them all. Not because it is ostentatious—it is anything but—but because of its unique ability to embody, all by itself, the entire imagination of its owner.
An American lifestyle born on the dunes
The Hamptons, a region located northeast of Long Island in New York State, was originally inhabited by the Shinnecock Native Americans. In the 17th century, English, Dutch, and Polish settlers arrived and began farming, particularly potatoes.
In the early 20th century, the WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) elite discovered the region and built vast villas in Southampton and East Hampton.
Painters and artists followed: Edward Hopper was inspired by the area, the Surrealists took refuge there during the war, followed by Jackson Pollock, Rothko and Roy Lichtenstein.
From the 1980s onwards, Wall Street fortunes flooded the area, causing prices to skyrocket. Montauk became a bohemian hangout, especially after Andy Warhol bought a house there in 1972. Today, the Hamptons combine iconic beaches, designer hotels (Surf Lodge, Ruschmeyer’s), cult venues (Pierre’s, Sunset Beach) and an aesthetic lifestyle. Helicopter access, galas, high society… The myth continues, between artistic heritage and the fantasy of casual elegance.
Ralph Lauren has made it one of the pillars of his aesthetic, capturing the preppy spirit, rustic elegance, and equestrian heritage of the region. More than just a destination, it is a symbol of the “socialite life,” combining summer hedonism and timeless refinement. For Ralph Lauren, it is more than a destination: “It’s a natural world of blue skies, green fields, and elegant rusticity,” he says.
The first refuge: Montauk in the 1970s
It all began in the 1970s, when Ralph and Ricky Lauren discovered Montauk in their white Jeep. They fell in love with the wild nature, the windswept beaches, and the slow pace of life at the tip of the island. They bought a house perched on the cliffs, with breathtaking views of the ocean.
It is said that Ralph Lauren almost bought a much larger house in the Hamptons, but ultimately opted for this more modest property because it reminded him of the bungalows of his childhood in the Bronx. It was a way of staying true to his roots, despite his dazzling success.
This retreat became a family sanctuary. Ralph Lauren and his wife Ricky loved watching their children—Andrew, David, and Dylan—run on the sand, swim in the waves, and have barbecues at sunset. These simple images inspired clothing and home décor collections, including Ralph Lauren Home, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2023.
The interior design embodies this same spirit: bleached wood floors, linen sofas, Navajo blankets, and a palette of whites and blues. As the designer likes to say, this house is “like a well-worn Oxford shirt that you never want to take off.”
A second home in 2019: between architecture and heritage
In 2019, Ralph Lauren acquired another iconic property in the same area of Montauk for $16 million. Formerly the home of playwright Edward Albee, the house is an architectural gem designed by a disciple of Frank Lloyd Wright. Organic lines, open spaces, light-filled interiors… everything has been designed to interact with the ocean.
The designer has added his signature touches: weathered wood, sturdy furniture, faded linen, and touches of navy blue. It is a modern reinvention of the American dream. This house extends his taste for a refined seaside aesthetic, a world that has become his trademark.
A delicately orchestrated life
Summers in Montauk are lived to the rhythm of nature. In the morning, Ralph Lauren walks his dogs by the water. Then comes reading on the veranda, lunch of lobster and tomatoes from the garden, and chess or card games on the terrace.
At 85, Ralph Lauren continues to live at the pace of his homes, which are like refuges shaped in his image. In the Hamptons, he designs, entertains, and contemplates. In a fast-paced world, he embodies the luxury of time. His home reflects this: every object seems to have been there forever, not to dazzle, but to create a subtle and sincere harmony.
In the evening, dinner is served barefoot on the sand, under a striped parasol, with the refined simplicity that defines his style. “I never draw as well as I do when I’m away from New York,” he confides. “Inspiration comes from life, and I live it here.” In his home, elegance lies in rhythm, detail, and permanence.
A shared ‘Art de vivre’
In 2025, Ralph Lauren continues to charm with a new Spring/Summer 2025 collection presented at a stud farm in Watermill, in the heart of the Hamptons: an idyllic setting that perfectly embodies its seaside aesthetic and its attachment to precious family moments. The venue, recently put on the market for $15.25 million, has been transformed into a veritable movie set: the legendary New York Polo Bar has been recreated down to the smallest detail, inspired by recipes from Ricky Lauren’s book The Hamptons: Food, Family, and History.
On the menu: the iconic burgers from the Polo Bar restaurant and fresh fish, all served on green and white tableware that blends in with the surroundings. Around the house, vintage cars from the designer’s personal collection are lined up on the lawn, while riders in white polo shirts ride through the meadows, adding a touch of drama to this already cinematic scene.
Seaside anecdotes
Among his memories of Montauk, Ralph Lauren recounts a time when, during a power outage, the family went without electricity for two days. Rather than leave, they improvised meals over a wood fire and read by oil lamp. It’s a memory that his children often recall as one of the happiest of their summers in Montauk.
It is also rumored that some of the brand’s most iconic campaigns—notably the one featuring Penélope Cruz in a flowing white dress—were improvised on location, with clothes “borrowed” from the closets of the house. This is also part of the Lauren spirit: the fluidity between life and creation.
A taste for a slower pace
In an increasingly fast-paced world, Ralph Lauren’s Hamptons home seems to offer a quiet response. It’s a way of saying that elegance may lie less in accumulation than in consistency. Every object, every curtain, every piece of furniture seems to have been there forever—not for stylistic effect, but because it has found its rightful place.
Far from any aggressive marketing, this place reveals the intimacy of a man who continues to design, imagine and think of clothing as an extension of the art of living. It is a form of consistency that makes Ralph Lauren one of the few designers whose personal universe is as strong as his brand. The Double RL (RRL) collection reflects this: ranch spirit, raw materials, reminiscences of the Hamptons and Colorado. Each object tells a story: an aged club chair, a fishing basket, a Fitzgerald novel. The Lauren style is this ability to make objects speak.
In this latest episode of our saga on designers’ refuges, Ralph Lauren’s home feels like the obvious choice. It is neither a movie set nor a showcase, but a synthesis of everything he embodies: a way of life based on simplicity, consistency, and meaning.
More than a designer, Ralph Lauren has become the narrator of a fantasy America, and his Hamptons home is one of its most beautiful chapters. As he said, “What I do is live the best life I can and enjoy the fullness of what surrounds us.”
Read : Ricky Lauren, The Hamptons : Food, Family, and History | Wiley, avril 2012
Ralph Lauren A Way of Living | Rizzoli New-York, septembre 2023
Michael Shnayerson, Big Book of The Hamptons | Assouline, janvier 2014
See: the movie Something’s Gotta Give, with Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson, 2003
Next saga: Legendary hotels around the world
Read also > Épisode 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08
Featured image: montage portrait of Ralph Lauren in the Hamptons
