Rugby Ralph Lauren arrives in Covent Garden


Covent Garden is well on the way to becoming a proper fashion destination. While Neal Street has been hipster central for a while (home to American Apparel, Dr Martens, Urban Outfitters), King Street is aiming to be something of a Bond Street for secondary lines. Burberry Brit is already firmly positioned, and now, slotted between it and the Apple store is Ralph Lauren’s Rugby.

A huge fan of the Ralph Lauren store aesthetic, I have been waiting aaages for this opening. Rugby is the preppy line from Ralph Lauren so the merchandise is a collegiate dream of cable cashmeres, denim, utility-wear and chinos of every description. As every good luxury brand knows, personalisation is quite the in thing now so the Make Your Own bar is not to be missed. I also loved the clothing collages on the walls and the poet-themed changing rooms. And happily for me, I noted that the menswear runs pretty small with chinos starting at a compact DRG-sized 28/30. Hold me back…