Meet The New York Gang That Wears Nothing But Vintage Ralph Lauren

by Justin Fenner | 4:19 pm, July 27th, 2011

Some gangs wear all one color, others wear the exact same items of clothing. But back in the day, members of one New York City gang could recognize their comrades as the guys wearing Ralph Lauren everything.

The Lo-Lifes, who took their name from the second syllable of Lauren’s Polo line, formed in the late 1980s with a mission to accumulate as much Ralph Lauren-branded clothing as possible. It didn’t matter which product line it came from, or where they found it — but all of their clothing had to be Ralph. At the time, the designer’s characteristic bright colors helped members of the Lo-Lifes distinguish themselves from other gangs. But their devotion to him was inspired by a lot more than nautical flag patterns and bright polo shirts. The Lo-Lifes, many of whom came from hard projects in Brooklyn, respected that Lauren got past his upbringing in the Bronx and created an international clothing brand.

The young men did everything in their power to attain as much of the clothing as they could, and treated the streets, clubs and subways of New York in the late 80s and early 90s as their catwalk. There are tales of dozens of Lo-Lifes at a time descending on stores like Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s and clearing the rails of everything with a Ralph Lauren tag. It was not sufficient just to wear one Ralph Lauren item; Lo-Lifes had to be dressed head-to-toe in the brand.

Fashion fanaticism is driven by a lot of different things, but members of the Lo-Lifes were obsessed with the status the clothing represented. Brayden Olson, a photographer working on a documentary about the gang, told The Guardian that a lot of former members idolized Lauren as a “genius when it came to designing clothing.” (They got that right.) And they’d do nearly anything to get their hands on his genius.

Everyone I met started collecting the clothes as teens and they acquired it by ANY means necessary. Obviously ‘racking’ (stealing) was the obvious choice. They made it clear they were not petty thieves either, they had complex plans and carried them out very professionally. They would travel to other nearby states where the stores were not ready for anything like that. One guy even said he used to buy plane tickets to Puerto Rico just to get gear.

And you thought the crowds at H&M’s designer collaborations were bad. The Guardian‘s article features this video from 2007, which may not be from Olson’s documentary, but it does reveal a lot between the designer and his gang-member followers. Watch:

[The Guardian]

Gangs Of New York Lo-Lifes Polo Ralph Lauren Ralph Lauren Ralph Lauren Gang

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