I have always been inspired by the dream of America-families in the country, weathered trucks and farmhouses; sailing off the coast of Maine; following dirt roads in an old wood-paneled station wagon; a convertible filled with young college kids sporting crew cuts and sweatshirts and frayed sneakers.

Love the fun of clothes, not the status of fashion.

I am not looking like Armani today and somebody else tomorrow. I look like Ralph Lauren. And my goal is to constantly move in fashion and move in style without giving up what I am.

I try to find people who love and believe in what I do - and people I can respect because they do what I don't do. I've had to bring in financial people and put them in positions where they could tell me, "Ralph, let's not do that."

I like magazines. I love to look at a magazine. But the magazines have got to get better. Everything pushes someone else to get better. So the Internet pushes the magazines.

I went to my boss, and I said, 'Look, I'd like to design these ties because I think they could be new.' He said, 'The world isn't ready for Ralph Lauren.' I never forgot that because... I thought that was a compliment.

Personal style is about a sense of yourself, a sense of what you believe in and wearing what you like.