Originally published on Essence.com
The sea hums differently in Oak Bluffs. Not with the violence of waves, but with the lull of porch laughter, with voices passed down from one veranda to the next. It is a place where history doesn’t just live—it dances. And now, with its latest Polo Ralph Lauren for Oak Bluffs collection, Ralph Lauren attempts to choreograph that dance into thread and texture, reaching back to a sanctuary of Black tradition and ease that many call home, even if only for a season.
Oak Bluffs, nestled on the northeastern edge of Martha’s Vineyard, has long been a refuge—a sunlit harbor where Black families, scholars, creatives, and caretakers of heritage carve out a joy that America often dares to deny them elsewhere. And that joy, that defiant leisure, is what Ralph Lauren seeks to celebrate. But this is not merely about fashion. This is about memory.
With the help of Morehouse and Spelman alumni, who sit not only as muses but as designers and narrators, the collection embodies the long-held traditions of Black excellence. Varsity jackets bear the Maroon Tiger of Morehouse and the jaguar of Spelman, not as mascots, but as heralds of intellectual fortitude. Cardigans, caps, and knits echo front-porch socials and bike rides down Sea View Avenue, where sun and saltwater kiss the hems of heirloom style.
“It’s about more than a charming coastal town,” Ralph Lauren himself said of the collection. “It’s a story of the American dream.”
But whose dream? That’s the deeper question. And to ask it is to understand that Oak Bluffs has always operated as both haven and resistance.
The partnership’s campaign, directed by Cole Brown and shot by Nadine Ijewere and Azariah Bjørvig, lifts the layers of this legacy. Through archival images and interviews with multigenerational homeowners, community historians, and HBCU alumni, the campaign’s documentary, A Portrait of the American Dream: Oak Bluffs, offers a meditation on joy, memory, and the power to reshape a nation’s view of its own fabric.
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