Skip to Content
StyleRalph LaurenJul 23, 2025

New Polo Ralph Lauren for Oak Bluffs Collection Celebrates Historic Black Community in Martha’s Vineyard

The collection builds on the brand’s partnership with Historically Black colleges Morehouse and Spelman that launched in 2022. 

By Precious Fondren
Photo by Nadine Ijewere for Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren continues to celebrate Black culture with a new collection. 

The designer and his brand announced Polo Ralph Lauren for Oak Bluffs collection on Wednesday, a limited-edition capsule honoring the small Black community from the Massachusetts town on Martha’s Vineyard, where the Black upper middle class and elites thrived. 

“This collection is about more than a charming coastal town; it’s a story of the American dream,” Ralph Lauren said in a statement. “Oak Bluffs’ unique history, traditions and sense of community deeply inspire me and speak to what we are all searching for—a place where you can be free, uncontrived, joyful and truly at home.”

This collection builds on the ongoing partnership the brand has with the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Morehouse and Spelman, which launched in 2022. 

The Oak Bluffs collection was designed by RL staff that went to both schools and features a mix of collegiate ballcaps, crewnecks, jackets, sport caps, sun-faded knits, sweaters, accessories and more.

The collection includes a maroon-and-white satin varsity jacket with Morehouse’s Maroon Tiger on the back, as well as an ivory-and-light-blue patchwork cardigan featuring Spelman’s Jaguar mascot and motifs highlighting some of the college’s campus landmarks. “Additionally,” the brand said in a statement, “a quilted patchwork jacket and matching quilted blanket serve as a visual narrative of the island with individual patches paying tribute to the town’s nautical traditions.”

The campaign and collection will be accompanied by a short documentary called A Portrait of the American Dream: Oak Bluffs, which drops on YouTube on July 24. A special screening and panel discussion will be held at the Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festival on Aug. 8. 

The collection will be available for purchase on July 24 on RalphLauren.com, the Ralph Lauren App, in Morehouse College and Spelman College Follett campus bookstores, and in select Ralph Lauren stores.

The Latest
Tagged

Related Stories