The man in the photograph was dressed in a way that didn’t have any real precedent, not back then. It’s not that the different pieces he had on weren’t familiar; they were. The leather bomber, the denim jacket, the white workshirt worn with a tie—a silk knit yanked out of its predictable upper-crust context and, as a result, made all the more desirable.

And then there was the cowboy in black tie and fur-collared great coat leading his horse through the snow. The look, in hindsight, didn’t just anticipate the frontier grandeur of Legends of the Fall or A River Runs Through It or, more recently, Yellowstone, it suggested, like the others do, an interesting life outside the frame. “Where exactly was this guy going in a smoking jacket and a pair of boots,” I wondered. Yet, just as easily, I could see the great lodge of roaring fireplaces, trimmed trees, wool blankets, and fascinating people in Polo waiting for him on the other side of the arroyo. “Cool,” I had to think again, because, as Fitzgerald wrote, “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” These looks are the resulting vision of such a mind. They not only entertain two contradictory ideas—something fine with something rough; the wardrobe of the rugged outdoorsman with the wardrobe of the executive in a wood-paneled office; the world of manifest destiny with the world of dinner-party dress codes—they convincingly fuse them together.

It would be an oversimplification to assume there’s not more to Polo than the careful calibration of opposites that attract. Ralph has built out a physical world in such detail—men’s, women’s, children’s, stores, restaurants, coffee shops—that each year its realness spreads further into our own reality, making life a little more delightful with each visit. This piece is devoted to just one corner of the canvas—the fall collection of Polo Originals, each piece of which, whether a three-piece suit or a pair of paneled cords, has sewn into it the blue-and-silver label used from the very beginning. What Polo Originals inspires is the idea that a dream can lead to a life better lived. It does so through its feel for the moment and unerring eye for how to rework a classic by juxtaposing it with something surprising. By doing so, you see both in a new way.

“I have always loved contradiction and the unexpected,” Ralph once said, which is evident throughout the current lineup. Its inspiration comes from the early days of Grand Prix automobile racing, when engine mechanics, airplane designers, war heroes, and other thrill-seekers tried to go faster than any human had gone before, and looked particularly great doing it at tracks like the Goodwood Motor Circuit, where the collection was photographed.

This sense of functional stylishness is something the collection as a whole reflects. Through the merest detail—the patches and pins, the shirt collars and scarves—it recalls the varied walks of life who once came together as great teams to redefine the limits of fast, and how these pioneering men—and what they wore—rubbed off on each other. The wardrobe of the guy born with money and means gained a touch of practical toughness; the clothes of purpose that hung in the mechanic’s closet had added to them the spit of polish. This season’s Polo Originals tells that story, and it does so, as always, against the clock.