How a rural Alabama quilting tradition shaped Ralph Lauren’s latest luxury collection

The Ralph Lauren x Gee’s Bend collection is the brand’s latest collaboration with historic American craft communities.

Claudia Pettway Charley and Loretta Pettway Bennett [Photo: Ralph Lauren]

Deep in a curve of the Alabama River is the small rural community of Gee’s Bend. The site of a former cotton plantation where the residents trace their lineage to enslaved ancestors, it has recently become known for some of the most creative abstract art in America. The medium isn’t a canvas or sculpture: It’s the quilt.

For centuries, the women of Gee’s Bend faced extreme poverty and isolation. They would save up whatever scraps were on hand—worn out denim workwear, faded rags, old feed sacks—sewing them together to........

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