Ralph Lauren Fall 2010

What a difference a half year makes! Last season, Ralph Lauren did an ode to American workers in the Depression. But Thursday’s show, although muted in the dusky backgrounds of its floral dresses, was lush with velvet and softened with fur or lace. The designer even allowed Wall Street pinstripes to sneak back into the tailoring.

This was vintage Lauren, both in the finesse of his work and in the dark romance of the Edwardian era, which brought puffed shoulders on taut velvet jackets as well as the dark flowers. They closed a show where the evening wear had moved deftly away from red carpet shine and glitter.

Mr. Lauren’s skill is to make even the predictable seem fresh and also to add a discreet sexual vibe to male/female combinations. Jodhpurs curved to the waist and velvet vests were snug. The outerwear was plentiful, strong and mannish: herringbone wool, Shetland and Donegal tweeds.

When coats were worn with long chiffon skirts, there was a hint of the designer’s favorite prairie dresses come to town. Make that “downtown,” for this collection shed patrician style for something more cool — as in a leather satchel hitched across a green velvet gown. And throughout there was a juxtaposition of velvet in jewel colors of garnet, amethyst and emerald.

After last season’s program notes were criticized for referring to the Great Depression, there were no words of explanation — except for references to New York’s Lower East Side street names like Ludlow and Rivington, mingled with the Marais district of Paris and Bloomsbury in London. Bohemia may be only a figment of Mr. Lauren’s fashion imagination, but he made it sweet and compelling.