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Stepping into the newly opened Polo Ralph Lauren store in the heart of Michigan Ave. here is a guaranteed deja-vu experience if you've visited "the mansion," the flagship store on Madison Ave. in New York City.
The mansion as shoppers and Lauren personnel call Lauren's elegant emporium situated in the old Rhinelander mansion at 72nd and Madison seems to have moved intact to the Midwest.
Everything is in place: the mahogany-paneled walls and ceilings, the matching grand staircase and elevator cabs, marble fireplaces, crystal chandeliers, Oriental rugs and overstuffed leather chairs draped with knitted cashmere throw blankets.
And nowhere is the Lauren aesthetic more pronounced than on the fourth floor, which houses the most comprehensive Ralph Lauren Home Collection in the world, according to the company.
In celebration of two landmarks the 15th anniversary of the Home Collection and the opening of the Chicago store Nancy Vignola, senior vice president of Home Collection Design, led a tour through the nine stately rooms that showcase Lauren furniture, fabrics, wall coverings, bedding and tabletop accessories.
She also gave a preview of what awaits in March, when the rooms will be revamped to introduce the Spring 1999 collection. And she noted that while the Chicago store is a reincarnation of the mansion in New York, the new store is...