I had started selling the Ralph Lauren Co iron beds for their store displays and ad campaigns back in 1987. One of the first beds I sold them was used in a catalog displaying linens and pillows that they were offering the pub
lic at the time. I had been told not to expect a conventional setting or use of the bed they got from me, by their San Fancisco representative. I had a feeling it was going to be unusual when they asked that I remove the brass the iron bed had originally had on it. They also sent me pillow shams that were in a dusty rose color and asked that the iron bed finish blend with all of the samples. As you can see..the display shot was only of a small section of the headboard. I was told they would never be buying beds that took away from the importance of what they were trying to sell.
Many years later the San Francisco rep asked if I had any twins. Back in 1990, twins were no where near as rare and hard to find as they are today. They had mentioned wanting to use two twins in one room along side of each other. My first thought was toward matching twin iron beds……which at the time I had about four pairs. So I sent all the matching twins I had. The rep got back to me and said they wanted different iron beds. I asked why, because I happened to have had the four sets, which is a lot by anyone’s standards. He said the different iron bed frames gave character and individual charm to each bed and the way they intended on dressing the beds along side of each other would actually put the attention of the quilts, linens, dust ruffles and pillows. As you can see from the photo’s…they were right, and just one more reason Ralph Lauren is as successful as he is.
