Ralph Lauren is the designer behind the most recognizable status symbol in American fashion, the Polo pony, and for years he has also been the loudest believer in doing it your own way. I find that contradiction charming, and this spring show leans into it.

A colorful brocade jacket goes with white cargo pants. A feather-trimmed velvet jacket in shrunken proportions goes with dark rinse boyfriend jeans. The show opens with a V-point corset worn with plain chinos, which is the kind of mix that looks wrong on a hanger and exactly right in motion.

What I like about this collection is that it uses his own history without turning it into a museum. A super-wide tie in blue with a matching shirt and faded jeans nods to the four-inch ties that launched his career in 1967. A pinstripe waistcoat with tails to the floor feels like something out of The Gilded Age. These are costume-y ideas, but they are mixed in with real clothes, and that is the right ratio. A reference works when you can wear it to lunch.

Half of the looks are built on trousers, and a lot of the straightforward tailoring and dresses are head to toe in white, camel or navy, in what looks like crisp cotton. A pair of Made in Italy pantsuits show off a really good eye for cut and structure.

I would argue these are the quiet heroes of the show. A wide white pant with a corset top is a gentler way to do a period reference than a tailcoat, and it is also the thing I would actually buy. Fifteen of the looks are floor-length, so the dressier end is not hiding either.

The strongest moments are the romantic ones. There are silks and lamés that were hand-painted or burned out to look aged, a burnished gold bead dress with an ombré effect, and tech organzas that look sun-bleached or tie-dyed.

All of them have a touched-by-the-hand quality that feels rare right now, when so much of what we see online is machine-made. I find that argument persuasive. If I were shopping this show I would pick one slightly worn-looking piece over five clean ones, because it will still look interesting in ten years.