Ralph's Club New York
Eau de Parfum, Ralph Lauren (2025)

Less sharp and citrus than the original Ralph's Club. This New York version smells less like shower gel and more like YSL MYSLF with plenty of powdery, sweet florals. To me, it feels like the cooler weather, nighttime version scent for this line.

Projection is decent, should be plenty for work, but it doesn't strike me as anything loud. Longevity is also good. I've worn it to work a few times and it lasts the whole workday and even a little more.

Uhhgghh...so disappointed in this perfume. It smells like a hundred other designer fragrances I've tried at perfume counters like Macey's, Nordstom's, Dillards, et al. A "synthetic stew" of a synthetic smelling amber type base, and a black currant note thrown in for good measure to make it slightly different from all 1000 of it's churned out brother bottles of, "no thank you." Honestly, this is what an AI created perfume would smell like to me. Just one more cranked out bottle of mediocrity to appeal to the masses.

I smell none of the notes I was hoping I'd smell, like the fir balsam, the lavender, the geranium, the moss, the sandalwood, the Madagascan bourbon vanilla...the "humanity" fer cryin out loud! Nothing...none of that for me...I was hoping for something as good as Purple Label, but got just another flanker in a long line of flankers by Ralph Lauren.

Sample before you pull any triggers, or you may be "triggered" like I have been with this perfume. If I want black currant in an amazing smelling perfume, I'll go to my bottle of Creed Green Valley, or Silver Mountain Water. Thumbs way down for me.

Ralph's Club New York by Ralph Lauren (2025) is modern for sure, but different from the rest of the line and done in a way that I think a lot of people who have written off modern designers may appreciate. I hate describing fragrances with other fragrances, but the most-concise way to measure Ralph's Club New York is to call it a middle ground between Silver Mountain Water by Creed (1995) and Coach Platinum (2018), with a bit of the previous year's Ralph's Club Eau de Toilette by Ralph Lauren (2024) basing it out. Presented as a limited edition for Ralph Lauren boutiques and select Macy's only, I hope this gets a wider launch and isn't put in a box like Purple Label by Ralph Lauren (2003) was, or outright discontinued after this first run is done. I think a proper flanker and not just heavier or sweeter concentrations is what the line needs to gain more favor in the long term, in the way the Polo line has endured with its color-coded subdivisions.

Ralph's Club New York is a lot brighter with that punchy blackcurrant and bergamot up top, going into more of a fougère heart beyond it. This is a very sweet fougère accord so fans of something like Curve for Men by Liz Claiborne (1996) or Montblanc Legend (2011) know what to expect with Ralph's Club New York. Because the stuff recalls a bit of that 90's and 00's "mall scent" fresh fougère chic, I think a lot of millennial guys will flock to the stuff the way they did Parfums de Marly Percival (2018) or Montblanc Legend Blue (2024). Gen-X will be on the fence here, and Boomer guys will make the same argument they've made about the change in the "men's cologne" landscape since 2005, so they can sit this one out. Z and Alpha kids may think this is too mature, on the other side of the divide. There is a compressed oakmoss accord here done with evernyl, if that counts for anything. Performance as an eau de parfum is good, although more sheer than the OG Ralph's Club.

If there's a big criticism here it's that although Ralph's Club New York is a rather noticeable deviation from the Ralph's Club "DNA" of past releases, it deviates towards something that is in and of itself not very original. A pastiche of popular past tropes with a small splash of modern ones is creative problem solving to get more people into a range, but not very innovative or interesting unless you're too young to recognize what is being referenced in this fragrance. So yeah, a 20-something guy who has never seen a bottle of Curve or Fierce, never really been to a mall (because most are dead beyond major US cities), and has a taste unusual for his age that steers him away from the heavy oversprayed sugar bombs of Generation Rizz, he might find something unique and special with Ralph's Club New York; but anyone old enough to remember 10-10-321 commercials or David Arquette with an oversized pager on his belt will smell this and go "been there". Thumbs up