Starring in Gant’s spring/summer ’26 campaign, 'Building on Legacy', Lauren Hutton reflects on six decades in New York, the enduring codes of American sportswear, and the simple style rules she still lives by
When Lauren Hutton first arrived in New York in 1964, she cut a very different figure. “I was wearing a purple mohair sweater and aqua terrycloth shorts I’d made, and for a day or two I thought I was the peak of chic! I was dead wrong.” It has been a long road from that self-described misstep to the woman she is today. Her gap-toothed smile and commanding presence soon charmed Diana Vreeland – and, not long after, the world – which swiftly embraced what was dubbed her “believable beauty,” propelling her to become the record-holder for the most cover appearances on American Vogue (no fewer than 26).
Now, more than six decades later, Hutton still presides over New York and a certain feeling of timeless American style – as captured in Gant’s newly unveiled spring/summer ’26 campaign, 'Building on Legacy'. Shot atop a towering Manhattan rooftop, the campaign spotlights the brand’s enduring staples, brought to life by a cast that bridges generations. Hutton, as radiant as ever, stars alongside fellow icon Mark Vanderloo, joined by his son Mark Vanderloo Jr., painter and illustrator Jasaya Neale, and New York author and critic Zoe Dubno: a cross-section of voices shaping culture today.
For Hutton, the partnership with Gant is something of a homecoming. “Gant has always had a longtime classic style, which for my first decade in Manhattan, became my style too,” she says. “But like Gant, despite trends, I never got stuck in the past.” It’s a sentiment that neatly mirrors her own trajectory: never static.
To shoot the campaign in New York – the city where her legend has been forged – only sharpened that resonance. “New York is pure energy. It’s been base camp for me for 50 something years,” she says. “But, when I was working like crazy, in the ’60s and ’70s, whenever I sensed that my smile was starting to feel fake I’d get out of town.” Even now, restlessness remains part of her rhythm. “As we speak, I am in the new Hollywood – beautiful Budapest! Making a movie. It’s a small part but a great script, great director and the lovely Anne Hathaway plays my daughter, so it’s all a breeze. But yes, shooting in NYC is what I’ve done all my adult life, so it’s home to me. It never loses its spirit.”
That spirit is embedded in the clothes themselves. The SS26 collection revisits the enduring codes of American sportswear: chinos, crisp shirts, collegiate sweats, trench coats and softly structured tailoring, all designed with a functional elegance. Hutton’s verdict? “Effortless! Makes me feel like I can put ’em on and forget them. Clothes you can live in and never worry about how they look. Very few designers can you do that with.”
If there is one style lesson she returns to, it is startlingly specific. “One of my first lessons I learned was what was my white. We all have a right white. Find yours and never leave it!” she says. “I loved creamy white, because it looked so glamorous on my very pale skin.”
For Hutton, timelessness has nothing to do with nostalgia. “Classic, well-tailored pieces that have proven themselves decade after decade, generation after generation. Jackets, shirts (T or blouse) pants, suits, dresses.” The formula is clear, but the effect is deeply personal. “The style I have took a while to find, but most true styles do, and they’re worth it because you’re always comfortable in your own style.”
Comfort in one’s clothes and in one’s skin is perhaps the real legacy she represents. “I hope they see that real style has no expiration date and few rules… well, the right white is a rule!” she laughs.
And beyond style? Her guiding principles extend far past the wardrobe. “One? I live by two,” she says, when asked for a single piece of advice. “Read everything (even newspapers – good ones at least) start with Mark Twain then make your way up to Falkner.” The second is elemental. “Get outside and just sit and look and listen to nature. The purest nature you can find. Sit down, and if cool, lay down. Do it, where it’s safe, at night too and without lights. As an adolescent I lay out on my front lawn at night and watched the stars. You look up at all that and in a short time you forget your troubles at home. We need to forget and forgive, soon you’ll be free.”