Ralph Lauren draws the fashion crowd to the horsey Hamptons for a diverse show of Americana

BRIDGEHAMPTON, N.Y. (AP) — Ralph Lauren took to Hamptons horse country for a rollout of his signature Americana featuring first lady Jill Biden, Usher and Colman Domingo on his front row and Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and a bevy of adorable kids on his runway.

Horses and riders meandered Thursday night in a nearby field behind a white picket fence at a tony equestrian complex in Bridgehampton as Lauren showed bright tennis whites, baby blue dresses and jackets, and bright orange, green and yellow looks for men, women and the aforementioned tots.

The sun faded as the open-air show came to a close and Lauren's guests made their way to dinner in an on-site pop-up of his iconic Polo Bar restaurant.

Lauren, taking his bow with Biden at his side, has fond memories of the Hamptons, where he maintains a home and visited as a child. For his spring 2025 show, a day ahead of the official start of New York Fashion Week, he chose Khalily Stables, a state-of-the-art, 19-acre equestrian compound of stalls, barns, riding arenas and grassy paddocks.

Lauren mixed his Ralph Lauren Collection, Purple Label, Polo Ralph Lauren and children's wear for an extra-long show that stressed wearability on a weather-perfect evening as summer turns to fall.

There were picnic looks in soft blue dresses, and white trousers and shorts paired with stripes and jackets. There were evening looks, including a stunning long blush pearled skirt worn by Campbell with a knotted white T-shirt.

For the men, Lauren offered skinny cuffed trousers, blue floral dinner jackets and splashes of color blocking in orange pants paired with navy nautical jackets and wide multicolored ties over pinstripe shirts.

Whites and blues dominated, with a sprinkling of crochet and khaki. He threw in some sparkle in slinky sequined evening gowns, backless white cocktail dresses and blue blouses, adding a bit of his fairy dust to a pair of torn khaki trousers and other looks.

Lauren's young ones, from preschoolers to tweens and teens, were ready for anything.

One wore white shorts and a green slicker worthy of the U.S. Open the company just sponsored in looks for the ball crews and on-court officials. Others wore high riding boots with blue polos and matching pants. Still more were tiny prepsters in pinstripe button downs, navy jackets and cropped white pants.

The show, Usher mused afterwards, was “American life. That's American love. That's family.”

Another of Lauren's guests, Tom Hiddleston, agreed. “It’s an extremely precise and intelligent vision because you sort of think, I’d like to be a part of that. I’d like to live that,” he said. "Very inspiring.”

Domingo added: "You saw literally all different colors and shapes and sizes of people and people feeling like they belong and go together.”

Fellow guest Jude Law summed it up this way: “Aspiration for a better place.”

Naomi Watts, Kasey Musgraves, Demi Singleton and Justin Theroux were also among Lauren’s guests. So was Kim Min-jeong, known as Winter, from the K-pop girl group Aespa.

In his show notes, Lauren said the Hamptons is “more than a place. It’s a natural world of endless blue skies, the ocean, green fields, and white fences, rusticity and elegance with a quality of light that drew artists here decades ago.”

He called the summer haven for New Yorkers like himself his home away from home, "my refuge and always an inspiration.” Perhaps Lauren has better luck with the travel gods overseeing New York traffic. Some of his city guests without access to helicopters for hire spent four hours fighting traffic on the way to his show.

The company has had a big year. In addition to the U.S. Open, Lauren dressed Team USA for the Paris Games.

Associated Press video producer Brooke Lefferts contributed to this story.

Models walk the runway during the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

A model walks the runway during the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Usher, left, and David Lauren attend the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Tom Hiddleston attends the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Justin Theroux watches the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Naomi Campbell walks the runway during the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Models walks the runway during the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Models walks the runway during the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

A model walks the runway during the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

A model walks the runway during the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

A model walks the runway during the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

A model walks the runway during the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Diana Silvers attends the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

A model walks the runway during the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Models walk the runway during the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Models walk the runway during the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Christy Turlington walks the runway during the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Models walk the runway during the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Models walk the runway during the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Jun Hasegawa attends the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

A model walks the runway during the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Joey King attends the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Christy Turlington, left, and Naomi Campbell walk the runway during the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Christy Turlington walks the runway during the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Brandon Sklenar attends the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

A model walks the runway during the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Laura Dern attends the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Colman Domingo attends the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Usher attends the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Kacey Musgraves attends the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Jude Law attends the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Brandon Sklenar attends the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Demi Singleton attends the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Justin Theroux attends the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Kacey Musgraves, from left, David Lauren and Lauren Bush Lauren attend the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Models walk the runway during the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Models walk the runway during the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

A model walks the runway during the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Naomi Campbell walks the runway during the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Christy Turlington walks the runway during the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Anna Wintour, from left, Tom Hiddleston and First Lady of the United States, Dr. Jill Biden attend the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

First Lady of the United States, Dr. Jill Biden attends the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Models walk the runway during the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

A model walks the runway during the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Models walk the runway during the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at Khalily Stables in Bridgehampton, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — At the end of her new memoir, Hillary Clinton offers up what sounds like a far-off wish: “I hope I’m alive to see the United States elect a female president.”

Turns out her book went to the printers a tad too soon. Clinton wrote that sentence before Kamala Harris became the Democratic presidential nominee, suddenly making that wish feel a whole lot more immediate. It was too late to update the print version of “Something Lost, Something Gained,” which comes out this week, though the audiobook now has an epilogue.

So how does Clinton feel about that wish now?

“Really optimistic,” she says, praising the vice president as a candidate and in particular her recent debate performance. “I think I’m going to be around to see the first woman president!”

Clinton, 76, has written memoirs before – from “Living History” in 2003 up through “What Happened?” in 2017, about the painful loss to Donald Trump that thwarted her own quest to be the first female U.S. president. This latest feels more intimate. Inspired by the song “Both Sides Now” by one of her favorite musicians, Joni Mitchell, the book aims to be a snapshot of how she sees the world now, she says — rather like catching up with her over dinner.

So it goes from the macro – for example, a chapter on how she imagines the years following a Trump re-election, starting with troops patrolling America’s cities – to the micro, describing life as a grandmother or mornings at home with Bill, competing over the Spelling Bee puzzle in The New York Times.

First lady, lawyer, senator, secretary of state, and of course presidential nominee. University professor, fledgling Broadway producer. Clinton has lived many chapters, and the book’s actual chapters shift easily between eras.

She recounts in spy-novel-worthy detail an operation to save threatened women in Afghanistan as the Taliban were taking over in 2021, then reflects in the next chapter on the unique “sisterhood” of former first ladies, at one point defending Melania Trump from criticism of her attire at Rosalynn Carter’s memorial service: “She came. That’s what mattered.”

But she makes no secret of her animosity toward Donald Trump. It’s clear that in the “something lost” category of her title is the election that still hurts, deeply. In one recent anecdote, she recounts running into a retired FBI official who apologized for his role in how the bureau handled the investigation over her emails, a probe that was reopened days before the election.

She writes that she stared for a minute, unable to speak. “I would have been a great president,” she then told him, before walking off.

Clinton spoke to The Associated Press last week ahead of her book’s release. Some more takeaways:

Clinton wore white, honoring women’s suffrage, when she accepted the Democratic nomination; Harris did not. Clinton spoke of “18 million cracks” in the ultimate glass ceiling when she lost; Harris has not emphasized gender in her speeches. Why the difference?

Well, says Clinton, it’s been eight years. When she ran, it was so new for the country to have a female major-party candidate that it had to be a focus. Nearly a decade later, the country’s gotten more used to the idea.

”We now don’t just have one image of a person who happens to be a woman who ran for president – namely me,” she said. “Now we have a much better opportunity for women candidates, starting with Kamala, to be viewed in a way that just takes for granted the fact that yes, guess what? She’s a woman.”

Clinton writes that admirers often come up to her and say “You warned us, and I wish we had listened.” (She adds: “What am I supposed to say to that? Yes, I did.”)

But Clinton also writes that she takes no pleasure in hearing or feeling she was right – “in fact, I hate it” – even when she learned one afternoon in May that Trump had become the first former U.S. president to be convicted of felony crimes, a moment she says brought “a jolt of disbelief” and “a pang of vindication” plus some tears.

Asked what she is most afraid of “being right” about now, she replies: "I’m most afraid that people will not take Donald Trump seriously. And literally.”

Not surprisingly for the woman who coined the phrase “Women’s rights are human rights” three decades ago, Clinton writes about many female activists and dissidents she’s worked with around the globe. She also tells the story of how she joined with colleagues in a secret operation to get hundreds of women out of Afghanistan – professors, lawyers, activists and their families – who were likely to be targeted by the Taliban once U.S. troops left.

But Clinton also discusses new pursuits. Like teaching, for the first time in 50 years, at Columbia University. And Broadway producing. Clinton was among the producers of “Suffs,” the Tony-winning musical about women who fought for the right to vote in the early 20th century. She ends her book with a song from the show, “Keep Marching.”

Is there more producing in the future? “I don’t know,” she says. “I can tell you it’s been one of the greatest experiences in my life.”

Being a grandmother “truly is the one experience of life that is not overrated,” says the grandmother of three, who dedicates her book to them.

But Clinton gets most personal when addressing her marriage, which she says brings her “new joys every day.” She does not feel the need to elaborate on her reference to past challenges. “It’s no secret that Bill and I had dark days in our marriage in the past,” she writes. “But the past softens with time, and what’s left is the truth: I’m married to my best friend.”

Asked now if she feels some people still don’t believe that, and wonder why she stayed, she replies: “I’m sure there are people who don’t get it. (But) this was for me an opportunity to basically say what I believe, which is that every life has challenges, opportunities, setbacks, disappointments, successes, achievements. And you have to make a decision almost every day about how you’re going to live that day.” Hers, she says, were right for her.

Clinton’s schedule is organized by an aide, to the minute. A phone call might be planned for 10:14 a.m. But what does that mean about her much-documented walks in the woods near home in Chappaqua, New York.

Clinton schedules time for those, too. Sometimes Bill comes, but his walks are more like “an ambling conversation” where he needs to chat with everyone they see. As for her, she needs to “just get out and walk as fast as I can.”

Sometimes she plans speeches while walking. Other times, she says, she thinks about absolutely nothing. “The Japanese have this great phrase that translates to forest bathing, where you just literally walk in the woods and just take it all in.”

She advises readers to do the same when the political climate starts to overwhelm: “Put down your phone and go outside. Take a walk.”

FILE - Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks during the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, July 28, 2016. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

This cover image released by Simon and Schuster shows, "Something Lost, Something Gained: Reflections on Life, Love, and Liberty," by Hillary Rodham Clinton. (Simon and Schuster via AP)