Nantucket Chic
You may end up leaving with more than just a cable knit sweater and seersucker chinos the next time you hit the preppy Nantucket shopping scene. The island’s Ralph Lauren outpost is now offering up an exclusive piece of maritime history you can wear, well, anywhere: a new collection of T-shirts, hats, and caps commemorates the landmark Compass Rose mural that bedecks the side of the shop’s Main Street façade.
Nantucket photographer and shop owner H. Marshall Gardiner created the whimsical mural, based on the design of the compass rose used by mariners and navigators, back when he owned the building in 1936. After seven decades of wear-and-tear, Ralph Lauren and the Nantucket Historical Association (NHA) hooked up to restore the treasured landmark back to its old glory with a much needed facelift.
Now that the makeover’s complete, you can take home a wearable souvenir from the Compass Rose Collection, a charming reminder of Nantucket times past that’ll last way longer than those old conch shells. And though you definitely won’t packing the sperm whale skeleton on display at the NHA’s new Whaling Museum into your suitcase, you’ll at least feel good knowing that 100 percent your, um, smaller-scale historical buy will benefit the organization responsible for preserving your summertime stomping ground’s rich history.
T-shirts, $25-49.50; Hats, $19.75-$30, Ralph Lauren, 16 Main St., Nantucket, 508-228-9451, polo.com