Newsday, Melville, N.Y., Richard Galant column.

Publication: Newsday (Melville, NY)

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COPYRIGHT 2005 Newsday

Byline: Richard Galant

Dec. 19--Silvia Camps was looking forward to her freshman year at Duke University. When the card came in the mail with the name of her roommate, though, she was a bit confused.

It said, "Dylan Ariel Lauren," and Silvia remembers thinking, "What is the girl's first name?"

The confusion dissipated when Dylan (which is her first name) called, and they exchanged letters. When they finally met in their dorm room in 1992, Silvia was surprised.

She had made sure to bring lots of things, including a comforter and a trunk that matched. Dylan brought a sleeping bag and little else. "I had more stuff than she did," Silvia says.

Not long after, she realized that Dylan could have outfitted the room or even the entire dorm with high fashion.

Dylan's father was Ralph Lauren, and she grew up on the Upper East Side, the Hamptons and at the Dalton School, a universe that roughly matched the preppy world Lauren's Polo empire conjured up.

By contrast, Silvia's father was a chemical engineer and her mother a teacher, both immigrants from Cuba. She had grown up in Lakeland, Fla., a small city near Tampa, and had gone to an all-girls Catholic...

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