Style
Pukka chukka
[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Charlie Porter charts the rise of the polo shirt, a modern menswear classic[/font]
[font=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]Friday April 8, 2005
The Guardian
[/font][font=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]I can chart their rise in my own wardrobe. Two years ago, I only owned one polo, a vivid pink thing from Lacoste bought as much for the colour as the style. Back then, the polo itself wasn't important to me. In 2004, I accumulated seven, four from Gap and three Fred Perrys. I assumed, then, that we had reached breaking point. Not so - spring 2005 has yet to take a proper hold, and I've already bought four. There are many more to come.[/font]
In the GQ office, we have often talked about how the polo has replaced the T-shirt, and about the slow burn of influences that have led to this mass adoption. There are obvious visual references, like the initial buzz around Seth from The OC. There have been industry nudges, too, most powerfully from the recent collaboration between Comme des Garçons and Fred Perry, which has put designer polo shirts on the high fashion floors of department stores.
But while we fashion people would love to take credit for the style, in fact, we are lagging behind. A whole swathe of non-fashion men - think Prince Harry, Jeremy Paxman - have been wearing polos as their wardrobe staple summer in, summer out. One was on Blair's back when he visited Berlusconi last year, a Burberry check trim under his buttons. The polo is also a key part of Mike Skinner's look. The polo transcends both fashion and class.
A potted history: the game of polo comes from seventh-century Persia, and came to this country via the Raj. The shirt design has a crisp, colonial gentleman's air: the particular weave of a polo, that mesh which makes the cotton sit away from the body, is known as pique, from the French "piquer", to pierce. The weave began to be used for other sports, and in 1926 French tennis champion René Lacoste first wore a certain style of short-sleeved polo. Lacoste's nickname was "le Crocodile", hence the logo. From this comes the real reason why the polo works. For men who have sport as their primary interest, the polo is an obvious crossover from activity to lifestyle. It's why the polo is a consistently popular line for labels like Hackett. To these consumers, the polo is not a fashion garment, it's what they wear to relax, and signify that they are off duty.
But the brands that cater for these men aren't stupid. In the coming summer of colour, Hackett has some of the brightest shades available in its polos, more daring than those from many more fashion-forward labels. Another stalwart, Polo Ralph Lauren, has pushed its failsafe shirts to the subversive limit, with jarring pink stripes on a green background, or vivid orange with black and white on another. (Polo fact: it was in 1972, five years after Ralph Lauren founded his company, that he introduced what he called "the mesh shirt". He took the name Polo in 1967 for what was then a tie company because he liked what the word evoked.)
A sense of subversion is often present in polo styling. This is particularly true of the west coast look, which takes its lead from reborn golf brands like Penguin. But in Britain, it is as if fashion consumers are choosing the style precisely because it's not subversive. For many young men, adopting the polo is a rest from trying to be different. This echoes what has been happening in womenswear: florals and wrap-dresses, clothing that exists simply to make people look cute.
This summer there are three types of polo. The cheapest are Topman's range of muted colour stripes made from normal T-shirt cotton. They are clearly not durable - already the collar of mine is drooping flat on to the shoulders rather than sitting stiff around the neck. But this is not a problem, so long as you are aware of their disposability.
The second category consists of updates on the traditional polo, including the aforementioned examples by Hackett and Ralph Lauren, as well as those from more directional houses like Miu Miu. (Miuccia Prada's younger brand has a hit polo in warm stripes and the Miu Miu logo on the chest.) Meanwhile, Fred Perry is milking the trend while it can. As well as the Comme collaboration, there is now a bespoke service at the label's Covent Garden store. With it come your own initials on the shirt, and a choice of colour for both the material and the trims. You can even have a different colour cuff on your left and right arms. This is the age of consumer choice, after all.
But the biggest fashion story this summer is the knit polo, which comes from Prada and Missoni. Both collections have a feel of oddball upper-class travel about them, but with mixed-up colours to ensure the Riviera flavour does not become too literal. No longer practical for sport, such pieces are more for dressing up rather than everyday wear. And so, the polo covers all bases this season.
Early adopters will soon face a problem. As much as looking nice in a polo is pleasing, it soon gets boring. And because there are already so many polos around, soon too many men will look the same. When that happens, fashion moves on. At the moment, designers are sending out researchers to find fresh vintage pieces to plunder for the spring/summer '06 collections. Some designers might even get round to doing some original work. And on their way to the thrift stores, the researchers will pass a legion of potential consumers already wearing polos. Since you've got to offer the customer something they don't have, the researchers will have to scour for something different.
We'll see the results at the shows in a couple of months' time. As with all fading trends, you can ditch them early or enjoy them while they last. I'll be doing the latter. · Charlie Porter is associate editor of GQ.
Pukka chukka
[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Charlie Porter charts the rise of the polo shirt, a modern menswear classic[/font]
[font=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]Friday April 8, 2005
The Guardian
[/font][font=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]I can chart their rise in my own wardrobe. Two years ago, I only owned one polo, a vivid pink thing from Lacoste bought as much for the colour as the style. Back then, the polo itself wasn't important to me. In 2004, I accumulated seven, four from Gap and three Fred Perrys. I assumed, then, that we had reached breaking point. Not so - spring 2005 has yet to take a proper hold, and I've already bought four. There are many more to come.[/font]
In the GQ office, we have often talked about how the polo has replaced the T-shirt, and about the slow burn of influences that have led to this mass adoption. There are obvious visual references, like the initial buzz around Seth from The OC. There have been industry nudges, too, most powerfully from the recent collaboration between Comme des Garçons and Fred Perry, which has put designer polo shirts on the high fashion floors of department stores.
But while we fashion people would love to take credit for the style, in fact, we are lagging behind. A whole swathe of non-fashion men - think Prince Harry, Jeremy Paxman - have been wearing polos as their wardrobe staple summer in, summer out. One was on Blair's back when he visited Berlusconi last year, a Burberry check trim under his buttons. The polo is also a key part of Mike Skinner's look. The polo transcends both fashion and class.
A potted history: the game of polo comes from seventh-century Persia, and came to this country via the Raj. The shirt design has a crisp, colonial gentleman's air: the particular weave of a polo, that mesh which makes the cotton sit away from the body, is known as pique, from the French "piquer", to pierce. The weave began to be used for other sports, and in 1926 French tennis champion René Lacoste first wore a certain style of short-sleeved polo. Lacoste's nickname was "le Crocodile", hence the logo. From this comes the real reason why the polo works. For men who have sport as their primary interest, the polo is an obvious crossover from activity to lifestyle. It's why the polo is a consistently popular line for labels like Hackett. To these consumers, the polo is not a fashion garment, it's what they wear to relax, and signify that they are off duty.
But the brands that cater for these men aren't stupid. In the coming summer of colour, Hackett has some of the brightest shades available in its polos, more daring than those from many more fashion-forward labels. Another stalwart, Polo Ralph Lauren, has pushed its failsafe shirts to the subversive limit, with jarring pink stripes on a green background, or vivid orange with black and white on another. (Polo fact: it was in 1972, five years after Ralph Lauren founded his company, that he introduced what he called "the mesh shirt". He took the name Polo in 1967 for what was then a tie company because he liked what the word evoked.)
A sense of subversion is often present in polo styling. This is particularly true of the west coast look, which takes its lead from reborn golf brands like Penguin. But in Britain, it is as if fashion consumers are choosing the style precisely because it's not subversive. For many young men, adopting the polo is a rest from trying to be different. This echoes what has been happening in womenswear: florals and wrap-dresses, clothing that exists simply to make people look cute.
This summer there are three types of polo. The cheapest are Topman's range of muted colour stripes made from normal T-shirt cotton. They are clearly not durable - already the collar of mine is drooping flat on to the shoulders rather than sitting stiff around the neck. But this is not a problem, so long as you are aware of their disposability.
The second category consists of updates on the traditional polo, including the aforementioned examples by Hackett and Ralph Lauren, as well as those from more directional houses like Miu Miu. (Miuccia Prada's younger brand has a hit polo in warm stripes and the Miu Miu logo on the chest.) Meanwhile, Fred Perry is milking the trend while it can. As well as the Comme collaboration, there is now a bespoke service at the label's Covent Garden store. With it come your own initials on the shirt, and a choice of colour for both the material and the trims. You can even have a different colour cuff on your left and right arms. This is the age of consumer choice, after all.
But the biggest fashion story this summer is the knit polo, which comes from Prada and Missoni. Both collections have a feel of oddball upper-class travel about them, but with mixed-up colours to ensure the Riviera flavour does not become too literal. No longer practical for sport, such pieces are more for dressing up rather than everyday wear. And so, the polo covers all bases this season.
Early adopters will soon face a problem. As much as looking nice in a polo is pleasing, it soon gets boring. And because there are already so many polos around, soon too many men will look the same. When that happens, fashion moves on. At the moment, designers are sending out researchers to find fresh vintage pieces to plunder for the spring/summer '06 collections. Some designers might even get round to doing some original work. And on their way to the thrift stores, the researchers will pass a legion of potential consumers already wearing polos. Since you've got to offer the customer something they don't have, the researchers will have to scour for something different.
We'll see the results at the shows in a couple of months' time. As with all fading trends, you can ditch them early or enjoy them while they last. I'll be doing the latter. · Charlie Porter is associate editor of GQ.
