The Polo

"You must understand oldness to be a fashionable dresser"
-Ralphie Lipshitz

A lot of fashion has percolated from the bottom up but this one is as trickle down as Reagan and Thatcher after a tea-party. 


Interestingly, what most of us refer to as the "polo" began a tennis shirt.  Until the mid-part of the last century,  showing skin was still a "no-no,"  so for tennis matches men wore long sleeve shirts and slacks--all white of course.  As you can imagine rolled up sleeves, woven fabric and a button up collar were cumbersome.   

Jean Rene Lacoste

Then the late 1920s and early 1930s, group of Frenchmen dubbed the "Four Musketeers"  dominated tennis.  One of quartet was Jean René Lacoste also known as the "Crocodile" (due either to his winning leather handbag in a bet or his prominent nose).  He had the nifty idea to shorten the sleeves, collar, and use the more versatile and lighter Jersey fabric.  He also gave the shirt a tail so that is would stay tucked.  Being the son of a wealthy industrialist, he also had the financing. Thus the tennis shirt was born and Lacoste proudly - or pointedly- emblazoned them with a logo of his nickname. The shirts were very smart and very popular.  Not surprisingly, there was a lot of cross-membership between tennis and polo clubs (free-time is expensive) so it didn't take long for this new style to be sported among the social set.

Ralph Lauren Advertisement

George H. W. Bush

The reason, however,  we call it the "polo" and not the "tennis" is the same reason we ask for "Kleenex" and not "tissue": good old- fashioned branding.  For that we can thank Ralphie Lipshitz  nee Ralph Lauren.  It was he who tapped into the growing aspirational consumer market.   Ralph Lauren's "Polo" wasn't just a label it was a fantasy of aristocratic exclusivity the -- world of Great Gatsby or any Merchant and Ivory film.   Instead of the the traditionally preppy brands like Gant or Brookes Brothers,  it was the Ralphie from Brooklyn became the king of WASPish style; his fantasy became our fantasy.

Since then the polo has become a staple of the male wardrobe.  As it has filtered down from the leisurely It has morphed from a simple elegant sportswear item  to an acceptable work wear.  It can be seen with vertical stripes styles favored by fast food employees and middle managers or done outrageously by such designers as Miuccia Prada.  It can be fitted and tailored or relaxed.  In some corners it is or worn loose a baggy like mumu--just in case you're into that sort of thing.  The original LaCoste shirts are still available as are Ralph Lauren polos.  Newish labels such as Tommy Hilfiger who has been described by some as having "little more to offer than preppy-style in primary colors" to Abercrombie & Fitch have added their takes on this classic style.   

Prada's take on the polo

The Dandy

 The Dandy: 


Tasteful, tailored, and subtle.  It's a  dash of the Spartan, a little of the Neoclassical republican and  the sangfroid of the regimental avante garde.

Beau Brummel  The First Dandy

• Arbiter Elegantarium--A leader of fashionable society in Regency England who used "good taste, good manners, wit and impudence," to rise to the top.
• A Friend of the Prince Regeant (who would come watch Beau bathe and dress).
• Popularized the wearing of trousers over pantaloons.
• His caravats are the predecessors to the modern tie
• Bathed and shaved daily (which was revolutionary in England at the time)

Lord Byron

Lord Byron

 "I would rather be Beau Brummell than Napolean"

Aristocrat, dandy, rebel, libertine, freedom fighter, and voluptuary.

The dandy look was elegant and bold.

The look, on the whole, does not call attention to itself by being ostentatious, but in its precision: no-thing is out of place.

Robert de Montesquiou

Oscar Wilde

"A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal."

The colors are basic and often understated, the drama comes from the cut and drape of fabrics.

Did we say and subtle and understated?   Well...celebrity interpretations generally are more attention seeking and often take the more louche Lord Byron approach.

  

  Designers' interpretations of the Dandy.




Pop Culture Dandy

Denim in the Raw

Levi Strauss followed the Gold Rush trail to California looking to make his fortune selling dried goods and sundries.  Upon his arrival miners took one look at his wares and asked him "Do you have any pants?"  He didn't but he did have quick thinking and  hemp fabric from his covered wagon.  And from there the denim jean was born.  These simple sturdy trousers have been worn by working men and women ever since. They became especially popular among factories worker during World War II.

It was James Dean who took denim to the next level, in the hit movie "Rebel Without a Cause". After that if you were and teenager or young adult, you wore jeans as a way to say "up yours" to the squares. When jeans became banned in places like theaters, restaurants and even schools their street cred went up a notch.  During the 1960s the wearing of jeans become more acceptable as casual wear. By the 1970s it had become general fashion, at least as casual wear.

Jeans  have come along way since the scraggly miners and are now worn almost everywhere.   You can still find the original 501, but you can also  find them beaten, bleached, stonewashed, baggy, skinny, treated with acid, and in hot pink (if you please).   But  underneath it all, they are still as American as apple pie and fake tans.


The great thing about jeans is the the more you wear and treat your jeans, the more beautiful they become. So much so, that some stores will actually buy back your old 501 Levi's.

Now a days, denim is seen all over the runways, from New York, London, Paris, and Milan. And, if worn the right way denim can be worn to a black tie affair.