Don't pop that collar on your polo shirt

Now the polo is ubiquitous. Every designer, from Maison Gap to Atelier Dior, offers some version of the soft-collared, cotton short-sleeved shirt.

By Rick Nelson, Claude Peck dispense unasked-for advice about clothing, etiquette, culture, relationships, grooming and more.

Last update: June 2, 2009 - 1:32 PM

CP: Remember the famous scene in "The Great Gatsby," when Gatsby shows Daisy his lavish collection of English dress shirts? She was moved to tears. When I think of your college years, I imagine a similar scene -- but animated by polo shirts. Polos in every color in the sherbet spectrum. Am I right?

RN: I'll never live down my frat-boy period, will I? Yes, between my roommate and me, we came close to owning a polo in every permutation of Ralph Lauren's rainbow, part of an unfortunate pink-and-green phase that I have tried, unsuccessfully, to eradicate from my memory. At least I can say, with all honesty, that I never once flipped the collar up.

CP: Now the polo is ubiquitous. Every designer, from Maison Gap to Atelier Dior, offers some version of the soft-collared, cotton short-sleeved shirt. It is revered by suburbanites, the elderly, hipsters, preppies, gays, rappers, tennis players, Target store employees, parochial schoolchildren and golfers alike. René Lacoste, what hath you wrought?

RN: It really is true: If you hold onto something long enough, it will eventually come back in style. Is that why you've squirreled away those Day-Glo Zubaz all these years?

CP: Definitely. I'm forecasting a major Zubathon on Milan runways in 2010.

RN: Sure. Polos are certainly versatile. My friend Brad layers them in cool weather, uses them as dress shirts under jackets, stuffs them in his gym bag and probably recycles worn-out ones into pillowcases and potpourris.

CP: I recently coveted a classic Fred Perry polo at $80, but I am more likely to actually buy one at O. Navy, where they have them in 92 colors and stripes at $10. In flusher times, I bought polos by D&G, G-Star and J. Lindeberg. That was then.

RN: And this, unfortunately, is now. During this Great Recession, it's the 92 clams that Macy's is asking for a Lacoste vintage polo that stops me from pulling out my charge-a-plate. Ouch. Love the shirt, hate the price.

CP: That crocodile logo doesn't come cheap, my friend. To be a true classic, the polo should be of cotton pique, with three buttons and a tail that is longer in the back. Though Lacoste is credited with inventing the shirt in the 1920s, your man Ralph really sent it into the stratosphere when he repositioned it from tennis to the even WASP-ier polo in ad campaigns in the 1970s.

RN: Something tells me you've recently unearthed your copy of "Dressing Right," that fabulous early '80s collector's item of soft-core gay porn masquerading as a guide to male sartorial splendor. Mr. Lifshitz -- oops, Mr. Lauren -- is hawking his classic polo in 64 colors, a veritable Sherwin-Williams of men's furnishings. My personal favorite is Life Boat, a Kelly green that would make Ellsworth Kelly green with envy.

CP: Sounds like a shirt that would be perfect with a pink trouser.

E-mail: witheringglance@startribune.com. Become a friend of Withering Glance on facebook.com.

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