How to wear a polo shirt without looking like a schweff
Shocking we know, but you can actually get away with wearing a polo shirt without looking like a rosy-cheeked schweff who frequents the King’s Road. The polo shirt has a bad name – there are no two ways about it – but we’re keen to change that. A couple of things are for sure: its reputation is definitely not helped by 1) the type of gentlemen that wear it, and 2) the type of clothes they wear it with. If red trousers, brown boat shoes and a schweffy blazer are your thing, it’s time to mix things up – starting immediately.
Over the years, polo shirts have become a regular part of a golf-swinging, country-club-frequenting, polo-playing gentleman’s uniform. Much like their good friend the red trouser, the polo shirt started to take on a bit of a mind of its own circa the early 2000s when public schoolboys all over England started popping the collar on their Hollister polo in every colour.
Stepping away from the stereotype may seen like a big task given all of the above, but if you follow these rules, it’s actually quite simple. First up, make sure you’re buying from the right brands. Then, think about your outfit: you need to first learn how to nail smart casual and once you’ve done that, you can introduce the polo shirt. The colour and fit you choose are both as important as the two aforementioned points, if not more. Also, avoid logos like a very bad plague (unless you’re actually playing polo). So please, gentlemen, help me change the way the world sees the polo, starting with these:
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