The season’s biggest style surprise? A sporty polo
THOSE of us who rely on a mediumweight polo neck in winter (goes with everything) are now casting around for a good spring alternative. Something a bit more relaxed than a crisp cotton shirt but not as dressy as a blouse, to wear under a blazer or on its own with a skirt or trousers.
Once, a good quality T-shirt might have done the job but there comes a point, and it’s earlier than you think, when T-shirts look soggy and uninspiring on women over 50.
A striped T-shirt can look chic under a jacket, but generally it will look a lot better if you’re wearing something neckcamouflaging with it, even if that’s the sleeves of a shoulderdraped cardigan.
What we all need now is some sort of collar, for definition and face framing and to soften the neckline. Which brings us to the return of the top that’s a little bit sweater, a little bit T-shirt and comes with a little collar: the polo shirt.
To be honest I don’t like polo shirts. They remind me of gym days at school, the crew on posh yachts, or Sloaney boys in the 1980s (or 1990s or Noughties) in their uniform of pink polo, chinos and boat shoes.
Besides the negative associations, polo shirts are thick cotton and short-sleeved, two big undesirables in my book.
Emma Raducanu could make a polo shirt look good, no doubt, but if you’re old enough to be Raducanu’s mum, with the elbows to prove it, then a polo shirt is probably not top of your list of useful, freshener-uppers for the new season.
OR it wasn’t, until Gucci got hold of it and, for spring/ summer, made it in a fine ivory crochet knit with dashing striped green and red trims on the collar and sleeves.
Chanel did a luxe variation on the polo shirt in cashmere, skipped the buttons, and lined the open neckline with a smattering of sequins. Elsewhere, on catwalks from Miu Miu to Marni, there were sleek polo shirts teamed with straight leather skirts and buttoned up under smart blazers.
This season, fashion has gone full tilt, sporty with bells on, and the polo shirt — the new basic that works with everything — can either be plain cotton, and as ready for a game of tennis as it ever was, or more like an elegant, limp collared, languid knitted top to wear with a midi skirt or flopped over the waistband of a pair of pinstripe trousers.
The revelation is that it doesn’t have to have buttons (though it might). It doesn’t have to have short sleeves: I’d recommend the three-quarter, just-elbow-covering sleeve, which will sort out the aforementioned saggy elbow problem and work now and into the summer. There are plenty of long-sleeved options around, too. And it doesn’t have to be made of
Aertex breathable cotton, or white or navy.
Miu Miu’s plain navy polo shirt with a logo is right at the top of the young fashionistas’ wish list, with a frilly mini to go with it, but for our purposes the more feminine and polished the better.
This means plain buttonless wool polo shirts in soft colours, like Marks & Spencer’s in cappuccino or cream (€57, marksandspencer.com) or in slick plain black (again Marks & Spencer) or even in a silvery metallic knit (€225, ganni.com). It’s also, and just as importantly, about wearing it in a non-sporty way — with evening wear (a pale grey polo shirt with a pink pencil skirt); with tailoring (a black polo shirt with black trousers) or maybe tucked into the top of a straight suede or leather skirt.
Adding a bit of athleisure wear is still the way to give smart clothes a modern edge and since we (most of us, at least) are not up for wearing a little white ribbed vest, the polo shirt is perfect for injecting some sportiness.
Wear a cream knit, buttonless polo sweater like Massimo Dutti’s (€59.95, massimodutti. com) under a tailored suit or try a bright green polo with an Aline knee-length skirt. Cefinn does a long-sleeved wool polo shirt, now in the sale (€200, cefinn.com) in emerald green or navy blue.
The last thing you want in a polo shirt is a slouchy shape, but Massimo Dutti’s relaxed purlknit polo sweater in pale grey (€69.95) looks perfect for wearing now over a vest or lacy camisole. It would work over a crisp shirt, too. It’s polos all the way from here.