More on the Polo dress

The Polo dress is not appropriate for playing polo. The Polo dress is named after the Ralph Lauren line, Polo. The dress is a derivative of two things: the polo shirt and the Lacoste tennis shirt. The polo shirt dates as far back as the end of the 19th century. In the 1920s it became "a thing." By the '50s people in sports other than polo were wearing the shirt. Apparently in the 1920s someone thought that traditional tennis shirts were too thick and rough, so a softer, looser shirt came into being with a cute little alligator over one's heart. We know this as the Lacoste shirt. Tennis players had their Lacostes, but it seems that the polo shirt was also popular. Golfers also wore a shirt similar to the Lacoste or polo design.

Enter the brand Polo in the 1970s, which obvs. copies the Lacoste alligator by putting a logo over the heart. This time, we have the iconic polo player astride his horse. The Wikipedia article on "polo shirt" suggests that Lauren caters to WASPs. I can't vouch for this as truth, but I know that the shirt can be spotted in many an '80s movie on the bodies of white men and women. In the 2000s, I recall a resurgence of the style. Stores such as Abercrombie and Fitch (gag me) began marketing distressed versions of them. Kids would wear them and pop the collar up to be cool. So rebellious.

The Polo dress finds itself somewhere in this mix--first manufactured after the '70s and popular still today. After all, I wore one, so.... :) In fact, the Polo dress claims a spot in The Hundred Dresses: The Most Iconic Styles of Our Time. We, professors, do what we can to be stylish while trying to design syllabi, attend faculty meetings, work on projects, etc. Glad to have claimed a place in history by wearing the Polo dress. ;)