Polo shirts... yes. Popping collars... I'm afraid not, unless you are Usher. In fact, I button all 3 buttons up. But I am over 40 Ponyboy! Chuckle

I'm with Patrick, there. I was getting fried on a beach in Cyprus the week before last and the collar on my Lacoste polo (of which I am an unrepentant devotee) was most definitely popped to protect my lily white British skin. But only on the beach and the boat I stress - with the uber-necessary straw sunhat and shades in tow.

Staceyboy

Thank you my friend! Contrary to the BBC weather reports it was bone dry and scorching - day and night. The breeze from the sea made it fairly comfortable though!

Staceyboy

Last edited by Staceyboy (2009-07-01 10:43:13)

On the subject of polo shirts, does anyone have any particular favourites?  I know Staceyboy favours Lacoste - and they are currently striking me as more stylish than FP - and I think Duck Head has its followers, as does Smedley sea island.  I bought a mid-blue Golden Fleece - allegedly large - but it fitted like a glove and had to go.  Any polo shirt I wear has to fit just right and this one didn't.  Ralph Lauren did some nice ones about twenty years ago: forest green, for instance: made in the USA.  Anyone know of a make that has not been overdone?  Plain black IMO looks good with a cord olive slack jacket - rather Chet Baker-ish.

I have worn Fred Perry shirts since I was 17 years old and had the good fortune to meet two guys who fancied themselves Traditional Skinheads (In truth they were two backwoods kids who found a a few skinhead and british street style books and wore whatever they could find). I thought they were the most stylish kids I had ever seen.  Most of my polos are the the M12. I have not found a better looking or better fitting shirt. They just kind of work with everything casual. I do understand that the brand may have some unwelcome associations for some of our British contingent here.  I have a white and navy lacoste slim fit that I will break out when I don't get too hung up on the preppy associations. I have a couple of Brooks Slim Fits too, and they fit terrible. I haven't tried the Smedley polos but they look really nice. I am a big fan of their sweaters/jumpers.

I think it's interesting that Duck Head reached some status on your side of the ocean. They were everywhere when I was a kid. The shirts and the chinos. They were a regional household brand. The company was then sold a few times and ended up in the hands of the discount retailer Goody's. Quality apparently dropped off but I don't remember the original being great quality. My father still has the original chinos and a few of the polos. They get mentioned a lot on the internet as a southern frat boy staple but for a while nearly every male in the southeastern United States owned a pair of the pants.

Fred Perry or Smedley only for me.

Saying that, i do have a couple of uniqlo cotton knitted polo shirts which i liked but they shrunk.

collars popped on smedleys/other knits, down on fred perrys.

Smedley collars do stay up, but do flop about a bit.

No offence taken at all Mr. Kelp :]
There's something about the soft knitted shirt that lends itself to popping without looking awful.

Perhaps it's because the undesirables don't wear them(knitted shirts), or perhaps it's how cool the guy in a Du Pont Puritan knitted shirt ("America's favourite knit shirts") advert from 1966 looks.

Either way, it can look pretty nifty.