Polo necks are more sophisticated than other sweaters. In both meanings of the word Smarter, since a sleek, high neck has a polish that a regular crew neck lacks, as well as a poise that a cardigan can never hope to achieve. But it’s also wiser, since polo necks are smarter than other sweaters. Steve Jobs is a well-known figure in the business world Phoebe Philo, Phoebe Philo, Phoebe Philo, Polo neck wearers are in charge of the world. The polo neck would be the Most Likely To Succeed in the knitwear yearbook.
The majority of power dressing isn’t really comfortable. High heels and precise tailoring are great, but they’re not ideal for curling up on the couch. The warm polo neck, on the other hand, is unique. This is autumn’s Christmas sweater, a sensory seasonal feast that includes the aroma of cinnamon, the crunch of leaves underfoot, and Craig Revel Horwood’s thick velvet Saturday night drawl.
Every year about this time, I lug a chair across the room and climb to the top of the wardrobe to get the heavy artillery of my knitwear collection, which has been sitting there all summer. The plush, charcoal grey one that is extra long to keep out draughts from all angles; the blue one with the outsize funnel neck and cut hem (more fashion); and a red fisherman’s knit rib one that is pure Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally. And putting these in my closet is to October what putting the decorations on the tree and decorating it is to December.
This wasn’t always the case. Polo shirts used to be boringly practical. If they were chunky, they were the “large jumpers” your mother insisted you wear if you were going to die in something. They were corny if they were tight (see Ron Burgundy in Anchorman). Then there was the Céline gig in October of 2011. The presentation featured 35 clothes, but the 36th is the one that everyone remembers.
Phoebe Philo, dressed in a thick camel polo-neck sweater with her long hair tucked into the back, took her bow at the end of the performance. Everyone at the Paris shows the next day wore their hair tucked into the back of a polo neck. You may believe I’m exaggerating for humorous effect, but I’m not; I’m referring about fashion week, which does the embellishing for you.
Since since, the polo neck has become the epitome of stylish authority. In the Avengers flicks, Samuel L Jackson (always stylish) matched his to his black eye patch. Under a blazer, Emmanuel Macron (not as hip as he thinks he is, but at least French) prefers to wear one.
When she was still a Silicon Valley pinup, the now-disgraced Elizabeth Holmes made them her uniform. Now, television costume designers – our day’s Phoebe Philos, style thought-leaders, more powerful than any name you see up in lights at fashion week – have adopted the high neck as a vital trend for the maverick alpha lady. In her thick, black high-neck, Suranne Jones in Vigil held her own against the epauletted splendor of naval uniforms.
Shiv Roy from Succession, with her hard chin lifted Nefertiti-high over covetable stealth-wealth knitwear, is, of course, the queen of the small-screen polo. (By the way, a polo neck necessitates decent hair.) Try Audrey Hepburn’s sleek pony in Sabrina, Philo’s half-tuck, or Vigil and Succession’s sleek bob.)
Let me put it this way: A woman with a cardigan appears kind and helpful, the type of woman you could ask for a favor. A woman with a polo neck seems as though she would tell you what to do and you would follow her orders. Consider this: what would Shiv do?
