Q. I have what may be a simple question, but one that confuses me. Why do polo shirts come in horizontal stripes and not vertical stripes?
A. This is not 100 percent true, but it is pretty close. You are right that it is nearly impossible to find a vertically striped polo shirt.
In all my years' doing personal shopping for men, I can't recall a knit shirt with vertical stripes. I also checked many websites. Every single site had polo shirts with horizontal stripes; most did not have a single knit shirt with vertical stripes. But even the very few that had some shirts with vertical designs did not have any with evenly spaced stripes. They were more accurately described as vertical lines in varying widths and with uneven spacing.
All of these shirts either reminded me of Charlie Sheen in his old Two and a Half Men TV role or a referee. They stand out because they are not typical. The look seems strange, not quite right and definitely not elegant.
While the historic origins of many men's styles go back in a clear-cut way to some early reason, others just seem to exist on their own. They either do or do not seem right for no reason. One of the better-known men's clothing explanations that is firmly based in history has to do with the button-down collar. It was originally called a "polo collar" and was worn by English polo players in the 1800s. Most men's collars at the time were not fastened at the points with buttons. Polo players on horseback found that their collars would flap in their faces. They came up with the remedy of buttoning their collars down to keep them out of their way ... and a style was born.
That these began as sports clothing may well be part of the reason they have become so popular. Baseball uniforms have historically had shirts similar to polos, and such a shirt in pinstripes looks like certain teams known for pinstripes. By contrast, rugby shirts have long had the broad horizontal stripes of their teams. When polos moved from solid colors they became the warmer weather version of those patterns. Beyond those theories, the fact that striped knit shirts almost always have horizontal stripes and that striped "woven" dress shirts almost never have horizontal stripes seems to be based on their being looks that our eyes have simply become accustomed to.
Another important style element in traditional men's attire -- especially in suits -- is color and how we accept it. Black-and-white combinations are the most formal. Blues and grays come next. Shades of brown -- particularly light tones such as tan and khaki -- are also accepted, although they are more casual. But it is understood that red, yellow, orange, green, and purple are out of the question for men's suits and dress wear. They would look clownish. I know of no actual reason for this. It just is.
Since I have written before about the appeal that clothing with vertical stripes have because they make the wearer look taller and thinner, I can understand why you and many other readers may be interested in finding such knit shirts. But they are not being mass-produced and, therefore, are not available. Maybe the world just isn't ready for them yet.
I would not be surprised if this were one of the contributing factors leading to a tremendous change in current menswear (and one that does not please me), namely, the untucked dress shirt. This style allows a man to wear the vertical stripes that flatter him while dressed in a less formal look ... albeit, one that I believe looks undressed.
Send men's fashion queries to Male Call:
lois.fenton@prodigy.net
High Profile on 05/21/2017