By David Lopez

Polo wasn't exactly Ralph Lauren's invention. In fact, several designers and different firms took a slice of this garment before the American designer René Lacoste, the first of all. However, this garment is one of its best-selling products today, in addition to an identifying insignia that the public associates to the firm even unconsciously.

Nor was this cotton pole the first garment Ralph Lauren began producing and marketing at the beginning of his career, back in 1967. When the New York fashion designer founded his own firm, the protagonists of his catalogue were hand-crafted ties, which were characterized by their thickness and reminiscent of what was then understood by Hollywood glamour.

The name of his brand would, however, be a premonition about how Ralph Lauren's Polo was not only going to be one of the most important garments for the house, but also for the entire fashion industry. Because, incidentally, Ralph Lauren opened his signature under the name Polo, also a very popular sport on British soil. Would this be a sign of fate?

This garment would reach the catalogue of the American brand in 1972, five years after its foundation. Having successfully presented its first complete male collection in 1968, opening shop in the Bloomingdale's luxury chain-the first to be focused on the offer of a single designer-and inaugurating its own boutique flagship in Beverly Hills in 1971, Lauren introduced the one that has ended up being her bestseller as part of the firm's development, which sought to expand the market and reach a wider audience.

Before this new addition to the American designer's catalogue, the brand took another decisive step that, today, helps many to identify the brand's garments at one glance: the Polo pony logo, where one can distinguish a Polo player on his horse. This drawing would present itself in the cuffs of the shirts of the new female line, but it would end up bounding on the garments of the entire brand, thus becoming part of the common legacy of the whole house.

The characteristics of Ralph Lauren's then recent pole are not far from those of today, a factor that shows that it is a timeless garment that is unchangeable over time. With the Polo pony logo present at the front, in the area where the heart is located-in Lauren's own words, "the appearance of a Polo player gives him an aspirational quality", he threw himself in an infinity of colors, both neutral and strident, and was characterized by his cotton making, his shirt neck, his short sleeve with a tight fist and his straight cut.

Immediately, Ralph Lauren's Polo became an icon of American fashion and, subsequently, a must have in cabinets all over the globe. Present on all lines of the designer of the Bronx at a price ranging from 95 euros, in the case of the most classic models, to 450 euros, in the case of those belonging to the luxury line Purple Label, this garment has been unbeatable over time to confirm itself as a basic that never fails. In short, a full-fledged investment that all your descendants will inherit and that will encapsulate part of the motive that made Ralph Lauren an indispensable textile industry.

Buy classic fit picque Polo, for 95 €at Ralph Lauren.

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