In 1934, Fred Perry, a working class man, won his first Wimbledon title despite the sport being dominated by the English upper class and the odds were against him. He was famous for his ferocious forehand and among many other of his legacies, also left a slightly unusual one in the world of apparel.
His need for freedom of movement meant he wore a signature white short sleeved collared polo shirt, around the time when the sport was moving away from long sleeved dress shirts.
Since then, the polo shirt had become a wardrobe staple, and it is not difficult to see why. It toes the line perfectly between formal and casual, allowing it to slip seamlessly into any outfit that allows someone to look more relaxed without being sloppy.
In homage to tennis legends such as Fred Perry who were among the first to don this garment, we have designed our version of the tennis polo with the signature longer short sleeves (as were the first polos worn by tennis players), which allowed for a more flattering, elegant look.
Our version also boasts longer ribbed cuffs and hem, to reflect the historical version and also because we believe these features allow the shirt to look more refined.
On top of that, our cashmere silk tennis polo is made in Scotland using the world’s most luxurious and fine cashmere silk yarn from renowned Italian yarn spinner Cariaggi, allowing the shirt to feel unbelievably soft, quite possibly the softest fabric you would have ever felt on your skin, whilst giving the shirt a weightiness and heft that is characteristic of Scottish made knitwear.
In this style journal, we go through some of the our favourite looks and hopefully give some ideas on what types of garments and colours work best with the cashmere silk tennis polo in cream.
Starting with the simplest and elegant summer combination, you can style the shirt with a pair of white shorts. The cashmere silk tennis polo has a vintage cream colour, making it differentiated with plain white so as to make it easier to style with other white pieces of clothing.
If the tennis polo was also stark white, then it would have made it more difficult as you would then have plain white on top and plain white on the bottom which gives the outfit and unflattering look). The vintage cream sufficiently breaks away from the more plain white bottoms, allowing the outfit to stay tonal but without the top and bottom being too similar.
To add interest, you can drape our superfine lambswool cricket sweater over the shoulder for a vintage tennis look:
Instead of the cricket sweater, you can layer with our superfine lambswool tennis cardigan in oatmeal, which also creates a vintage tennis look and retains the tonality of the outfit (keeping within the cream/beige palette):
If it gets a bit chilly and layer further this outfit would work well with a classic beige trench coat layered over the top, the beige working well with the white of the trousers, the vintage cream of the tennis polo and oatmeal colour of the superfine lambswool tennis cardigan, given that they are all in the beige/cream palette, and thus you get a tonal outfit.
For a more formal look, you can swap the shorts for long trousers - same concept applies here, matching the vintage cream of the polo shirt within the more plain white trousers:
If the temperature drops and you’re getting close to autumn, have our cashmere shawl collar cardigan in dark olive handy, which you can layer over the top to create a dark olive/cream combination - two colours that work very well together:
The cashmere silk tennis polo also works well with other mid layers, such as light weight cardigans and blazers. For example, we’ve styled it with the cashmere shirt cardigan in dark olive here, keeping with the dark olive/cream combination which we know works well:
Here is another example, this time with our merino club cardigan in navy. Although the cardigan has contrasting stripes which is more busy as a garment, it is balanced out by the plain cream colour of the cashmere silk tennis polo:
In terms of blazers and sport coats - given that the cashmere silk tennis polo is in cream, which effectively works as a white shirt substitute, it can work with any coloured or patterned blazer, but we particularly like cream matched with olive or brown, as with these examples below.
Cashmere silk tennis polo in cream with pistachio blazer:
Cashmere silk tennis polo in cream with brown check blazer:
Finally, the cashmere silk tennis polo in cream can work really well with more casual/rugged pieces of clothing too, like this outfit below with the denim jacket.
To add interest, we’ve got our superfine lambswool crew neck in oatmeal slung over the shoulder, the oatmeal matching with the cream of the tennis polo, but also matching well with the denim jacket (oat and navy work well together).
Or you could simplify the outfit, and simply wear the tennis polo with the oatmeal crew neck slung over the shoulder depending on the temperature, like so:
Discover more of our cashmere silk tennis polo in cream here:
