What to Wear to a Polo Match — The PP Wardrobe
What to Wear to a Polo Match — The PP Wardrobe
On the polo ground dress code — Gulf and Mediterranean venues, divot stomping, the evening occasion, and the natural linen wardrobe for the match.
The polo match has a dress code that is older than most sports events and more specific than most social occasions. The context varies — a Sunday match at a local club is different from a Gold Cup final at Cowdray or a match at the Guards Polo Club, which is different again from the Dubai or Abu Dhabi polo season — but the underlying principle is consistent. The polo ground is a social occasion that asks for a wardrobe that is visibly considered.
The heat is a consideration at most polo venues outside England. Dubai Polo and Equestrian Club, Abu Dhabi Polo Club, matches across the Gulf and in warm-climate destinations — these are outdoor occasions in significant heat where the wool suit that might work at Cowdray in an English October is entirely inappropriate. The fabric needs to manage heat while maintaining the visual register that the occasion asks for.
“On the polo ground, the fabric of the shirt communicates quality in a crowd of people who notice these things.”
— Pieter Petros, founderBelgian linen does this combination correctly. For a polo match in the Gulf or a warm-climate destination: a PP linen shirt in a composed colourway — white, oyster, navy — with well-cut linen trousers and leather loafers is the combination that reads correctly on the polo ground from the pre-match drinks to the divot stomping at halftime to the prize-giving in the evening. The fabric is quality that registers in a crowd of people who notice these things; the natural drape is appropriate to an outdoor occasion in a way that a structured synthetic fabric is not.
The divot stomping specifically — the tradition of walking onto the field at halftime to press the divots of turf back into the ground — is worth dressing for. At a significant polo match, this is as much a social occasion as any other part of the afternoon, and the wardrobe carries its quality across the whole field as well as the grandstand.
For the evening: many polo events at luxury venues extend to a dinner or cocktail reception. A PP linen shirt in navy or a deeper tone with linen trousers and leather shoes carries from the final chukka to the evening occasion without requiring a change.
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