The Polo Bear Sweater, in Navy

My favorite fashion article that I’ve read recently is Put This On’s profile of ‘Lo Heads, people who obsessively collect and wear pieces from Ralph Lauren’s Polo collection. When I first started caring about how I dressed, I embraced the “Put This On” aesthetic — simple, business casual, color-blocked outfits. I remember thinking that people who wore anything graphic (be it graphic tees, printed sweaters, or colorful shoes) just didn’t know how to dress. I spent a year or two dressing this way (“preppy”), and my typical outfit was a pair of chinos or dark wash jeans, a sweater, a button up, and some white sneakers or brown boots. I learned how to color-coordinate outfits and what silhouettes worked well.

Eventually, I started branching out into more avant-garde fashion and streetwear; interestingly enough, I became interested in streetwear (brands like cav empt, undercover, and palace) at the same time that I became interested in high fashion (brands like Comme des Garçons, Maison Margiela, etc.). As I started branching out with my wardrobe, my perspective on fashion changed. I stopped dressing to simply “look nice” and started dressing to express myself. Put This On’s article sums up my current perspective on fashion pretty well:

“I don’t want to get too semiotic on you, but our clothes have very limited inherent values. Warm/not-warm and keeps the sun off are pretty much it. Maybe some portion of our aesthetic values are in-born, that’s an argument for a different day. Everything else about getting dressed is symbolic. You’re participating in a conversation. Learn to speak the language.”

With this in mind, I want to talk about my favorite graphic in fashion: the iconic Ralph Lauren polo bear. There’s something deeply interesting and ironic about wearing a sweater emblazoned with a character wearing a sweater from the same brand. The bear itself is minimalist, cute, and classy; it works in casual outfits and adds an interesting flair to more formal outfits. Polo has connected high fashion to the street for decades, and the polo bear is the zenith of the polo ethos: casual, cool, and formal, all at the same time.

I love the polo bear because it is the first graphic design I saw that I really wanted to wear. I mean, it just looks cool. And once I started wearing the polo bear, I started wearing other graphics. I started wearing pieces that expressed my interests and sense of style. The polo bear is what led me to branch out, and so it will always be my favorite graphic.

Even if you don’t connect with the polo bear like I do, you can trust me when I say it looks pretty fucking good on anyone. You can pick up your own polo bear sweater here on the Polo site. Here’s what I look like rocking mine: