Vintage Ralph Lauren Polo. Until 1972, polo shirts were commonly referred to as ‘tennis shirts’. This was until New York native Ralph Lauren made the tennis shirt a prominent part of ‘Polo’ – Ralph’s original clothing collection. Half-inspired by the kind of garms polo players were wearing at the time, half-inspired by fancy clothiers like Brooks Brothers, Ralph created a shirt that wasn’t only bang on for afternoons on the court, but were fancy enough for high-society luncheons as well. After a while, people quickly came to know these shirts as ‘Polo’ shirts, rather than tennis shirts.
For better or worse, by the early-90s (when The Wolf of Wall Street takes place), the image of Ralph’s swanky embroidered polo player became synonymous with luxury, opulence, excess, greed, and the American Dream, which incidentally is what The Wolf of Wall Street is all about. Couldn’t have picked better garb really…
