The London Lounge

Do anyone know why some polo coats have a flap on the chest pocket? Particularly the ones sold by Ralph Lauren. I'm guessing there is some history there and not just something thought up by RL.

I have no idea of the purported functionality of a flapped breast pocket, but it is not confined to polo coats and certainly isn't something thought up by Ralph Lauren. My overcoat by New and Lingwood has a flapped breast pocket, for example, and I've seen Covert coats with one, too.

There are AA illustrations of polo coats from the 1930s with and without flapped pockets and photographs of the Duke of Windsor with a rather oversized polo coat also with a flapped jacket pocket. So, I'd say that, as he often does, Lauren merely reproduced styles that had existed for decades.

Generally flapped pockets come from hacking jackets. I have a older example from around 1970 that has flaps on all pockets. I assume the idea was to prevent things fallling out.

Or keep the rain out?

Concordia wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:17 pm

Or keep the rain out?

I received an email from Drake's this morning advertising their version of a camel polo coat. A noticeable feature of the Drake's coat is an exaggerated (very large) flap on the out breast pocket. I did not think it was an improvement over the more usual style of pocket flap.

Thank you everyone for the replies.

I like those RL polo coats, their shape and length are good for RTW, but I can’t stand that flap haha.

So just wanted to understand why it’s there.

If you have a more active lifestyle, say, on horseback playing polo, you'll appreciate having flaps so things don't fall out.

Noble Savage wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 14, 2021 3:36 am

If you have a more active lifestyle, say, on horseback playing polo, you'll appreciate having flaps so things don't fall out.

I don't believe polo players wore polo coats while actually playing polo, that is to say while on horseback. I may be wrong, but I believe the coat was used to keep warm between chukkas.

andy57 wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 14, 2021 6:22 am

I don't believe polo players wore polo coats while actually playing polo, that is to say while on horseback. I may be wrong, but I believe the coat was used to keep warm between chukkas.

Correct Andy, between chukkas, during halftime and before / after a game, not on a horse!

Cheers, David

Polo players wear a polo shirt with team colours, similar to other team sports. During most other equestrian activities riders wear hacking jackets. Traditionally these would have flapped pockets.

Between chuckles, a bit of flapping about the flap: https://www.bondsuits.com/set-flapped-breast-pockets/

During the Victorian and Edwardian eras, pockets and flaps disappeared on formal clothes such as tailcoats, so we now associate having flaps with less formality, but that was not always so.

Noble Savage wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 15, 2021 1:38 am

Between chuckles, a bit of flapping about the flap: https://www.bondsuits.com/set-flapped-breast-pockets/

During the Victorian and Edwardian eras, pockets and flaps disappeared on formal clothes such as tailcoats, so we now associate having flaps with less formality, but that was not always so.

thank you. maybe with enough staring at, I will start to accept it and like it.

P is for Polo https://vimeo.com/7898537
A bespoke polo in London https://vimeo.com/17920654

Paris?

Interestingly, the fine folks at The Anthology yesterday introduced a version of their Simon Crompton collaboration polo coat in a grey and white herringbone Donegal. The change of cloth changes the coat utterly, and to my eye makes the coat much less attractive and almost unrecognizable as a polo coat. The same design details are present as on the camelhair version, but the overall feel is completely different. Much more rustic, to me.

Which helps explain why I replied to a question in the Cloth Club Design Room thread that I would not be interested in a heavyweight grey herringbone tweed. I just don't find it to be an appealing cloth.