Polo Ralph Lauren Vintage Fall 2005 Shawl Collar Multi Plaid Wool Sweater

It starts with a wrong turn somewhere in Vermont.  By dusk you’ve found an old inn, a fire large enough to forgive the weather, and a bartender who believes two fingers is merely a suggestion. Fortunately, you’re wearing the sweater.  Vintage Fall 2005 Polo Ralph Lauren, from an era when Ralph’s particular genius was turning the romance of old sporting clothes into something impossibly cool.  This extraordinary shawl-collar pullover is knit from 100% wool in a riot of roughly ten rich yarn shades: tartan reds, hunting greens, navy, cobalt, gold, cream and charcoal. Multiple plaids collide and shift across the body, creating the illusion of a treasured patchwork blanket, yet the pattern is actually knitted into the garment.   Look closely. It’s textile theater.  The wool is wonderfully substantial, with that tactile, slightly rustic hand that makes great vintage knitwear addictive. A dramatic shawl collar can be worn high against the cold or rolled open with rakish ease, secured by a single knotted brown leather button. Solid dark ribbing grounds the cuffs and hem. Original spare leather button included.  Wear it with battered denim, cords and boots; beneath tweed or a waxed field coat; or unexpectedly with tailored trousers and loafers.  Gently worn with no signs.   Pure Ralph Lauren: Ivy League meets Scottish hunting lodge, with a little bohemian collector thrown in for good measure. Twenty-one years later, it looks less dated than most things designed last Tuesday.