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The Popped Collar
Did you, or do you, ever pop your collar?
Tim W., Mother Tongues |
February 23, 2007| source
As much of a fan of '80s kitsch as I am (and I am, trust me), the notion of the popped collar always has, does, and likely always will offend me deeply.
What began as a method for identifying adolescent 'in-groups' and 'out-groups' during my teenage years now seems to be a practice that I find intensely...corny. To those men and women who pop their collars with no hint of self-deprecating '80s nostalgia, I must ask you: Do you realize how foolish you look?
Truly, a major turning point of my adolescence hinged on how I wore the collar of my Izod Lacoste polo shirts in 1984 and 1985. I can remember with razor-sharp clarity how painful my decisions were to (a) "try out" popping my collar to see if I would be accepted by the preppies of my middle-middle class public high school; and (b) ultimately ditch not only collar-popping but the "alligator shirts" in general in favor of good old-fashioned juvenile delinquency—you got it, that painful and destructive cocktail of sex, alcohol, drugs, and rock & roll. "Eat this alligator, preps!" and so forth.
Egad, to this day, even after over 20 years, I can still see my old preppy friends in my mind's eye with their popped collars and supercilious, smug expressions. How fucking lame, yet how sadly pedestrian in terms of both adolescence in particular and human nature in general.
Perhaps I'll consider adding one of these badges to MTA (click the image to visit the site):
I'm only joking about the site badge, naturally. Nevertheless, one would think (correctly, probably) that the proprietor of poppedcollarsarelame.com and I both share the same popped collar post-traumatic stress disorder from our tumultuous teenage years.
Let's delve into some etymology. First of all, it is fascinating to note that the upturned collar had its roots in, of all things, practicality, rather than perceived social status. Consider:
With the advent of the tennis shirt, however, the upturned collar took on a whole new purpose. In 1929, René Lacoste, the French 7-time Grand Slam champion, decided that the stiff dress shirts and ties usually worn by tennis players were too cumbersome and uncomfortable for the tennis court. Instead, he designed a loosely-knit pique cotton shirt with an un-starched, flat protruding collar and a longer shirt-tail in back than in front. This came to be known as the tennis shirt. Lacoste's design called for a thick pique collar that one would wear turned up in order to block the Sun from one's neck. Thus, the tennis shirt's upturned collar was originally designed by the inventor of the tennis shirt, himself, for ease and comfort on the tennis court, aiding the player by helping to prevent sunburn and hyperthermia.
Therefore, the '80s sensation of combining the "popped collar" with the Lacoste polo shirt appears to have had a historical precedent. You learn something new every day, isn't that right?
Personally, I have always wondered what was the distinction between the Lacoste and Izod name brands. I was a public school kid from an ordinary suburb in Upstate New York; I never had access to real French clothing or any of that inter-continental fancy-pants stuff. The following bit from Wikipedia cleared up my confusion post-haste:
In the United States in the 1970s and 1980s, Izod and Lacoste were often used interchangeably because starting in the 1950s, Izod produced clothing known as Izod lacoste under license for sale in the U.S. This partnership ended in 1993, when Lacoste regained exclusive U.S. rights to distribute shirts under its own brand. It was also in the 80's when Le Tigre Clothing came around. It was said to be the American alternative to the French brand.
The "preppy" movement in the late '70s and early '80s that fostered the Izod/Lacoste popped collar motif was fueled in largest measure by Lisa Birnbach's landmark 1980 volume The Official Preppy Handbook. Do you remember that book?
Moreover, I knew people "back in the day" who studied Birnbach's book with serious intent! In other words, some folks, and not just adolescents either, were so keen on belonging to an exclusive 'in-group' that they pointedly ignored The Official Preppy Handbook's obvious tongue-in-cheek satire. Whoo-boy.
As a curious aside, I must note that at that time I was unaware, nor did I give a crap, what "preppydom" meant, as defined by Birnbach. At that tender age, and coming from the bourgeois, blue-collar background that I did, I had but the faintest notion what a "preparatory school" even was, much less any idea how the "blue blood" subculture worked.
However, when I went away to Cornell to attend university, I found myself literally surrounded 24 hours a day with alumni of some of the finer independent secondary institutions referenced in Birnbach's book:
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Phillips Exeter Academy
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Phillips Andover Academy
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Choate Rosemary Hall
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Deerfield Academy
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St. Paul's School
...and so on. Ultimately, years and years later, I would go on to work at a "ritzy titsy" independent school myself and, to a tiny degree, become a part of that community. (Long story short: many aspects of the real-life 'preppy culture' leave a distinctly sour taste in my mouth.) Nevertheless, a detailed discussion of some of the seemingly counltess life lessons all of this experience brought me would involve several additional blog posts. Suffice it to say for now that my rubbing shoulders with these real-live preps convinced me to my core that, to quote Styx:
Just remember that it's a grand illusion/Deep inside we're all the same
Finally, I'll leave you with the factoid that the phrase "popped collar" appears to have its origins with the 2001 Usher single "Pop Ya Collar."
Collars down!
