Classless Classiness

Elitecore? Regattacore? Tenniscore? Rugbycore? Yes, it's here

May 18, 2025

Welcome to the fifteenth edition of Not I, a wordless series appearing every Friday or Saturday (and, occasionally, Sunday…) in which I share a selection of the pre-owned items currently on my personal favorites list. It’s style experimentation, deep-dive thrifting, and instant fashion-universe-expansion all wrapped up into one browsable unit. Read more about the idea behind the series, and find all previous editions, here.

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Most cases of serendipity are, well, serendipitous — random, arbitrary events. Sometimes a case of serendipity is more like a necessity awaiting its chance to happen. This week I was discussing how something that never left can make a return. That’s logically impossible, thinks one part of my brain. Yet the other part knows it happens every single day. But the issue goes deeper than that, of course. Isn’t timelessness in fashion another word for a style that keeps on returning? And isn’t the average fashion magazine busy opening doors for items that never really left the room?

One example: the traditional rugby shirt, jumper, or jersey. Whatever you call it, it’s that shirt with a buttoned opening at the top, similar to a polo shirt but with a stiffer collar, which usually comes with five or six horizontal stripes (“hoops”) in alternating colors. And here’s the serendipity: as I was debating the eternal return of all things fashionable, including the rugby shirt, I stumbled upon this image of the Marc Jacobs team bringing their Met Gala look to life.

Rugby polo behind the scenes at Marc Jacobs’ Met Gala

Fashion has been re-contextualizing clothes worn in non-fashion contexts for several decades now — from soldiers to hikers, from farmers to businessmen, from beachgoers and average American dads to Ivy League students. The downside of this: there’s a danger that the creation of newness, if it occurs at all, becomes synonymous with identifying a new context and capitalizing upon it. The upside: the possibilities are potentially endless.

The rugby shirt belongs to the non-fashion context of so-called elitist sports — that of rugby, polo, hockey, cricket, golf, tennis, sailing and other white-jerseyed-and-sun-exposed outdoor activities. Think Whitbread Round the World Race, The Ashes, and Wimbledon. Massimo Osti, Ralph Lauren, and Emily Adams Bode Aujla are prominent examples of designers who’ve referenced this vast world in their collections. It’s far from exhausted, however. And I feel pretty confident that we’ll be seeing more and more of it — whether it’s because contemporary brands start to act upon it or because older brands (Slazenger, Diadora, Helly Hansen, Fila, Lacoste etc.) are being rediscovered.

Clockwise from top left: Whitbread Around the World Race, Björn Borg, Terry Lineen & players from the Nigerian Polo Association in the 80s or 90s

Today’s miscellaneous selection brings together some 20 pieces from high-end designers and heritage brands (e.g. Kapital, Otto 958, J. Crew) as well as vintage items that caught my eye. All of the sports with which they’re associated can be freed from their once or present elitism. Being classy, after all, is classless. To start wearing their traditional attire in other contexts, combined with completely different styles, is one way to do just that…