All We Are Saying is Give Golf a Chance
The dangerous allure of white pants on grass. Or of being killed by a rogue golf ball to the temple. Minimally physical as far as sports go, with easily the strictest dress code. While the basic goal of most sports is the same - knocking a ball into a hole – somehow golf manages to make it an even more boring process than it sounds. But recently, the style that has come to dominate fashion runways and TikTok is golfwear. And I’m willing to bet you haven’t even noticed its quiet creep into your wardrobe. While other sports’ fashion brands plot out world domination on a cork board in a darkened office, golf performance wear has only had to take a leisurely stroll from the cart to the caddy and into our lives. But it’s young people who have readapted golfwear to be fun and fashionable. Conservative, classist codes are gone. Golf is no longer about your dad forcing you to be his personal caddy or trying to blind your opponent with stark white cleats.
One Wardrobe For All
Historical brand, Lyle and Scott first became purveyors of the finest golfwear in the 60s, representing some of the biggest names competing at the time. Since then, they have restructured to cater to a wider consumer base. Now the upper crust and the masses alike can wear the same knitwear, vests, slacks and hats, regardless of whether you dabble in golf or not.
The fact that you can wear the same thing that a pro golfer can wear is important. Few other sports allow as much expression and individuality on the turf. But it’s off the green that golf fashion has really come into its own.
Create the Tyler Look
Have you ever seen a video of Tyler the Creator where he takes himself seriously? The rapper and designer has been subverting traditionally masculine trends and injecting them with a goofy attitude since coming to mainstream success in the late 2000s. Known for flipping the script on the machismo of rap music, Tyler has become linked with his crazy and colourful take on golf chic. Swapping the monochrome palette of the PGA for concentration-breaking orange, red, purple, green, and yellow often in graphic patterns, Tyler the Creator has embraced a style born of the seriousness of golf, but imitable by anyone with access to a thrift shop (or a Glue Store).
Loose-fitting tops are a staple of this look. Rugby shirts, t-shirts or gaudy cardigans and sweater vests are all layerable options ensuring an evergreen fit. On the bottom, baggy jeans or those with a tapered fit (depending on personal preference) in blue washes are easiest to pair with a variety of clashing colours and patterns on top.
It’s in the Hole!
Tyler the Creator wasn’t the first to adopt a humorous take towards golfwear. The 1980 film "Caddyshack" took lampoonery to the green and poked fun at the characters you find on a golf course. Bill Murray’s iconic camo bucket hat as well as the wider significance of hats in this film has bled into the youth market’s reverence for the item as a way to tie together a golf-inspired fit. Vitally tongue-in-cheek, the film proved that the most rebellious concoctions can come out of the strictest traditions. Like a schoolgirl insisting on hitching her skirt up, or a boy scout wearing his cap backwards, golf has inadvertently inspired many off the course to innovate their outfits.
Even though it’s started to appear on the runway, golfwear isn’t aspirational because you already have so many of these pieces in your wardrobe - it’s inspirational, allowing everyone the freedom to style as they please. Next time you see a layering tutorial on TikTok or a skirt paired with a zip-up jacket on the runway, you’ll know where it came from.
Best of all?
It will get you into New York Fashion Week and the Country Club.