Ryan Gosling is having a big year, you might’ve heard. Barbie raked in $1.44 billion-with-a-‘b’ globally, he had at least one great magazine cover, and right now he’s making the rounds to remind Oscar voters he can do more than beach. And Gosling’s been doing it all in a supporting cast of handsome full-placket knit polo shirts.
Matt Winkelmeyer
Over the weekend, Gosling showed up to Variety‘s Hitmakers awards to present the “Soundtrack of the Year” distinction to Mark Ronson for the Barbie soundtrack while wearing a full-placket polo—a.k.a., the shirt that always perfectly answers the question: “What should I wear today?” The style is just like it sounds: a standard polo shirt (itself experiencing a renaissance of stealth wealth and knitted options), but the buttons go all the way from neck to navel. It’s a close cousin of the cardigan, but lighter weight and a little more business-ready, thanks to the collar.
Not that the full-placket polo lacks for chill. Three times this year we’ve seen Gosling toss one on over a plain white tee or tank top for a red carpet foray, the buttons extremely unbuttoned. It’s a simple pairing, and yet still able to hold its own when Margot Robbie’s out here delivering a greatest-hits tour of Barbie’s biggest fits.
Gosling (or at least his stylist, Mark Avery), seems to lean towards the U.K.-based label King & Tuckfield when it comes to the full-placket polo. The brand, founded in 2016, recreates British styles popular in the ‘40s and ’50s—the heyday of soft-but-smooth style. The day after his appearance at Variety’s Hitmakers, Gosling showed up at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s Cinema Society wearing another King & Tuckfield cardigan in a two-toned Big Bird yellow. (Gosling also wore a pink version of that same cardigan over the summer for more Barbie promotion.)
A handful of King & Tuckfield’s knits are on sale over at Ssense, which is currently running a very-enticing up-to-60%-off sale, which means you don’t need to have a billion-dollar box office hit if you’re on the hunt for your own full-placket polo—whether it’s as a business casual staple or a holiday sweater showpiece. The Academy may not have listened to our calls to add a Best Dressed award to the ceremonies, but with Ryan Gosling’s help, at least you’ve got a chance to bring some A-list style to your closet.
More From GQ on the Power of Polo Shirts
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