Indigofan » Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren Dungaree Workshirt

Matt — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 11:48:11 +0000

This Dungaree workshirt has triple stitched structural seams.
I haven’t actually owned a “dungaree” shirt before. Here’s a definition of the term from Wikipedia:

Etymology of “dungaree”

The term “dungaree” was associated with a coarse undyed calico fabric that was produced and sold in a region near Dongari Killa (also called Fort George) in Bombay (now Mumbai) in India. The cloth was cheap and often poorly woven. As such, it was used by the poorer classes for clothing and by various navies as a sail cloth. Sailors often re-used old sails to make clothes. In time, the name of the cloth came to also mean an item of clothing made out of it.

I always thought dungaree was the same as chambray, but this cloth is different to chambray I have owned in the past.

Here’s a definition of Chambray from thefreedictionary.com:

A fine lightweight fabric woven with white threads across a colored warp.

[Alteration of French cambrai, cambric, after Cambrai, a city of northern France.]

So Chambray is closer to denim because it has the coloured warp and white weft. Except denim has a twill weave.

It’s got a bit of the old printed typography on the inside (which I think is way overused in current fashions), but it’s limited to the inside, so I didn’t mind.

Here is the same shirt on Amazon! Seems like a good price, but I don’t understand that size.

Ralph Lauren Interview 1993

Matt — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:20:58 +0000

I saw this a while ago, and lost track of which blog I found it on. Sorry.

It’s an hour long interview with Ralph. He talks about a lot of things which are quite interesting. It was nice to hear the discussion around whether Ralph is a designer because it is reasonably valid that he isn’t creative at developing new garment structures or construction. He borrows ideas, and isn’t doing something original. Ralph takes these comments in his stride. His approach of making clothing is that he is inspired by styles and moods. And that he wanted to make clothes that he wanted to wear (or that he would like his girlfriend to wear) …but you couldn’t find these clothes in stores.

He doesn’t like fashion, but believes in timeless-ness.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=HO5Uk-TejS8

Polo Chambray (12 years)

Matt — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 01:53:33 +0000

I’ve had this shirt for 12 years, but obviously haven’t worn it consistently over the 12 years. Chambray goes drammatically darker when wet, so I didn’t wear the shirt in summer months to avoid dark sweaty patches.
As much as I like the shirt – it has reached the end of its life, and it’s retirement time.
I like the cutback collar. It’s a neat and practical shape.

The label is looking pretty sad now.

Worn out collars and cuffs are fraying to reveal the white canvas re-inforcing. I like the way the colour becomes a darker blue where the fraying occurs.

Ralph Lauren shirts are always a reliable high-quality. 100% cotton with all seams fully-felled.

I don’t know much about mother-of-pearl, but I think this chipping in layers on many of the buttons may be an indication.

I really like the fraying on the collar and cuffs, but this hole in the shoulder is the reason for retireing the shirt.

RIP.