The authentic and timeless world of Ralph Lauren
August 2025
RL/Men

Collar Confidential

A few weeks ago, a conversation got started on Instagram after a discerning Polo fan stumbled upon one of our best-kept secrets in the shirt department—the Graduate collar
By Eric Twardzik
Scrolling Instagram some weeks ago, I had my eye caught by a story posted on one of my favorite accounts—the Polo-obsessed @rlgrails. In it, the poster, who keeps his identity anonymous, touted his discovery of the Graduate collar that’s a feature of Polo’s Classic Fit Oxford Shirt and many other styles (he, in turn, had been informed of its internal name via a DM from another Ralph Lauren employee). The collar in question has substantially longer points than our traditional button-down, creating a pronounced “collar roll,” best defined as the rounded S-shaped curve the collar points make when buttoned. Among menswear nerds, it is highly prized.
GET THE POINT
Clockwise from top left: William Holden, Paul Newman and Miles Davis demonstrate the virtues of a longer shirt collar.
Speaking as someone who happens to fit this description, having spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about it, I fully agreed. This was, indeed, a top-notch roll: rounded, organic in shape, and at once sophisticated and laid-back—the twin hallmarks of classic American style as only Ralph knows how to fully nail. @rlgrails also made a good point: “Where is the marketing with the story? I mean, think about it, if even I didn’t know about this, then NO ONE knows about it!” He was right. I work here, and I didn’t know about it. So, I decided to see what I could find out. I called Matthew White, who, as vice president of menswear design at Ralph Lauren, has worked closely with Ralph to execute his shirt designs for more than 20 years. Matthew said that the Graduate first came into being about two years ago, and he confirmed what I had suspected: The Graduate collar’s points are indeed much longer, measuring at 3.5" vs the 2 7/8" for the classic Polo button-down. The less generous collar has a distinctly collegiate charm, while the Graduate provides a bit more roll for the moment when you want a more matriculated look. “It’s a little more pronounced,” he said, “a little more exaggerated, and it’s a little more elegant in that sense that you can dress it up more.”
“It’s a little more pronounced,” he said, “a little more exaggerated, and it’s a little more elegant in that sense that you can dress it up more.”
“It’s a little more pronounced,” he said, “a little more exaggerated, and it’s a little more elegant in that sense that you can dress it up more.”
The greater roll also makes more of the tie knot visible and provides an opening to use a collar pin, which there’s a lot to say for: It frames a tie knot in a stylishly pronounced way, elongates your neck, and can be that accessory that substitutes for, say, a pocket square, or plays against an element of contradiction, like wearing a sport coat and tie with jeans. At the same time, the Graduate looks great without a tie; worn open at the neck, it strikes a note of post-work ease—or maybe that of guys whose only work seemed to have been to look cool, like Paul Newman, Warren Beatty, or Miles Davis (whose portrait on the cover of the 1958 album Milestones remains much-studied by collar roll connoisseurs today). Unbutton the points themselves, and—with or without a tie—you’re now in the bright shadow of mavericks like Gianni Agnelli, who treated buttons like they didn’t exist. While the Graduate may be a semisecret within Ralph Lauren, it’s been proliferating in plain sight. In addition to the Classic Oxford Shirt in white or a reverse stripe, it is also found on other Classic Fit shirts ranging from chambray to striped linen to sindigo madras and even appears as a buttonless straight collar on the Classic Fit Striped Shirt, further burnishing the style’s vintage appearance. With our lesson concluded, we now bestow you with an honorary degree in Collar Roll Studies; put it to good use out there in the real world.
Eric Twardzik is a writer with a deep reverence for things that get better with age, from tweed jackets to single-malt Scotch. He has contributed to titles including GQ, Esquire, and Condé Nast Traveler and serves as deputy editor of Wm Brown magazine. He lives in New England with his family and owns too many ties.
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