At the Greenwich Polo Club, crowd has a flair for high society fashion - Ct Post

Some people associate polo with horses.

Others, as Bryan Gulyas^[1] observed, think of pretty girls in nice clothes.

"Wait, there's a polo match going on?" the 31-year-old Stamford resident joked as Airstream and Heathcote Polo took the field for a Sunday afternoon contest at the Greenwich Polo Club^[2] . "Everyone's dressed to the hilt."

Not to take anything away from the sport itself, but for many spectators, watching mallet-wielding horseback riders race up and down a field isn't enough -- you have to look good while you're doing it.

That means flaunting your freshest finery: flowy dresses, wedges and floppy hats for women; bow ties, loafers and linen suits for men.

Polo is a high-society sport, after all. And, regardless of whether you belong to the upper crust, you need an outfit to match.

"You don't want to show up in sweats," said Lindsay Olzerowicz, 28, of Weehawken, N.J.

"That would be awkward," said her friend, 27-year-old Cate Liverman^[3] , of Virginia.

Olzerowicz and Liverman sported game-day ensembles that would've made Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts^[4] ' character in "Pretty Woman") jealous. Liverman wore a black-and-white chevron dress with three-quarter length sleeves, black peep-toe kitten wedge shoes by American Eagle, Stella & Dot^[5] gold bangles and Tory Burch sunglasses; Olzerowicz donned a white Armani Exchange dress, a Tiffany Kiss bangle and woven wedges by Steven Madden.

Some spectators, meanwhile, saw polo day as an excuse to get all dolled up, rather than a reason for it.

"How many chances do you get to put your nice clothes on?" said Elizabeth Mroz^[6] , of Stamford. "I have so many things in my wardrobe that I never get to wear. I'm so busy with my professional life."

Mroz wore a magenta lace dress by Laundry by Shelli Segal^[7] , a white hat accented with a pink rose, a pink satchel by Michael Kors^[8] and black Steve Madden^[9] sunglasses.

Like Olzerowicz and Liverman, Mroz wore wedges -- the proper footwear for the stomping of the divots, a halftime ceremony in which spectators push the patches of grass and dirt torn out of the field back into the ground (the rough equivalent of the zamboni in hockey).

It's best to leave your heels at home, Mroz said, "since you'll end up sinking into the ground."

Judging by their flair for color and patterns, women were undoubtedly the stars of the informal, alfresco runway. But there were a few men who stood out, fashion-wise, as well.

Gulyas wore a straw derby hat, a Hermes pink bow tie, an off-white vest, a white button-down shirt from Express, tan linen pants from Banana Republic^[10] and Cole Haan^[11] brown loafers (his girlfriend, Ashley Snyder^[12] , wore a blue eyelet dress with a woven hat and blue scarf).

"This is a classy, garden-esque setting," Gulyas said. "I went with the vest and the bowtie because it's a strong statement."

Of course, not everyone at the match went with a "strong statement." There's no dress code in polo (except for the players, who generally wear protective helmets, riding boots, white trousers and a colored shirt).

But for many in the crowd, a swanky outfit is as quintessential as the champagne, the picnic blankets, the sunshine -- even the match itself.

"When you think of polo, when you think of Greenwich, you think high class," Gulyas said. "It's a classy atmosphere, so you want to dress appropriately."

Scott.gargan@scni.com; Twitter: @scottgarg

References

1. ^{^} Bryan Gulyas (www.ctpost.com)


2. ^{^} Greenwich Polo Club (www.ctpost.com)


3. ^{^} Cate Liverman (www.ctpost.com)


4. ^{^} Julia Roberts (www.ctpost.com)


5. ^{^} American Eagle, Stella & Dot (www.ctpost.com)


6. ^{^} Elizabeth Mroz (www.ctpost.com)


7. ^{^} Shelli Segal (www.ctpost.com)


8. ^{^} Michael Kors (www.ctpost.com)


9. ^{^} Steve Madden (www.ctpost.com)


10. ^{^} Banana Republic (www.ctpost.com)


11. ^{^} Cole Haan (www.ctpost.com)


12. ^{^} Ashley Snyder (www.ctpost.com)