The Knit That Does a Shirt’s Job

Under a jacket this autumn, the most convincing layer is often not a shirt at all. Two knits are doing the work: the long-sleeved knitted polo and the full-zip cashmere cardigan.

The polo is the easier sell. It has a collar, so it frames the face as a shirt does, but it is softer and warmer. This season’s versions are heavier and more textured: Mr Porter’s autumn edit includes a cashmere polo sweater from Auralee and a cable-knit wool and alpaca polo from Polo Ralph Lauren, and Boglioli’s autumn campaign styles a knit polo with its soft tailoring. Fedeli, Sunspel, John Smedley and Luca Faloni all make reliable versions. Fine gauge belongs under a jacket; a chunkier knit can stand on its own.

The zip cardigan is the more interesting idea. Zegna showed padded cashmere cardigans in Milan, and Brunello Cucinelli presented cardigans meant to work as complete looks. Simon Crompton of Permanent Style plans to wear a cream Loro Piana cashmere full-zip under a jacket this autumn, where it works like a rollneck; he calls the effect “almost ecclesiastical.” Even Barbour’s autumn range includes a double-knit snap-through cardigan.

## How to wear them
Tuck the polo into high-waisted pleated trousers and add an unstructured jacket or overshirt; brown suede shoes finish it. Wear the zip cardigan closed high under tailoring and open over a T-shirt at the weekend. Cream, oatmeal and grey are the most versatile colors, and a dark brown zip with grey flannel is quietly excellent.

Both pieces make the same promise: a softer, warmer alternative to a shirt that still looks deliberate. That is most of what a man wants from his clothes between October and March.