I read recently that the polo shirt is deemed "one of the foundations of the modern male wardrobe".

Not in my house it isn't. Or if it is, then it's the sort of foundation a murdered Mafia boss might make for a newly-built flyover.

No, the missus won't tolerate polo shirts. Never has, never will. Not even if I played the game and had an elephant stabled in the garden shed. She's particularly intolerant of polo shirts with the collar turned up. The word "plumber" has been used on occasions. Cruel, I know.

Me, I'm actually quite fond of polo shirts so the few I do own have to be sneaked out under cover of darkness or, better still, under cover of a coat that zips up to the throat.

I've tried explaining the appeal of the garment - that it combines all the best bits of both short-sleeved shirts and T-shirts - as well as the pop-culture associations, which are mostly wholesome, though I admit we did once see a trio of Italian skinheads in buttoned-up Fred Perry shirts giving Nazi salutes just off the Piazza Navona in Rome. But it falls on deaf ears. The polo shirt is persona non grata at her fashion table.

Do all women feel this way? Apparently not. Browsing the internet I find one complainant asking: "Why do women always try to get guys to wear polo shirts?" Lucky fella.

Fortuitously, 2013 is the 80th anniversary of the polo shirt as we know it. It was French tennis champion Rene Lacoste who first popularised a new style of tennis shirt made from what he called pique cotton and who, in 1933, began manufacturing them under the name Chemise Lacoste.

His logo was a crocodile, a nod to his on-court nickname. It's still one of the most recognisable emblems in fashion.

And why is it called a polo shirt? Because its most enthusiastic early adopters were polo players, who had previously played in white shirts.

Hard on Lacoste's heels - or, more likely, his placket buttons - was British tennis ace Fred Perry. Although he was playing at the same time as Lacoste (1933 also marked the first of four consecutive Perry-inspired Davis Cup wins for the Brits) it was 1952 before he brought his take on the polo shirt to market.

Since then it has become a staple of everyone from mods to Northern Soul revivalists and, yes, Italian neo-Nazis.

The Ralph Lauren version, launched in the early 1970s, also became a staple of the preppy look that was birthed in the US and much-copied in Japan.

So sure, not all the polo shirt's associations are to be celebrated. But in my opinion there are still few more wonderful sights in men's fashion than a crisp, white polo shirt - even one worn with the collar turned up.