Q: I read somewhere that pocket squares are where it’s at, but every time I attempt to wear one, I end up looking like a bad combination of the Joker and Robert Goulet. How can I wear this “must-have” without looking like I mustn’t?

A: First of all, don’t go the matching tie-and-square route. It’s tackier than a matching shirt-and-tie combo, which has a certain Vegas élan. Second—and I know I’m perhaps in the minority here—I never wear a piece of fabric in my breast pocket into which I would not blow my nose or that I would not hand to a crying person, perchance never to see it again. I guess it’s old-fashioned, but the utility of the cotton or linen hankie appeals to me. That doesn’t mean it has to be boring. You can find colors, stripes, and other decorative elements in hankies, and I think they’re far cooler than silk squares, which do have a certain squaresvilleness to them.

April 2005

print
SUBMIT