Easier to discuss this way.

FT WEEKEND - STYLE: Peaks of perfection in the top pocket
By Josh Sims, Financial Times
Published: Sep 02, 2006


Perhaps it is the tail end of summer, that time of year when it seems simply too impossibly hot and sticky to tie a noose around your neck; perhaps it is a nod to men like Aristotle Onassis lounging on his yacht; but these days, wherever you look from boardroom to bar, the dress handkerchief or "pocket square" is rearing its head above the parapet of tailoring's breast pockets.

For some it is the perfect antidote to the conservative suit; a plea for individuality, even with more casual dress. For others it simply befits the attire of a gentleman (or woman - who are reportedly tying pocket squares to their handbags or wrists). The dress handkerchief, after all, has long been part of conservative apparel - it was Marie Antoinette who suggested that what was then a showy item carried rather than pocketed would look more aesthetically pleasing if squared, leading Louis XVI to issue a decree stating that, as far as the handkerchiefs in France went, what she said went - and today younger men are exploring the idea.

Joe-Casely Hayford, creative director at Gieves & Hawkes, has introduced pocket squares for Gieves, the brand's younger line. "Whether you're a fop, fogey or free spirit, the handkerchief should become a new wardrobe essential," he believes.

It was in response to requests from more fashion-forward men that shirtmaker Emma Willis recently launched a collection of pocket squares, including some that match shirts, "which is a bit silly but certainly makes a statement", suggests Willis. "More men are enjoying dressing up now, and the resurgence of the pocket square is part of that."

"I can't wear a jacket without a handkerchief," says Mariano Rubinacci of Naples tailor Rubinacci. "I feel naked. It's the final touch." This season Rubinacci launches scaled-down versions of its women's headscarves, each with designs of some 30 colours, for the bolder dresser.

"Just a few years ago pocket handkerchiefs would have been considered too feminine. But men's wear is a little looser now. Besides, with navy or grey business suits you need something brighter to lift what can otherwise be a drab outfit."

Carlo Brandelli, however, creative director of Savile Row tailors Kilgour, is not so sure. "Although a neatlittle square may have a sense of purity to it, the dress handkerchief is really a dandy thing: you have a pocket, so you feel you have to put something in it," he says. "It's just a little too flamboyant. And like a lot of men I don't really do flamboyant."

Rubinacci advises a small handkerchief wardrobe of muted colours and traditional patterns (such as paisley or foulard) for the pocket square beginner, noting that it is often less in the square itself than in its display - several methods, of varying complexity of folding - that distinction is found.

Business types might prefer the simple so-called "presidential" style - folded at right angles to display a neat one-inch ridge of colour above the pochette, a look that is very Connery-era Bond. Then there is the one, two or three "point fold", like a mountain range rising from your breast pocket; the puff, reverse puff, winged puff and diagonal shell; or the advanced origami of the Cagney, with its multiple, multi-directional peaks - one not so readily pulled out to give to a lady. Alternatively, there is the Astaire or the Cooper, which entails stuffing the handkerchief into your pocket and fluffing up the protruding ends.

"The pocket square is a valuable means of self-expression. But it should look as if you've just shoved it in - not look too considered," says Raymond Rowland, a Gieves & Hawkes client. "And always in silk - 'Cotton for blowing, silk for showing,' as the saying goes." But dapper though the pocket square may look, functional it can still be. "Although I carry some Kleenex in my pockets, I always wear a nice white cotton or linen handkerchief in my pochette," says Geoffrey Maitland-Smith, a retired company director and Selfridges board member. "I couldn't live without it. It's for wiping my sweating forehead on hot days - or in difficult situations."

But "why should you want that on display?" asks Brandelli, whose cotton handkerchiefs, with hand-rolled edges, come direct from the handkerchief Mecca, San Gallo, near Florence, with silk ones from Naples.

Brandelli also says all but the most exactly folded of pocket squares tend to ruin the line of one's jacket. "Etiquette dictates that a man should have a handkerchief in his trouser pocket rather than his breast pocket."

Of course, the ultra-gent could always carry two . .