Pocket Squares Are Important

I couldn't resist. I had to have the new Seaward & Stearn pocket squares (pictured) from Kabbaz-Kelly & Sons.

Frankly, I overlooked them when I saw them in person, laid out on a table in Manhattan. But folded in a breast pocket they are transformed, adding a discreet touch to a worsted jacket that falls into the sweet spot between flamboyant and plain. That's a quality that's hard to find but worth while. Pocket squares are important.

I believe that a well-dressed man needs roughly as many pocket squares as he has neckties (the corollary to this rule is that the majority of men would be better dressed if they had half as many neckties and twice as many squares). It's not acceptable to be insecure about when it's OK to wear one. It's always OK. If a man is wearing a jacket with an open breast pocket, the pocket should have a square in it.

The way I think about it, there are two types of guidelines about pocket squares. One is how to fold them and the other is how to choose one. Folding is simpler - there are two basic techniques (there are a dozen others but only two are required). If you're wearing a silk square, shove it into your pocket until an inch and a quarter of silk is showing, point any waving ends towards your left side, and forget about it. Or, if you're wearing linen, adjust a square fold until the pocket displays a line of white a quarter to a half inch high.

Choosing a square is more complex. An inventory is required, consisting of white Irish linen squares (I get mine on sale from Schweitzer Linens for $15 apiece instead of the usual $25), and a selection of silks. Both types should have hand stitched edges.

Wear the linen squares with worsteds and even flannels if the occasion is formal enough. Otherwise, wear the silks (for extra credit, have some matte silk and cashmere squares to combine with silk neckties and reserve the shinier silks for your matte neckties). The square usually repeats a color in the shirt, the necktie, or even the socks, but some of the best combinations don't repeat any color at all, like the tweed suited guy in the drawing.

Necktie wardrobes that follow the guidelines I posted last week are going to be complemented by pocket squares in a similar, but never matching, palette of colors. Maintain wardrobe balance by acquiring a new square with each new necktie, and weed them both at the same time as well.

Those S&S squares are promised for next week. I'm looking forward to them.