I have railed against the practice before but the influence of television is strong so let me repeat myself. Do not wear neatly folded white linen handkerchiefs in your jacket breast pockets. Stuff them in. Display them rumpled and irregular, as if they were employed to wipe spilled champagne from a lady's dress mere moments ago. For an important part of dressing well is to look as though you did not try too hard.
The man in the photo? Edward Molyneux, the first of the great dress designers. With pocket handkerchief worn properly.
Photo: Paul Schutzer for LIFE
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11 comments:
Completely agree. However, cotton or linen stuffed into the pocket can be a bit bulky. For those of us devoted to fitness, it may even cause a bit of a break in the lapel; it certainly draws attention to a prominent chest and shoulders. Fold it neatly, or skip it all together?
I wore a carefully folded and ironed white linen handkerchief in my pocket at a funeral recently; my justification for this is that at an event with that amount of formality and sobriety I want the main impression given off by my attire to be _precisely_ that of having put in a lot of effort. Does that make sense?
First? Let's not forget Worth...
Will,
What about ironing? Do you recommend ironing the handkerchief before stuffing it into the pocket, or is it ok to go with a wrinkled handkerchief?
For informal or "after-work" attire, I completely agree. However, for formal or work attire, a properly folded handkerchief is mandatory. Anything else is simply uncivilised.
Bespoke Lawyer, you are spot on. Whilst on some formal occasions the rumpled silk handkerchief has its place, e.g. at the races in full morning dress, in a serious professional work outfit its properly folded lined counterpart is preferable - unless you are in a creative profession or the entertainment industry.
Oh dear! I employ folded white linen in certain suits/jackets. Just not as geometrically displayed as in Mad Men (no uniform thin strip or peaks). But I like to fold it and pop it in the pocket at a slight angle; sometimes with the edges not meeting properly, but not stuffed. I save that mostly for coloured silk.
Maybe I'm wrong, but it feels right.
Will,
I recall Dick Carroll, our late and beloved Beverly Hills haberdasher, having a devil of a time talking a cantankerous Groucho Marx out of sporting the so-called "TV fold."
"Grouch," Dick intoned, "When you flatten the hank and straight-edge the top, you look like a humorless accountant.
"Worse," Dick contined, "you remind me of Gummo."
Of course, that last crack had it's desired result, with Groucho cringing at any resemblance to the brother who quit performing for a business career.
Then and there, Groucho abandoned the unimaginative fold,
leaving it to lesser lights on the order of George Gobel and Robert Q. Lewis.
Finally, hearts are a little heavier in L.A. today, what with the passing of stepmom Liz whose companions, by and large, were among the most fashionable of fellows.
I think a funeral is the one event at which I would leave my breast pocket unadorned, but I would still have handkerchiefs and plenty of Kleenex.
Thanks to you, Will, I have nearly abandoned the folded hank. I still must use it with certain large hanks in my itsy breast pockets. Maybe I can convince the wife to reduce the size of those hanks....
Aren't Mr. Wilding's posts great? Sorry for your loss.
I have yet to master the square, so as to look as though I dressed in the dark and it worked, or just returned it after offering it to she who makes plans to dab some thing or other.
For patterned pocket hanks the Barbera fold takes some beating. For white, a just visible not too steep ski slope.
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