Suitable has just returned from a quick dash across the pond where haberdashers are a dime a dozen.So well turned-out are gents in London that I could not help but wonder why dressing nicely is a point of pride for them and a sticking point for blokes here at home.
Savile Row (and let's not forget Jermyn Street) may be the gold standard, yet most men get by without buying bespoke suits or spending exorbitant amounts of money. What they're doing right is caring about the details.
Consider the pocket square, also known as the handkerchief. If you've never worn one before, it is not nearly as foppish as you perceive it to be.
First, let's agree that calling it a puff or a hankie devalues its sartorial value. And according to purists, pocket squares and handkerchiefs serve different purposes - decorative compared with practical.
"One is for blowing and one is for showing," a genial sales associate named Jonathan explained to me as I browsed the Turnbull & Asser shop in London. (Incidentally, Jonathan had a cold and was using a tissue.)
They can further be distinguished by fabric; cotton for the handkerchief and silk for the pocket square. And unless you want to brag about ultra high-end Sea Island cotton handkerchiefs, silk will always be more expensive. At Turnbull's, for instance, cotton ranges from £3.50 to £30 (approximately double in Canadian dollars) whereas silk costs £35.
Silk, however, makes the bolder statement. It's what Toronto-based money manager Theo Caldwell prefers, and he's got a collection of nearly 30 (a combination of classic white and lively prints), which he says is "embarrassingly too few."
The approach of the 34-year-old son of Thomas Caldwell (as in Caldwell Asset Management) is an exception to the boring suits on Bay Street. But in his opinion, "you look somehow unprepared if you don't have [one] sticking up in the top left corner of your jacket."
To this extent, he folds the fabric and chooses his colours with great care. For formal occasions, he prefers the straight fold or precise peaks. Otherwise, he is less exact: "I turn it upside down, poke my finger in and then shove it in," Mr. Caldwell says.
As for matching his collection with his outfit, he says, "It ought to go with the tie but it ought not to be perfectly identical.
"You need just the right sort of shade; the rest of the day might not be as good as it should be if you don't have just the right play between the tie and the handkerchief."
Granted, regular pocket square wearers may not be nearly as affected by such perfect imperfection. To them, says Damon Allan of Alexander Steel Image Consulting, what matters is a subtle way to convey confidence and style savvy.
"It can be worn all year round and it's a wonderful piece to incorporate into a wardrobe since it can truly define a man's personal style," he says, noting that cashmere is a luxe option for the winter.
And echoing Mr. Caldwell, Mr. Allan says the biggest faux pas that men can make is to be matchy-matchy. His two recommendations: "The colours should pick up the colours in the tie, shirt or suit," and "if you are wearing a paisley tie, elect for a solid, or if you want to get racy then try a stripe."
Racy (and fun) is how I would describe a white cotton handkerchief from Paul Smith at Heathrow airport that boasted an old-fashioned pinup girl in the centre.
But my favourite pocket square of the moment comes from Green Shag Clothier, which has a "stordio" (a portmanteau of store and studio) in downtown Toronto. Founder Neil McPhedran's "pocket poof" combines a neoprene pocket protector for your BlackBerry or iPhone with a permanently folded silk top.
"Part of the problem is pocket square creep," he says of the tendency to slide downward. "We wondered if there was a way to get it to stay up. We'd seen permanent poofs but we wanted to put that together with a great receptacle."
He notes, however, that they are not intended as a handkerchief. "I don't think the notion of carrying a hankie will come back with full vengeance, especially now that people are more germ-sensitive."
Currently, he offers four solid colours and one print option ($35 at Greenshag.com) with more designs to come. And you've got to love a Canadian company whose motto - a good shag will always get you noticed - resonates with any British chap.
AMY VERNER
From Monday's Globe and Mail
December 24, 2007 at 10:52 AM EDT
