Outfit for a Monday: Pocket Full of Squares

Dapper masculine detailing leaves me perpetually enamored, stemming from a childhood fascinated with old wool caps, with scarves, with pocket watches and their trusted accompanying chains, these accessories belonging to my father and each of my grandfathers, forgotten from other eras; such trivial flairs and bits of frivolity have since become wildly popular, as, in predictable cycles, a mapped sinoidal path, all things sartorial must. Relevant and bizarre, a childhood also spent playing rounds of Uncle Wiggly, one of the original designs, no doubt played a role. Pocket squares bask now in a bright and potent fashion editorial limelight, coveted, adorning bartenders and bankers alike. Surprising to some, perhaps, but obvious to those who have long recognized the air of dalliance, spontaneity, flirtation of color and texture in the coquettish peak of the pocket square, or to those, like my mother, who have been obsessive-compulsively collecting vintage hankies for years. How, and why, could, and did, such a simple and stylish gesture wane? Now at a peak of popularity, hopefully not so transiently, the answer matters little.

So, yesterday, I gingerly snipped open this breast pocket on one of my favorite charcoal textured blazers, and stashed within it a lackadaisically folded a burgundy and peony pink handkerchief. My crisp, occasionally stifling blazer, pristine and proper, became smooth and suave and sassy. Paired with a simple cornflower blue shift dress, my outfit, with this easy detail, easily traversed from arguably bland to admirably jaunty. 

Unlike the preponderance of bankers and bartenders and most in between, I frequently juxtapose large rhinestone and pearl earrings with my blazers. In this caterpillar view, the wine and powder pink floral design reminds me of a sea of spotted fish, swimming together as a macro-organism, slicing through water in slivers. In this visual vein, perhaps these earrings can transform into some bejeweled anemone. 

These comfortable and classic pumps mirror the color in my pocket square and the slow swirl of my earrings, so, a natural choice to complete the look.