Sometimes fashion and art come together perfectly. When the product is designed and manufactured in Britain, and comes with a slice of (occasionally) smutty British seaside humour, it reaches perfection.
That's how I feel about the silk pocket squares produced by Age of Reason, whose founder, Ali Mapletoft, designs each square herself. Each design is hand painted with ink onto water-colour paper by Mapletoft at her studio in Brighton, before being printed onto silk. Each piece is then hand rolled by a skilled seamstress in Yorkshire, giving a hand-finished edge to the scarf that somehow looks much better than a machine finish.
So artistic is the result that some people like to frame the squares. The colourful designs include defiant slogans, naughty images and secret messages which are worked into each pocket square alongside innocuous imagery so that the wearer can reveal or conceal different parts depending on their mood, courage or outfit.
Mapletoft started out producing women's scarves. Smaller versions were produced which she then found were being snapped up by men (such as me) as pocket squares – a sign of their increasing popularity as men look for ways to perk up their suit jackets and blazers with a splash of colour.
My collection of Ali's pochettes provides me with a humorous, daring and colourful alternative to my more common polka dot or Paisley design silk squares. Take a look at Age of Reason's website.
