It was a genuinely exciting moment for me when Ali, of Age of Reason scarves, suggested a pocket square collaboration as we supped microbrewery beer in a pub in Clerkenwell, London last year. It's now finished and available at Age of Reason here. Read on for the story.
I loved Ali's silk pocket squares when I first came across them in 2012. They are a synthesis of art, humour and British craftsmanship - all things I admire. It's been a real pleasure to see Age of Reason pocket squares acquire a bit of a cult following, following hard in the footsteps of Ali's beautiful silk scarves.
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| The Grey Fox scarf in development |
The collaboration is a real work of art - a beautifully-designed Grey Fox silk pocket square produced in two colours in the UK with hand-rolled edges.
Ali takes up the story and describes the design process;
Ali takes up the story and describes the design process;
The idea to create a Grey Fox pocket square came about over an afternoon pint in the Jerusalem Tavern in Clerkenwell, London. I've been drawing animals on scarves since Age of Reason began, but never a fox.
This was the first pocket square I've designed as one whole piece. Usually the drawings are cut and pasted from several pieces of watercolour paper. Capturing the nimble attitude of the fox was important. Foxes have that distinctive way of pouncing on their prey, and I wanted the design to be a wry take on the way Grey Fox pounces on stylish things he loves.
The derby hat, was an obvious very visual symbol for dapper style. This one is based on one of the many hats I own, which were made by the milliner who created hats for Vivienne Westwood's World's End shop.
We've created a limited run of these with fewer than a dozen of each colour-way available at the moment. Each one has been hand rolled in Yorkshire by a skilled seamstress, before being carefully pressed almost to the edges, so as not to crush the all important rolled edges. I like to think that men will enjoy discovering their own ways to style the silk square, and who knows a few women might snap them up too.
I've been proudly wearing my foxy squares which are now available, in two colour-ways at present, from Age of Reason Scarves - click here.
Here are some more images of the Age of Reason/Grey Fox silk square and of the design process. I love Ali's 'fox's ear' fold in the fourth image bwlow.
