Begg & Co: The Finest Scottish Scarves for All Seasons with 10% Reader Discount

In the five years or more that I've written this blog one of the greatest pleasures has been discovering the highest quality products from British manufacturers. Begg & Co manufacture (and have done so since 1866 when they wove Paisley shawls) scarves, wraps and throws of the most sublime quality in Scotland from cashmere, silk and lambswool angora.

Their website shows attractive designs for men and women in various weights, sizes and materials; something for everyone. I selected three to try for this review, all cashmere (I was able to keep one, which I'll reveal later) and all are beautifully made. The cashmere is the softest of the soft. 

Above: The "Superfine Wispy" cashmere scarf is screen printed with spots and each contains eight kilometres of the finest gossamer cashmere yarn. What can be cooler than having five miles of fine cashmere yarn wound round your neck? It's like having a cloud round the neck. Available in other colours. Very lightweight and soft, this wonderful scarf is ideal for spring and cooler days in summer.

Above: This "Arran" scarf had a beautiful ripple finish and the soft cashmere is more suited to the colder days of winter. It has a subtle vertical half and half design which doesn't show well in my photograph. A real belter of a scarf. Available in other colours.

Above: The "Kishorn" scarf is lightweight, washed and just a little distressed, the ultimate in understated chic. A quite superb scarf to wear with faded denim or to dress down a suit. Ideal as an all the year round scarf. It also happened to contain all my favourite shades of blue and indigo.

Summary

Costing between £260 and £285 these aren't cheap scarves... thankfully. You're paying for beautifully designed, Scottish made products of the very highest quality. This is thick and very soft, fine cashmere; not the mean, harsh stuff sold cheaply in piles in some high street stores. They have been woven and hand-finished by skilled workers who receive fair wages and have huge pride in what they produce. You won't regret buying them; just make sure the moths are kept away. See Begg & Co. who have kindly offered a 10% discount for Grey Fox Blog readers - quote BEGG10OFF at checkout.

I loved all these scarves, but my favourite was the spotty Wispy, whose superfine cashmere makes it ideal as the weather turns warmer. I kept that one, but it was a hard choice with the "Kishorn", also a beauty. 

This feature was kindly sponsored by Begg & Co but the content and all views expressed are mine alone.

A foxy pocket square - an Age of Reason Scarves and Grey Fox collaboration

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.

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;

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.

Winners of the Age of Reason/Grey Fox silk square naming competition announced

There were two joint winners of the Age of Reason/Grey Fox silk pocket square naming competition. Both chose the name 'handcuffchief', which Ali and I loved. Well done Nick and Jonathan, both from London, your silk pocket squares are on their way to you.

See the Age of Reason website for more on their made and designed in England scarves and pocket squares.

The 'Handcuffchief' pocket square from Age of Reason

Competition: Age of Reason pocket squares - part 2

The Age of Reason/Grey Fox competition

Win a Made in England silk pocket square - click here for information about the competition which was launched this week.

Below Ali Mapletoft, part of the husband and wife team which founded the business, tells us more about Age of Reason -

'Age of Reason is a UK accessories label; we pride ourselves on making men’s silk pocket squares and women’s scarves in England. We try to offer our customers wearable luxury with a playful twist made from fine natural fabrics. For inspiration we look to British punk heritage, and the streets of cities like London and Brighton.

We started as a women’s wear accessories label, and stumbled upon menswear when men kept buying our small women’s neckerchiefs to use as pocket squares. Since then we’ve begun creating products with men in mind and have moved from pin-hemming to traditional hand rolling. We’re fascinated by men’s style, which has always been rich with coding. Wearing a hand rolled pocket square is universal code for “I know stuff about dressing well.” It’s almost tribal

Each pocket square design is hand painted with inks onto water-colour paper by Ali at our studio in Brighton, before being printed onto silk. Every piece is then hand rolled by one skilled seamstress in Yorkshire. Some people like to frame our pocket squares, which is great, but we do love to see them worn. Every piece should work as stand-alone art or a simple accessory. Defiant slogans, naughty prints and secret messages are worked into each pocket square alongside innocuous imagery to encourage the wearer to reveal or conceal different parts depending on their mood or outfit.

Personal style is something so deeply individual, and it takes time to develop. We like to think that we create stories in silk, and that they become part of the wearer’s own personal story'.

Below are some images of the design process and of a few other squares in the range

Age of Reason/Grey Fox competition - win a British-designed and made pocket square

Regulars here will know that my favourite pocket squares come from Age of Reason. Designed by Ali Mapletoft, they are made and have their edges hand-rolled here in Britain. Apart from being works of art, they are made with a delicious, sometimes naughty, and very British, sense of humour.

God Save The Queen pocket square

I'm privileged to be able to offer a newly-designed pocket square (pictured below) to the winner of this Age of Reason/Grey Fox competition. With typical humour and verve Ali has decided that she needs a name for a new design. The competition is simple - the entrant who suggests the best name will win a pocket square.

Below is an image of the scarf that's looking for a name. Send your suggestion to treasure@age-of-reason-studios.com and the winner will be selected before the end of July.

Your e-mail address will be used only to inform the successful winner and you will receive no other mail from Age of Reason or Grey Fox. Good luck.

This is the pocket square that needs a name

Ali will herself tell us more about her designs in a post tomorrow. Meanwhile, take a look at Age of Reason's website for more on this design and other pocket squares in the range. See also my previous posts on these wonderful pocket squares.

Age of Reason pocket squares - SS13 - British and amusingly playful!

Readers will remember that I'm a huge fan of the (sometimes naughty) pocket squares produced by Age of Reason (see my previous posts here and here). I recently asked them to send me some images of their Spring/Summer collection. You can be sure that the standards of silk, workmanship, humour, titillation (hand-cuffs?) and artistry will of be the highest - and they're as British as fish and chips (and I love them for all those reasons).

Your pocket square collection is quite incomplete without at least one of these. Paisley and polka dot pocket hanks never seem quite the same again. I'd have one of each if I could. These are collectible classics of the future. Tuck yours away to put on eBay in 2053 or pass to your children in your will.

How to wear your naughty Age of Reason pocket square

Here are a few ideas for wearing your pocket square; in this case a naughty hanky from Age of Reason (do not read on if easily shocked). By clever folding you can be naughty or nice, as you choose.

See the Age of Reason website here  and the blog here for more information about these sensuously soft silk scarves - and here's my earlier post about them.

Here's the square, showing athletic ladies with pomegranates and a frieze of gourd-shaped objects.

Cheeky

Flamboyant

Perky

Discreet

Dominant

Age of Reason: deliciously naughty pocket squares - Made in Britain

Browsing round the Best of Britannia exhibition recently I came across Ali Mapletoft and her Age of Reason silk scarves and pocket squares. Each is designed by Ali using coloured inks on watercolour paper. These images are then transferred to high quality silk and each piece is finished by a skilled seamstress. The designs are striking and all have more than a little humour, mischief and, some, a naughty (but nice) streak.

These wonderful British-designed silk squares are real works of art and are available online here and at various stockists (including the Tate shop) in a variety of sizes (the pocket squares are 45cm square). A fun alternative to the usual polka dot or paisley-design pocket square.