One of my favorite materials from which to make pocket squares is rayon. These days, rayon isn’t used for much, but in the 1930s and 40s it was everywhere. Silk production was expensive and cheap synthetics like polyester didn’t exist yet. Rayon was somewhere in between – it’s man-made, from plant fibers. Unlike silk, it doesn’t degrade over time, and like silk, it has an incredibly soft hand and takes vivid prints. If you know where to look (and I do), there’s still some rayon from the first half of the 20th century bouncing around, mostly short yardages stored in the attics of home seamstresses.
Rayon is perfect for pocket squares, because it’s both resilient and, well, slinky. It’s wonderful to touch, and it gives you a superb shape in the pocket. We’ve got about ten vintage rayon designs in our shop right now, ranging from fabric printed for Aloha shirts to the beautiful styles you see above.
That of course, is in addition to the vintage accessories and notions, Japanese boro scarves and other beautiful things we’ve got in our shop. Get over there and take a look.