A jacket breast pocket is the smallest decision in a wardrobe and one of the few that is entirely optional. Nothing is lost by leaving it empty. Something is gained by filling it well.

The pocket square is misunderstood on both sides. Treated as costume, it becomes a flourish nobody asked for. Treated as a rule, it becomes a matched set sold alongside the tie. Neither is right. A pocket square is a small piece of cloth that adds a second texture at the chest, and the whole discipline is in choosing how much of it shows.

What a pocket square is for

The eye travels upward. A jacket presents a long vertical line, and somewhere near the top it needs a reason to stop. The square supplies that, which is why it sits where it does rather than anywhere else.

Its second function is textural. A wool jacket over a cotton shirt is two matte surfaces meeting. Introduce silk at the chest and the composition acquires depth without acquiring colour. This is why a white silk square works with almost everything and a patterned synthetic one works with almost nothing.

The third function is restraint, and it is the one that matters most. The square is the only part of an outfit with no practical job. Everything else is load-bearing. Because it is purely a choice, it reveals the wearer's judgement more plainly than a shirt ever could. A fraction too much cloth reads as effort. The right amount reads as composure.

Start from the assumption that less should show than feels natural, and adjust upward only if the occasion asks for it.

The presidential fold

A flat horizontal band, a few millimetres of cloth above the pocket line, nothing else.

Fold the square in half, then in half again, then fold to the width of the pocket and set it so only a narrow strip is visible. The edge should be parallel to the pocket, not tilted. If it tilts, the whole jacket looks tilted.

This is the fold for daytime, for business, for any room where the point is to be taken seriously rather than noticed. It suits a crisp cotton or linen square better than silk, because the fold depends on a clean edge and silk will not hold one without help.

It is also the only fold that is genuinely difficult to get wrong, which makes it the right place to begin. Nine times out of ten it is also the right place to stop.

One practical note before the folds themselves. A pocket square should never be pressed into the pocket as a solid block. The pocket is shallow and the cloth needs room to breathe, otherwise the jacket front distorts and the square pushes outward rather than sitting flat. If the fold feels tight going in, there is too much cloth in it.

The one-point

A single soft peak rising above the pocket, about a centimetre and a half at the highest.

Fold the square into a triangle, bring the left and right corners toward the centre, then fold the base up until the length suits the pocket. One point shows. The construction stays hidden.

The one-point is slightly more formal than the presidential and considerably more alert. It works under a jacket with a defined lapel and a shirt collar with some structure. In a plain silk pocket square it reads as evening even at noon, which is either the intention or the reason to choose a different fold.

Keep the point soft. A sharply pressed peak belongs to a rented dinner jacket.

The two-point

Two peaks of slightly different height, offset rather than symmetrical.

The method is the same as the one-point, except the square is folded into a triangle with the corners deliberately misaligned so two tips emerge. The offset is the entire effect. Two points of equal height look manufactured. Two points a few millimetres apart look as though the cloth settled that way on its own.

This fold carries more presence than the one-point and belongs to occasions with some weight: a dinner, an opening, a day when the jacket is doing more than keeping the rain off. A patterned square can take this fold, because the folding reveals different parts of the pattern and the asymmetry stops it reading as a motif.

The puff

No edges at all. A soft rounded shape with no discernible construction.

Lay the square flat, pinch it at the centre, lift, and let the cloth gather beneath your fingers. Run the other hand down to form a loose column, fold the lower half under, and place it in the pocket points down. The shape that results should look accidental, because it very nearly is.

The puff is the most forgiving fold and the most easily overdone. The failure is always volume. If the square rises more than two centimetres, remove it and start again with less cloth above the fold. A lightweight silk square gives the best result here, since heavier cloth refuses to collapse and produces a dome rather than a suggestion.

Worn well, this is the fold that looks least like a decision, which is exactly its appeal.

The crown

A puff with the points showing above it, so that soft cloth and defined tips appear together.

Build a puff, then invert it, so the four corners rise above the gathered base. Adjust until the points sit at uneven heights and the base holds its shape without padding out the pocket.

This is the most expressive of the five and should be used sparingly. It belongs to evening, to celebration, to the one occasion a year when a jacket is worn for pleasure rather than obligation. In a professional setting it says more than intended.

The test is simple. If the fold is noticed before the person wearing it, the fold has failed.

A sixth option, rarely named, is to carry a second square in a pocket for use rather than display. Linen, plain, no folding involved. It costs nothing in appearance and it is the difference between offering something and apologising for having nothing.

Matching without matching

The most common error is matching the square to the tie. A tie and square cut from the same cloth read as a set, and a set reads as having been bought rather than assembled.

The working principle is to pick up a colour rather than repeat one. If the tie is deep navy, the square might carry a thread of that navy inside a different ground. If the shirt is white, a white square shifts the balance toward the shirt and away from the tie, which is usually the quieter choice.

When the outfit has no tie, the square has more room. An open collar leaves the chest unresolved, and a square at the pocket completes the line a tie would otherwise have drawn.

Texture can do the matching on its own. Silk against wool, linen against cotton. The relationship is felt rather than seen, which is the standard worth aiming for. The same logic governs scarves, set out at greater length in the guide to tying a silk scarf.

Size matters more than most people expect. A square that is too large fills the pocket before any fold is made, and a square that is too small disappears into it. Somewhere between thirty and forty centimetres suits most jackets, with silk at the larger end because it compresses and linen at the smaller end because it does not.

Silk, linen and cotton

Three fibres cover every situation, and each behaves differently in the pocket.

Silk holds no edge and gathers beautifully. It is the fibre for the puff and the crown, and the wrong choice for the presidential, where it will slump within an hour. Hand-rolled edges matter here more than pattern, because a rolled edge gives the cloth enough body to sit up.

Linen holds a crease permanently, which makes it the correct fibre for flat folds and a difficult one for soft shapes. It is also the most comfortable choice in heat, when silk at the chest can feel like an imposition.

Cotton sits between the two and is the most practical for daily wear, holding a presidential fold through a long day and recovering from a wash without ceremony. The full range sits in the ACCESSORIES collection, and the broader argument for small pieces carrying large weight is made in the iconic finishing touch.

Five folds, three fibres, one pocket. Begin with the presidential and a white square, and learn the rest at leisure.