Fashion Monday with JJ Lee

As a recent San Francisco Chronicle article declared: pocket squares, handkerchiefs, puffs, what have you, are returning to the menswear lexicon thanks to TV shows like Mad Men. In Vancouver, a city which takes going casual seriously, the spray of fabric has become an acceptable replacement for a tie. It is dressy but not too dressy. But what of the pocket that holds it: the breast pocket? Imagine if the breast pocket were not there. What would be lost? Angled correctly a breast pocket, distinguished by the tab of fabric known as a welt, has the desirable effect of visually lifting and broadening the chest. Sometimes careless suit makers will make a breast pocket dead, flat horizontal, in which case, it would only visually fatten the wearer’s torso by making it look boxy. But a great breast pocket rises slightly towards the shoulder. Not too acutely. If done right it can enliven the dead zone between the lapels and the shoulder and through the introduction of a slight diag...

Dev Patel is featured in GQ . While the spread concerned itself with Fall's new suits, what I liked about the images was how young and fresh his suits looked without making the cardinal mistakes some men are making as they attempt to modernize their suits. I dislike how some are trying to match heavy English spread collars into suits with narrow lapels. If one likes a wider spread, go for a medium spread with shorter (Edwardian-styled) collar points. Also, if one adopts thinner ties, the horizontal spread collar won't work. There's too much shirt space to fill. There's one CBC weatherman (Kalin!) in Toronto who does it far too much. Wide spread, narrow lapel, skinny ties. Not good. Medium spread with short points on a shirt is the way to go.