Massimo Alba Bandana

The bandana is a working object with an unusually long reach: a labourer's neckcloth, a rider's dust mask, a stage prop, a signal. What makes this one different from the cotton square that idea comes from is entirely the blend. Forty percent cashmere gives it loft and warmth that a cotton square cannot have. Thirty percent silk gives it the weight to fall and stay fallen rather than springing back out of a knot, plus the faint lustre that keeps the colour from going flat. The wool holds the whole thing together and gives it resilience. At seventy centimetres square it is past pocket-square territory and into the size where it will actually keep a neck warm on a night that turned.

Sizing and dimensions

Seventy by seventy centimetres, which is roughly twice the area of a pocket square and about half a full scarf. Folded on the bias it ties at the throat without bulk. Opened flat it will cover the shoulders of a jacket. The cashmere content means it takes a knot softly and does not hold a hard crease.

It is the easiest way into this house, and it is the kind of object a man and a woman will argue over. That is usually a sign we bought the right one.

Forty percent cashmere, thirty percent wool, thirty percent silk, made in Italy. Seventy centimetres by seventy centimetres.

At the neck under the Baglietto or the Bali jacket in cashmere, which is what it is for. Through the belt loops of the Winch2 as a substitute for a belt if you are feeling like it. Around the handle of a bag. Burn red against Caffe brown, and burn red against Alluminio grey, are the two that work hardest.

Do not wash it. Air it, and take it to a cleaner if it genuinely needs one, because a fine blend at this scale is easily distorted by water. Store it flat or loosely rolled rather than folded on the same lines every time. Our general care guidance covers the rest.

The Stole is the same idea at shawl scale, and the HANKY1 handkerchief is the printed cotton square. The Bali Jacket is cashmere at garment scale. There is more on the house on the Massimo Alba designer page. Everything we carry from Massimo Alba is listed together.