Massimo Alba HANKY1 Printed Cotton Handkerchief

The handkerchief lost its job some time in the last fifty years and has been quietly useful ever since. It is not a pocket square, which is decoration pretending to be equipment. It is forty-five centimetres of printed cotton that lives in a pocket and turns out to be the right answer several times a year, and forty-five is the size that matters: large enough to be useful, small enough to disappear. These are made in Italy and printed, which is more attention than the object strictly requires, and that is the whole appeal of it. There are five prints and no hierarchy among them.

Styling and care

In a jacket pocket, in a bag, or given away, which is what most of them are for. Wash it hot if you need to; it is cotton and it is meant to be used. Our general care guidance covers the rest.

It is a real Italian-made object rather than a token at the counter. Small things ought to be made as carefully as large ones, and they almost never are.

One hundred percent cotton, printed, made in Italy. Forty-five centimetres by forty-five centimetres, in one size, in five prints.

The Bandana is the cashmere, wool, and silk square, and the Stole is the cotton and linen one at shawl scale. There is more on the house on the Massimo Alba designer page. Everything we carry from Massimo Alba is listed together.