Here we are on Day 3 of the “Everyday Elegance” experiment. I’m still enjoying this foray into elevating my everyday into something marked with grace and style.
Today, I added a handkerchief to my ensemble. Hear me out on this one.
My Dad – and my Beloved, for that matter – use cotton handkerchiefs. Every single day. It’s a bit old-fashioned, and I love it. In fact, my Beloved has a wonderful story he can tell about the two of us being at a conference and a keynote speaker getting overcome with emotion. My Beloved stood up, crossed over to the aisle, and approached the speaker with his clean handkerchief. Her response was surprise – “I’m supposed to put my FACE in it??” Yes, you are. And once upon a time, everyone carried them – not fancily-folded, starched pocket squares (although there’s a place for those), just simple cotton handkerchiefs that were meant to be used and then bleached back into usefulness.
The women were different, of course. While a gentleman may carry a monogrammed handkerchief, the overall design was quite plain. Ladies of my mother’s generation carried delicate, embroidered squares of thin cotton or silk. And I inherited a slew of these from my Virginia-born mother that were just taking up space in a dresser drawer. Today I decided to obey my own rule of “use the good stuff” and picked one to carry. While I didn’t need it to dry away tears or softly dab away any glow (ladies don’t sweat, we glow. At least I was told that), it was nice to reach into my pocket and be reassured that it was there.
A touch of Everyday Elegance. Join the experiment!
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