St. George and the Dragon

It has been quite a while since I’ve done one of these posts (see the others here and here), and I thought it would be a nice update for the Rampley & Co. pocket square I received a few months ago. From their London National Gallery collection, St. George and the Dragon is a lovely pocket square. Originally painted by Jacopo Tintoretto in the 15o0’s, it depicts St. George attacking a dragon by the sea. The colours are predominantly blues, greens and cream, with some dashes of pink and red. There is balanced contrast throughout the painting, and I’ve found it to be a very versatile pocket square. I particularly love how the character of the original painting is so faithfully captured in the print. The border developed by Rampley & Co is perfectly matched. Here are four ways I’ve worn it.

#1 - navy and green

I wanted to showcase how good of a go-between the greens and blues in the St. George and the Dragon square could be in a blue and green themed outfit. I’m wearing my trusty navy hopsack sport coat from Spier & Mackay, along with a pair of light grey sharkskin trousers. The shirt is a light blue oban stripe (or butcher stripe). I chose to wear my chive matka silk tie from Vanda Fine Clothing. The pocket square is folded in such a way to use light and dark green, turquoise and blue found in the pocket square. To my eye, this is a very complimentary arrangement where the pocket square definitely adds to the overall look.

#2 - olive and tan

Perfectly complimenting colours in this outfit made the St. George and the Dragon an easy choice. This outfit was a bit of an experiment, as I wouldn’t normally pair jeans with a tie and sport coat. However, the colours worked really well together. We’ve got the dark wash denim, tan herringbone sport coat and a chambray shirt as the base. I went with my olive zig zag knit from Oxford Rowe as I needed something dark to pair with the jeans, and contrast against the saturated colour of the chambray shirt, and lightness of the tan sport coat. My St. George and the Dragon pocket square was arranged this time to show some green, olive and brown colours, with just a hint of blue. This way it pulls from all across the outfit, and completes a cohesive look.

#3 - bold checks

This might be the best execution of a corners up pocket square arrangement I’ve ever done. I really wanted to pull the cream and blue border since it would pair so well with the colours in the jacket’s overcheck. Overall, this was a simple outfit that let the sport coat take the lead in carrying the visual interest. Jeans and a white shirt play the supporting roles here. I wanted to use the navy border to add some weight up top, balancing out the dark denim. Looking at the fuller shot, I hope you can see what I mean about the balance. In the close-up, you get a sense of the craftsmanship that goes into Rampley & Co‘s pocket squares. This arrangement shows off the excellent hand-rolling of the edges on this St. George and the Dragon square.

#4 - brown jacket, denim shirt

For this final example, I’m wearing cream coloured cotton-linen trousers, a denim dress shirt and my summer slub brown sport coat (all from Spier & Mackay). The pairing of shirt and jacket works really well. The denim is inherently less formal, and the jacket matches that with a cross-hatched texture and variegated colours. The cream trousers make it summery – both in appearance and functionality. This time around, I wanted to present the St. George and the Dragon square to show off as many of the colours as possible. The blues and browns match with the upper block, and the highlights pull up the lightness of the trousers. I was also able to find a little bit of red, which picks up some of the copper coloured threads in the sport coat.

St. George and the Dragon - Conclusion

This is a very versatile square, no doubt about it. I am very happy with my choice, and I am looking forward to picking up a couple more from Rampley & Co. What do you think about these combos? Let me know. Thanks for reading!

-Colin