Simonnot-Godard
Established 1787Simonnot-Godard was founded in 1787 by handkerchieves salesman Beaurain. It started out as a small handkerchief shop in Paris, near the Palais Royal, which soon was taken over by Baurain’s employee, Auguste Godard. Because of the unparalleled and highly-specialized skills of weaving, Godard’s products were in high demand. Together with his son in law, Victor Simonnot, he opened stores in Cambrai, Valenciennes and Bapaume, and also started to produce table linens, lingerie and quality fabrics.
In the days, handkerchieves were mostly used by aristocrats, heavily scented with perfume, as they travelled through town – to mask the smell of the working classes. Today, the pocket square only serves decorative purposes, giving sprezzatura to an outfit. Hand rolled hems are a sign of quality (never iron the hems!), and should have 4 stitches per cm, as discreetly embroidered as possible – obviously also by hand. The thread should always be of the same color and type as the thread used for weaving the pocket square. And one should never match pocket square and tie. Ever.
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