Hercule Poirot, the man with the "little gray cells," a Belgian chap as brilliant a detective as he is a fastidious dresser and a true gentleman. If you've never watched a Hercule Poirot film with David Souchet as Poirot, you're in for a real treat. And the more episodes one sees, the more one appreciates this character created by Agatha Christie. You may even decide to grow a handlebar mustache after watching it. I know of one fellow who, after watching it every day for a week, simply woke up with such a mustache; it's a powerful show. But I digress. No, wait, I don't! But I'll get to that.
First, the ensemble of Poirot. Voila:
First, note the pocket square. Now I've been sporting, for some years now, a pocket square with a tri-fold at the top. I've rarely seen it folded this way, and one wants to stand out a bit, have a dash of individual character. But look at Poirot's pocket square--perfectly, absolutely straight. It looks awesome. But it doesn't stand on its own, oh no--consider the suit: Poirot's suit is creased to perfection, and fits him like the proverbial glove; the straight pocket square highlights this well-fitting suit. And it doesn't end there. Such a pocket square-fold fits the neatness of the ensemble that is created by wearing a three-piece suit. Imagine the above photo sans vest. It wouldn't appear half so elegant, not at all so complete, without the vest.
Now, let us move to the flower. It's the perfect size and the perfect color, complimenting the suit and the man without being at all obtrusive.
And lastly, the tie. I've always had a great respect for the bow-tie. On some lads it looks smashing. It fits them somehow. For yours truly, I wear a neck tie. But the type of bow-tie that Poirot wears has me reconsidering. Sort of. First, Poirot's bow tie is not the kind you see worn by Orville Redenbacker, the Popcorn guy, nor is it the kind of bow-tie worn in our time with tuxedo. That's not the sort of look I'm wanting to cultivate. On the contrary, Poirot's bow tie is thicker, much thicker around the collar, with a shirt whose collar does not fold over to cover the tie band, and to wrap it up his ties always have subtle yet interesting patterns; and still we must come back to the vest--without a vest, a bow tie looks...well...small, and, I dare say, silly...bordering on ridiculous (unless the suit jacket is buttoned up, but even then, there's too much blank space between shirt and tie). But the Poirot-style! I think it would work on well nigh any gentleman willing to try it, with or without handlebar mustache.
Which brings me to the non-digressing digression. A poll! Handlebar mustaches, yes or no? I've done a bit of research recently and they seem to be making a comeback. Still, a scientific poll the likes of which we can achieve here and no where else will surely tell us if this is a real trend or not.
With that, toodle-pip gentlemen...
