too many monograms?

[Carlton Banks]

is it possible to be wearing too many monograms? would it just look too pretentious to have something like a monogrammed shirt and belt buckle at the same time, or to be that guy whose shirts are all monogrammed? not that i do, this is just a thought. thanks.

[TMMKC]

Keep them to a bare minimum (one item at a time), or none at all...IMO. Other than my signet ring and a couple handkerchiefs (of which the mongram is always hidden is wearing as a PS), I don't own any monogrammed items anymore.

[appolyon]

You can wear as many monograms at once as you like ... as long as none of them are visible!

[Orsini]

is it possible to be wearing too many monograms? would it just look too pretentious to have something like a monogrammed shirt and belt buckle at the same time, or to be that guy whose shirts are all monogrammed? not that i do, this is just a thought. thanks.

Elegance is understatement.

Monograms should always be understated. They should not be too easily seen -- certainly not on the cuff! They should be subtleties waiting to be found on the signet ring, handkerchiefs, body of the shirt, money clip, lighter, etc.

[Quay]

Excellent advice already given I think. Elegance is understatement and also resides quietly in the subtle. I think that advertising yourself by too many initials on your attire takes away from what the clothes are supposed to be making -- you.

There was, though, a period in the 1980's when the wonderful Ms. Birnbach told everyone in the Preppy Handbook to monogram anything in sight. Unfortunately many a person failed to note the satire and ended up with clothes that looked like spelling bee crib notes, dinner tables looking like a louche hotel out to loudly advertise itself to anyone happening to glance downward and perhaps most silly of all cars sporting not only vanity plates but also vanity monograms on the doors looking as if they were just stolen from institutions for the alphabetically challenged.

So yes, elegance is understatement and subtlety and that includes monograms. At least I think it to be so.

Cordially,
Adrian Quay

[jjohnson12]

There were a few things the OPH advised not to monogram, including dog's collars("ostentatious"), china ("it will look like a hotel") and your car ("unless you use nautical flags to signal your initials on the door").

[Quay]

There were a few things the OPH advised not to monogram, including dog's collars("ostentatious"), china ("it will look like a hotel") and your car ("unless you use nautical flags to signal your initials on the door").

Indeed! And eminently well-wrought and sensible advice, too. Alas as many people ignored this advice as missed the satire at least as regards the subject of this thread.

On another note, if one is going to get say, a shirt cuff monogram, are these things done nowadays always by machine? I'm wondering because any place I've seen advertising monograms limits them to three initials which seems to me a limitation based on mechanical means. Folks like me that have more than three initials have always hoped for a few more letters.

Cordially
Adrian Quay

[AdamsSutherland]

I have four initials and I've always wondered which middle initial to pick...
I always end up neglecting the Scots...

[katon]

My rule is to only monogram things I have a habit of losing. Also tends to cut down on this sort of dilemma.

[Laxplayer]

I have four initials and I've always wondered which middle initial to pick...
I always end up neglecting the Scots...

I have four also, and that is why I don't have many monograms. For the few items I do have monogrammed, I picked the first of my middle names.

[Naval Gent]

Why not use all four? It is a limitation of equipment or something? Not enough blanks on the form? A symmetrical arrangement with the last initial in the middle wouldn't work, but a straight block (ABCD) would.

BTW, I kinda like the Polo shirts with the owner's monogram instead of a pony. Somebody else called it tacky, but I've sure seen lots tackier.

Re Katon, thinking of the stuff that bear my initials, it's mostly stuff that might get "loose", if not lost. A lighter, luggage, hard-side gun cases, plus for some unrelated reason, belts.

Scott

[Laxplayer]

Why not use all four? It is a limitation of equipment or something? Not enough blanks on the form? A symmetrical arrangement with the last initial in the middle wouldn't work, but a straight block (ABCD) would.

BTW, I kinda like the Polo shirts with the owner's monogram instead of a pony. Somebody else called it tacky, but I've sure seen lots tackier.

Re Katon, thinking of the stuff that bear my initials, it's mostly stuff that might get "loose", if not lost. A lighter, luggage, hard-side gun cases, plus for some unrelated reason, belts.

Scott

I've only seen a space for 3 initials on forms, but I've never asked if they can put 4 on a shirt. Personal preference is why I choose to use only 3.

[LongWing]

Monogram only the things you expect to be lost or stolen.

[MarcDavidMiller]

There was, though, a period in the 1980's when the wonderful Ms. Birnbach told everyone in the Preppy Handbook to monogram anything in sight. Unfortunately many a person failed to note the satire...

+1

Just like many missed the ironic, or satiric, aspects of "Wall Street" and "Bonfire of the Vanities" (the novel).

[A.Squire]

off the cuff;

[Quay]

That is the most frighteningly vivid tray of cracker dips I've ever seen.

Cordially,
Adrian Quay