*gasp* Jeeves was WRONG!

[violetjimjams.livejournal.com]

According to Miss Manners, handkerchiefs for gentlemen really SHOULD be monogrammed with 2, preferably 3, initials.

The only possible conclusions are that Jeeves let personal preference interfere with propriety, he made a fashion faux pas, or really, REALLY doesn't want any young ladies to have an excuse to see Bertie or think fondly on him more often that absolutely necessary.

Comments

[hazeltea.livejournal.com]

It could be that Jeeves is just old fashioned. Monogrammed hankies came into mainstream fashion in the early 20th century, and since Bertie thinks them snazzy and Jeeves considers them a novelty, it could be that they were new and he just sees them as faddish.

[chikkiboo.livejournal.com]

This. Monogrammed anything is described as ludicrous and gauche in the late 19th century etiquette manuals I own, and while that's well before Bertie & Jeeves' time, Jeeves is very much of an Old Guard that holds to that sort of thing over the new trendy ideas.

[hazeltea.livejournal.com]

I always have to do some mental adjustment with character's views, too, since Plum was very much a late Victorian man and all the 1914-1945 era gets filtered through that perspective when he writes, even if Bertie and Jeeves were younger than he was. So Jeeves would have certainly thought it was just a little tacky :)

[kahvi.livejournal.com]

Seconding (thirding?) this; Jeeves's opinions on clothes and image is just as much about personal taste as it is fashion, and he has conservative tastes. Jeeves doesn't really care about fashion; Bertie cares about fashion.