Archive for the ‘Ties’ Category
All Tied Up
When choosing a tie, it is important to consider pattern, width, fabric, formality and color.
Pattern: Lots of options, plaid, striped, spotted etc.
Width: The traditional width of an English regimental tie is three and a quarter inches.
Fabric: Silk is arguably the best textile for ties, durable, lustrous and resilient.
Formality / Color: A darker tie is typically considered more formal.
Fact credit: The Suit, Nicholas Antongiavanni, p. 145
Tie Club
Image credit: Viktor & Rolf via hypebeast.com
Over the years ties have often been used to represent group membership (e.g. school, club, military). The first “tie club” started in 1880 when Oxford oarsmen took the college colored ribbons from their straw boaters and wore them as neckties. A proper set of ties in the same colors followed shortly thereafter.
Fact credit: Wikipedia
British Military Ties: Part II
1. “The minesweeping arm of the Royal Navy”
2. The Royal Armored Corps, includes the Royal Tank Regiment
3. 8th Army tie- “the famous desert army which fought through North Africa to Siscily and Italy”
4. Royal Air Force volunteer reserve
5. Combined Operations, or ‘Combined Ops’. One of the most prestigious British ties to own due to military achievement.
6. Royal Air Force
Fact and Image Credit (Including quotes): Heraldry & Regalia of War, Beekman House, 1973
As American as Right to Left Tie
Image Credit: Band of Outsiders via Hypebeast
British regimental tie stripes run diagonally from the left shoulder down to the right side of the body. This mirrors the left over right jacket closure- designed to prevent sword interference as soldiers unsheathed their weapons. In a statement of independence, American tie stripes run diagonally from the right shoulder down to the left side of the body as seen above. A nice pneumonic is the right handed Pledge of Allegiance.
Fact Credit: Dressing The Man, Alan Flusser, p.152
Image Credit: Band of Outsiders via Hypebeast
Tie – Clipped
Photo Credit: oaknyc.com
Tie Clips are accessories that fix one’s tie to one’s shirt panel. According to Hoyle, tie clips may be gold or silver, not bejeweled. A tie clip will ensure that your tie hangs straight and remains kept out of your soup. According to Antongiavanni, you should never let the clip sit horizontally (this bisects the body). Instead, your tie clips should be angled downward slightly.
Fact Credit: The Suit, Nicholas Antongiavanni, p 161.
Seeing Red
Photo Credit: thehill-side.com
English football teams wearing red shirts are champions more often than teams wearing other colors (Sports Science). In addition, Nature Magazine found that red is consistently associated with a higher probability of winning across a range of sports. In non-human species, male dominance is increased by attaching red stimuli. Maybe this is why you often see politicians sporting red ties?
Fact Credit: J Sports Sci. 2008 Apr; 26(6): 577-82.; Nature. 2005 May 19; 435 (7040): 293
The term “Red Tie Affair” refers to a charity gala or event. According to Hoyle, the term “Red Tie” should not be taken literally, as these events fall under black tie dress code.
Fact Credit: www.askdeb.com
Hoyle interviews Emil Corsillo of The Hill-Side
Photo Credit: The Hill-Side
Emil Corsillo values integrity. He values the honest way selvedge indicates fabric quality – he values consistency. Emil’s aesthetic approach to utility is seen in The Hill-Side ties, decorative yet made with utilitarian fabric. According to Emil, function should come before form, or at least have equal weight.
Hoyle: On handkerchiefs…
E. Corsillo: A worker never wore a tie to work, yet a handkerchief historically was carried both by gentlemen and working men. Whereas a tie has no real function a handkerchief is the opposite: it has many functions, the smaller ones look great in a suit jacket. (more…)
Strike Up The Band
Photo Credit: hypebeast.com
Every man looks good in a tie, especially Scott Sternberg and Italo Zucchelli. CFDA Menswear Designer of the Year was awarded to both Scott Sternberg for Band of Outsiders and Italo Zucchelli for Calvin Klein Collection.
According to Flusser: a “bow tie should finish within the outer edges of a man’s eyes and the outside lines of his face”
Fact credit: wwd.com; Alan Flusser, Dressing The Man, p. 162
Seersucker Thursday 2009 – June 18
Seersucker is derived from the Hindu word meaning “milk and sugar,” and is a very sweet fabric indeed. The crinkled stripes hold the fabric away from your body, helping to keep you cool.
American undergraduate students adopted seersucker in the Prohibition Era. New York writer Damon Runyan wrote that wearing seersucker was “causing much confusion among my friends. They cannot decide whether I am broke or just setting a new vogue.” He was in fact setting a new vogue.
The perfect time to wear your seersucker tie is on Seersucker Thursday, usually occurring the second or third Thursday in June. This year it falls on the 18th- get ready. Don’t forget the white bucks (it’s tradition).
Fact Credit: wikipedia & Selvedge magazine, Issue 18: The Island Life Issue, p. 15
Military Mondays: British Military Ties
1. Parachute Brigade, famous for their red berets
2. 51st Highland division tie pattern. Members designed this insignia while held hostage by the Germans
3. Tie pattern of the 14th Army, famous for Berma (England vs. Japan)
4. British Royal Navy, tie specific to ship HMS Sheba
5. Brigade of Gurkhas, rifle bearing sodiers
6. British Royal Air Force Medical Arm. Pattern features Royal Air Force wings over the Medical Wand of Healing
Fact and Image Credit: Heraldry & Regalia of War, Beekman House, 1973