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Friday, March 31, 2006

Piet Mondrian

It is not the previous wearing of this tie that has romantic significance, but the design. The Mondrian-influenced graphic pattern is a perfect complement to our wedding rings, the "Mondrian" from Wedding Ring Originals:


The panels are of red gold, white gold, and, um, gold gold fused onto a gold ring in a process called, fittingly, "marriage of metals." We think they're peachy.

Mondrian's "de Stijl" paintings (like this tie, but with primary colors instead of grays) are some of the most recognizable of the 20th century. They're easy to copy, too, as I see Mondrian graphics everywhere: the Artcyclopedia icon, a garage door on Lakeside Drive in Greenbelt, stained glass windows in the Owen Brown Interfaith Center in Columbia, and so on. There are those who denigrate modern art in general and minimalism in particular ("my six-year-old could do that"), but I believe it took real genius to come up with such an enduring style of composition.

The tie is of rather heinous polyester from Index. Polyester doesn't have to be awful; two of my favorite tie lines are polyester (Christian Dior Monsieur ties with the "CD" logo on the front, and Oscar de la Renta Studio ties with the signature on the front). But one can't have everything.

Next week I will be coming to you from Orlando, Florida (assuming my mobile technology holds up), as I attend a conference on Sungard's administrative software for higher education. Woo-hoo!

2 comments:

VintageGent said...

Very cool! I have seen Mondrian bracelets before but never a ring.

As far as Polyester, just think of it this way. Cotton may decompose and silk may discolor or fade, but hundreds of years from now that poly tie may hold its color just as good as ever. They'll be in museums. LOL.

Anonymous said...

This tie is great! Can you tell me where you found it?