website stats

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Psychedelic brocade

Now here's a narrow tie from the first wave of them in the 1960s. I've seen several "rainbow brocade" ties from the 60s and 70s, so they must have been fairly popular. There was a wide variety of designs overlaid onto the background; this one has what look like plastinated smoke swirls (click through to the larger image for a better view of their texture) , or maybe piles of shaving cream. I just sold one on ebay that has aquatic dragons on it. Alas, as with so many ties of its era, the name of the maker got separated from this tie, so all I know about it is that it's made of 100% Rhodia acetate from Italy. The Rhodia company was founded in 1906 as the Société de la Viscose Suisse, making artificial silk out of viscose, and continues today as Rhodia Technical Fibers. Rhodia has diversified into several other fields (and countries, amassing over 30,000 employees worldwide), most prominently chemicals, food, and "eco services." I don't think they're making anything this dazzling anymore, though.

No comments: