More Liberty

Not only do I not know this the name of this Liberty pattern, I had to ask Mrs. V. what kind of flowers are depicted on it. She tells me they are bachelor's buttons, and that seems right to me.

Liberty of London: Ianthe

Here is a splendid example of Art Nouveau design. According to HistoricStyle.com, the "Ianthe" pattern was "originally designed as a wallpaper border c.1902 by French designer R. Beauclair. Designed as a fabric in 1967 by Liberty of London." It is printed on Liberty's premium Tana Lawn cotton; "Tana" from Ethiopia's Lake Tana, source of irrigation for much of Ethiopia's cotton crops, and "Lawn" from Laon, France, long famous (since around 1400) for its fine linen and cotton fabrics. (I have posted a larger picture than usual, so you can really see the detail if you click through to the full-sized photo.)

Striped circles

Concentric circles, overlapping, defined more by their interior patterns of multicolored stripes than by exterior borderlines? Yes, please! Tie by J. T. Beckett.

The past is another country

There is no mistaking this acetate tie by Chateau et Cie Ltd. for contemporary. The pattern looks like something you would find on the cover of a novel about schizophrenia published in 1970. The scary thing is, I have the same tie in two more colorways (which are no more subtle than this one).

Time Passages

The disjointed chevrons on this Schiaparelli tie remind me of the cover of Al Stewart's 1978 album Time Passages. As Storm Thorgerson explains in For the Love of Vinyl: The Album Art of Hipgnosis:

For Al's Time Passages we showed a radio being tuned on the shelf of a kitchen window but at the same time "tuning" the view of the landscape outside the window.

Sea of Holes

Here is an Adolfo-branded tie from the tail end of the Great Woven-Patterned Tie Explosion of the early aughties. The use of both matte and lustrous threads creates a nice 3-D effect that unfortunately does not show up in a still photo.

Electric Blue

I would describe this tie as "a cartoon of microscopic life in a dazzling blue Petri dish, in the style of Miro." Maker unknown; some eBay sellers would list the maker as "Reine Seide", as it says on the label, but I happen to know that's German for "pure silk".

Pucci?

No, not a Pucci, just a Pucci-inspired John Henry tie. (Though I did have a tie made of the same fabric with a Saks Fifth Avenue label, and Emilio Pucci did design some things for Saks in the 70s...)

American Dad

Red, white, and blue: it isn't just for the Fourth of July any more! This tie is by Pauline Trigere, and like my last Pauline Trigere tie it is made of superfine cotton fabric imported from Switzerland.

Intelligence Test

How many triangles do you see? (Tie by Woods & Gray, U.K.)