Paco Rabanne

This necktie from Paco Rabanne takes a traditional medallion design and updates it with larger shapes and a wider, bolder color palette. Originally a jewelry designer, Rabanne (born Francisco Rabaneda Cuervo) launched his own fashion house in Paris in 1966. His use of metal as a dress fabric has inspired an enigmatic short story, "The Dress" by Elizabeth Brown, published by David Longhorn in Issue 17 of his excellent Supernatural Tales journal. (Note that there is a free PDF edition if you feel inclined to read the story right now.)

Arguably modern

Today's tie comes from Ruff Hewn, "True American Wear". The look is supposed to be rustic, but I see a lot of modernism in the minimal shapes and machine-precise lines.

Brownian motion

Continuing the molecular theme, here's another pattern that looks like molecules zipping and caroming randomly around their medium. It's a black-and-white monotone print on patterned silk jacquard, with the label printed on the back: "Design by LOFT Eternal Veri-ties"-- adding some metaphysics to the physics.

The building blocks of Art Deco

This perplexing tie is from Jacques Estier, a brand of Brooklyn-based necktie wholesaler The Tie King, Inc. I like to think of the pattern as an electron microscope image of art-deco molecules.

Stripes

The uneven stripes on this mid-80s-looking tie are in the style of Leonard of Paris, but it's from Conte San Giorgio of Santa Ynez, California.