Isn't this a joyous tie? It's perfect for a sunny June day and reconnecting with old friends I hadn't seen in years. (Yes, this photo is from June--that's how far behind I am! But this blog provides me with one little luxury: deadlines that can be blown without consequences.) Tie by Teo Grimaldi, Milan.
The pastel-toned impressionistic flowers on this tie from Mimmo Messineo are printed on silk with a jacquard-woven floral pattern for double the flowers of a print alone. Worn with a burgundy shirt and black slacks, my neutral-toned silk sportcoat looked like a dinner jacket: very dapper, if I do say so myself.
This tie with a vaguely "atomic" design is by "Royal Club", which sounds like a department store house brand, but I have no idea what store it might be. Made in U.S.A. of Italian silk, it was most likely produced by one of the two major suppliers of U.S. neckwear, Randa or Superba (now PVH Neckwear Group).
Not all floral prints are colorful, but the joy and beauty of flowers are transmitted even in a monotone. There's no label on this tie, and while it is definitely not a Liberty of London, the fabric is a fine cotton in the Liberty tradition.
A few entries back I wore a Van Heusen necktie with a pattern that looked as if it had been drawn with felt-tip pens; the colored strokes that make up the pattern on this Valentino tie look like chalk marks, appropriately enough on a field of slate gray. In the realm of logos on the fronts of ties, the Valentino "V" near the bottom is pretty unobtrusive; it's the next best thing to not being there at all.
At first glance this tie from Express looks like a luxury woven-patterned silk tie as purveyed by Charvet or Ike Behar, but upon handling it the difference becomes apparent at once. Its thin, stiff interlining (possibly cardboard) is no match for the heavy, supple wool used in better, more expensive ties. It looks good enough to wear once, though.
The keeper label on this "Swisster" tie is from a haberdasher, Foley and Bonny "Distinctive Men's Wear"; it evokes bygone days when haberdashers still existed. But guess what? Foley and Bonny still exists in El Cerrito! They are celebrating their 65th year! Imagine this tie in shades of blue, purple, and pink, and it would fit right in with the British Woven Tie Invasion of the mid-twenty-aughts. It's about 30 years older than that, though, and hand made of 100% Dacron polyester instead of silk. It still has the manufacturer's price label on it ($7.50) and I do believe I was the first person to wear it.
Those are little Motorola "batwing" logos (officially, the "Stylized M Logo") on this shiny silver silk "Motoriginal" tie. It's pretty high-end for a corporate tie. The Motorola logo was introduced in 1955, from a design by Morton Goldsholl. It must be considered one of the most successful logos of the age for its sheer durability. Here's hoping it survives the move to Google. (I wish Larry Page would do a Victor Kiam-style commercial: "I bought a Motorola Razr, and I liked it so much I bought the company!")
The prominent jacquard weave on this tie from Luca D'Altieri (a house brand of the Italian-based Coin department store chain) gives it a palimpsestuous look, while the unusual 50/50 blend of silk and linen gives it a luxurious feel. The colors make it suitable for any earthtone ensemble; not that versatility is an issue for a guy who wears most ties once, but I just might wear this one a second time.
I had hoped to be impressive and identify the species of vine depicted on this Desert Designs tie by Jimmy Pike, but I couldn't find a source of Australian native vines with enough pictures to make a positive ID. So you will just have to enjoy this one for its aesthetics alone; it was much admired by colleagues and random people downtown.
Hot on the heels of the Pierre Cardin tie from three entries back, here is an old favorite from the other Pierre, Pierre Balmain. The pattern is obviously part of a large-scale floral print, but the "flowers" featured on it also bear an unsettling resemblance to crustaceans or crinoids.
Hickok brings us this reasonable pastiche of a 70s-era Liberty floral print. It's a rather exuberant print that proved quite popular among officemates and the public at large.
Outside of novelty ties of famous paintings, it is not often that tie patterns are printed to convey artefacts of the pattern's original medium, e.g. brushstrokes. And so far I have seen only one example where the original medium appeared to be felt-tip pen: this tie from Van Heusen. You may have to click through to the larger picture to see what I mean.
Does this tie just shout out "Burl Veneer!", or what? The wavy jacquard weave is almost a woodgrain, even. I can't say a Pierre Cardin tie has ever turned my head in a retail store, but the handful of vintage Cardins I own, of which this is one, are among my favorites. This tie would be perfect to wear in a room that has a photomural of a woodland scene.
Gianfranco Ruffini tie or not. I like wavy stripes, and I like florals, but I'm not sure this is the best way to combine them. I am not conflicted at all, though, about loving the jacquard weave, which deftly combines wavy stripes and polka dots. Click on the picture for a better look at it. That weave would make a great print in its own right.
Today's tie comes from one of the less represented marblers in my collection, Michael Kensinger. This variation on the traditional "peacock" pattern stands in contrast to the freeform extravaganza on my other Kensinger tie.
Brian O'Malley of Australian tie maker Marblesque takes marbling in directions I haven't seen anywhere else, such as the marbled stripe pattern on this tie.
The label on this hand-marbled necktie is unhelpfully blank, but I am 99% certain it is from Moth Marblers of Sausalito, as the pattern is very close to another one I have from that studio (in different colors). The shapes here look almost tornado-like.
Like the tie of two entries previous, the pattern on this Fashion Affairs tie resembles Gothic window tracery. But it more closely resembles carved wood instead of stone; the kind of carved wood you would find on a three-paneled screen/room divider at Pier One. Also like the previously-featured tie, this one has patches of different colors printed over the pattern, though this one goes one better by adding two-tones scales at top and bottom.
