Details

If you look closely, you may be able to make out the fine houndstooth check pattern of this tie. Hahahaha! What you see here is an example of "supergraphics," the pop-art era practice of simplifying designs and blowing them up to gargantuan proportions. It really worked well for things like signage, and you can still see it some places. There's a convenience store along route 83 in Pennsylvania that still stands out by virtue of its supergraphic-emblazoned facade:

Gas

Food

Drink


Or something to that effect. Of course, houndstooth is not really a printed design, but a woven design. My efforts to find the origins of the houndstooth weave pattern were stymied by a complete void of relevant information on the internet coupled with my own refusal to go to an actual library (full of "books") to research it. Thankfully, another blogger was after the same thing, and a thoughtful visitor left a plausible (though unverifiable) explanation in the comments section of this page. But it's good enough for me.