Thank you, uppercase! I will certainly buy in London, hence Drake's or Budd, as David also suggests. Slowly, piece by piece, walking in to the shop with my suit, seeing how happy I am with the tie I've just purchased. Through trial and error, the hard way, I'm learning to avoid buying in bulk and buying from distance.uppercase wrote:Marinella. Charvet. Drakes. [...]
Btw, when buying a tie, always wear the suit you are buying the tie for. I would buy ties for each individual suit. Ties are often not interchangeable with other suits, even if suits are in similar colors. [...]
Spend spend spend. On the classics. And buy less of everything.
I must confess rejecting the idea of 1tie-1 suit; it's against all my beliefs, some of which you mention in another discussion (denim and countries with depressed economies). I agree that one pairing might be better than all the others, but if I can't compromise and instead end up using one tie with one suit only, then something must be wrong in the tie, in the suit or in my brain! That's just how I see it.
Dear David, as you know, I've learned to take your advice without further discussion Despite my unwillingness, I'll add one grenadine to the list. [..shivers of unwillingness..]davidhuh wrote:Dear Federico,
I did my struggle with blue - here is what worked for me: solid midnight blue silk repp (Drake's), solid large knot grenadine in blue and purple (Drake's), solid knit ties in different shades from light blue to black (Drake's, Budd and some others)
Thank you, Luca! That's also my experience. Pin dots do work with everything, from worsted to tweed, and they work in an excellent way. That's where I feel like starting from, substituting my vintage ones (some are probably 80 years old) with new bespoke orders. The vintage market is the only way I found to have ties of perfect length and of exquisite quality without having to go bespoke. That's how I learnt the little I know about the weight, the structure and the finish that I want for my ties.Luca wrote:When I started wearing business clothes, after unit, I stuck for a couple of years purely to navy blue printed ties with small dots (1 white, 1 red, 1 green). They worked with most anything. [...]
Thank you, T.K.! I really enjoyed reading about how you are putting your wardrobe together. It's a different approach from mine and it gives me an insight of new possibilities and alternatives.T.K. wrote:[...] My wardrobe is minimal out of necessity and the method I use for installing diversity in it is by ordering solid (mostly grey) suits, then combining these with coloured or patterned shirts and ties (mostly silks). I’d rather have two suits against eight shirts and ties than three suits against four shirts and ties. [...]
If you like your knot to be small than you might benefit from this as well. Also consider a thinner interlining. But be careful with going unlined! I have a couple that are simply impossible to tie properly. And they don’t hang well. I would only skip on the lining again if I were sure the fabric could handle it.
Over the last years, as I was mentioning above, I've been buying vintage ties to try learn as much as possible about materials and construction. It really helped me understand what works for me and what to expect from a good maker.
Most ties from the 1890's to the 1950's have very few folds - often they are a simple foulard folded three or four times, with very light structure inside ending well above the tip. Older ones are eclusively untipped, but a good number from the 1920's and 1930's are tipped with wonderful monochrome silks. No self tipping. The overall weight is always very contained and the length helped me realise where the trouser waist was supposed to be at that time... Also, apart from black, solids didn't really exist! I found 1 solid tie other than black (this was blue, in tropical worsted and dated 1947) among 100 patterned ones.
Thank you, Scot, for the useful reminder and enjoyable analysis!Scot wrote:Alden has written many times before on how the suit should be the "frame" of the picture, with the shirt and tie the centre of interest. It just seems wrong to have an elaborate frame and a dull picture! The approach of the politician is to have a dull frame and a dull picture, in an attempt to appear "common". Hence, dark blue suit, white shirt, shiny solid coloured tie. A simply awful, awful way to dress.