The Minimal Necktie Wardrobe

[uppercase]

Have I been outgunned here?!

I am sure that many of you own too many ties to count.

But how many of those do you actually wear?

Be honest.

I would suggest that the ones that you don't wear are the impulse purchases: a nice piece of silk. Or were on sale. Or you got in an airport. But they don't actually work with your particular suit or anything in your wardrobe…and so they hang beautifully in your closet under used. Are they art or are they neck ties to wear complement your suits.?

Like everything else, I'll bet that 90% of your purchases, ties and clothing, go unused.

Am I wrong again here??

[aston]

Hi Uppercase

The only tie I have never worn is one I bought from the Drakes website sale a year ago; it is so far from what it looked like on screen that it hangs forlorn somewhere near the back of the rack.

Also, I no longer wear the Hermes one where two owls appear to be cooing on a branch...............

[Russell]

Have I been outgunned here?!

I am sure that many of you own too many ties to count.

But how many of those do you actually wear?

Be honest.

I would suggest that the ones that you don't wear are the impulse purchases: a nice piece of silk. Or were on sale. Or you got in an airport. But they don't actually work with your particular suit or anything in your wardrobe…and so they hang beautifully in your closet under used. Are they art or are they neck ties to wear complement your suits.?

Like everything else, I'll bet that 90% of your purchases, ties and clothing, go unused.

Am I wrong again here??

Well I've just done a count & it's 53. Had you have asked the question a few months ago there would have been a dozen or so more but these (nearly all ones given to me) were disposed of due to never or hardly ever wearing them.

Of the 53 current ones I'd say 9 or 10 are rarely worn but I keep them as they are good quality ties & in the hope their time will come. A few others don't get much wear as they are for specific occasions - association colours etc. The remaining 35+ get regular use with perhaps half of them being particular favourites.

I could easily justify (to myself anyway) buying a dozen more carefully chosen ties.

I wear sports coats / odd jackets far more than I wear a suit - I wear a tie 5 or 6 days of the week. My environment varies from city-urban to rural so I have plenty of opportunity & need to 'ring the changes' & enjoy doing so.

So my tie rack is laid bare.

Regards
Russell

[Frederic Leighton]

Hectorm, Aston, Rodes, Screaminmarlon, Russell - thank you for your contributions!

I think that we should add some photos here of our favorite ties…any volunteers??

Speaking of minimal necktie wardrobe, descriptions of good suit-tie combinations or of the most versatile ties, like those Hectorm already started to share, would be particularly useful here, I think. I could keep my initial post constantly updated with some sort of compendium of all the recommended/favourite pairings and their author. Shall we do that?

For those not willing to spend time experimenting with different combinations and as a very general rule of thumb, I have seen that bright bronze or copper ties work very decently with blue suits.

Copper is also my first choice for blue suits, together with white pin dots on burgundy background (is that playing too safe?).

I really made the most out of a B/W shepherd's check silk tie before retiring it, since it had already served well someone else for 80 years or so before I found it. That was my first choice for black suits (worn mostly when playing recitals), but it was also a good match for my blue Donegal tweed suit. I've recently spotted a photo of a young Duke of Windsor with such a combination of tweed and shepherd's check tie. That's #1 of my list of bespoke-tie commissions; I could happily wear it with 80% of my present wardrobe of suits.

[hectorm]

Like everything else, I'll bet that 90% of your purchases, ties and clothing, go unused.
Am I wrong again here??

Dear UC,
While it is true that I currently own several neckties that I have never worn until now, I would estimate that percentage only at 2 to 3 percent.
I confess that it is also true that: i) during 40 years I have accumulated more ties than I need, ii) I have purged my tie racks and drawers of a few pieces I knew I would never wear (thus decreasing the percentage of idle ones), and ii) I have regularly forced myself to wear neckties that, although very acceptable in the matching game, were just my second or third choice. Just as an exercise of will power and humility.
In any case, 90% is grossly off the mark and I believe you would have lost the bet.

[uppercase]

Yes, of course , I'd forgotten to add to my list of sources of misbegotten ties, those that were given to us,thank you Russell for reminding me: Father's Day gifts, gifts of paramours, in-laws, promotions, 'sorry' ties from my tailor to make up for that malicious misrepresentation of a suit, and other sources all with equally poor taste and dubious motivations.

And I think that Russell again provides some insight here: of his more than 50 ties, he notes that 15 or so are particular favorites.

Those ratios sound about right to me.

It's hard to have more than 1 or 2 dozen favorite ties. Beyond that,they are nice, but just subcategories of your core favorites. The core works; the rest work, well…maybe …a little bit, some of the time, well,they are OK….

It only makes sense; how many favorite wives can you have? After a while you just start marrying the same one, though with a different name, over and over again.

So why bother with more than, say 12-24, classic beauties? Ties.

Ditto everything else in your wardrobe; you just need a few top of the line classics.

Of course I am more guilty than most of poorly informed choices. And these often when it comes to matters bespoke.

I have had bespoke ties made; some, I had made substantially longer than stock ties because I was under the illusion at the time that I was taller than I actually was. So these lovely ties now dangle well below where they should and on down toward my crotch. They are best worn on Halloween with some of my clown outfits...ah, suits I mean.

Beware of the danger of excess. Don't be a victim. Just say No. Put your money in an annuity.

[C.Lee]

You've all arrived, but where did you come from, and where are you going? You own the ties you do now, but how many have you owned, and how many more will come into your possession with the passage of time?

It's a lot of work to come to a minimal wardrobe. A lot of experimenting, trial and error, and pruning. You can't edit a blank page, nor an empty wardrobe.

Beware: confine yourself to a minimal wardrobe and your eyes will wander, your mind will dream, and your heart will lust.

Regards.

[Luca]

I must confess some surprise at the oft repeated idea, in this thread, that blue suits are difficult to combine. I find that, paired with a simple white or blue (or white and blue ) shirt, most decent ties look fine to my perhaps insufficiently tutored eyes.

Browns and greens go well with blue suit/conservative shirt, in an understated way. The reds/yellows/oranges clearly contrast more violently but are also fairly classic, I think. Blue suit + blue tie, as long as the blues contrast sufficiently, is also quite nice, in my humble opinion.

[uppercase]

Here we have a photo of one of LL's dear friends who has made very significant contributions to LL.

Of course here we debunk all: we show the beauty of a Spring blue suit, worn with an unexpectedly bright tie, all fresh, modern yet consummately classic.

Could it get better??

Are we open to new ideas??

[T.K.]

What a great looking suit. Surely there are many possibilities for a tie with blue suits and jackets (probably more than with charcoal). Personally I like orange and muted yellow with navy and darker blues, as well as light grey or b/w houndstooth.

[Frederic Leighton]

It's a lot of work to come to a minimal wardrobe. A lot of experimenting, trial and error, [...]

Success is going from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm - W. Churchill

[uppercase]

Hectorm has stated above that only 2-3% of his tie collection goes unused.

Is that the general experience here??!

I'll buy you all a drink in a suitably disreputable and cheap London pub if that holds true of you.

I am skeptical. I don't think that I'll ever have to meet you, much less buy you a drink.

Be honest. I'm sure that you'll agree with me that most of you are dissolute spendthrifts with dubious taste who largely purchase items based on them being on sale or touted in adverts or some other inexplicable bug enters your brain at the time of purchase. Or you may have been high too and not known what you were doing in which case I will buy you a drink just for manning up to that.

Is it possible that you have 97% good taste with only 3% wastage??

90% of my wardrobe (ties and everything else) goes unused,unloved, un-looked at, in any month. And I can document that. Now who will be buy me a drink??!

[uppercase]

That suit above is beyond great made by a little known Neapolitan tailor for a Neapolitan client of great erudition. Here you'll see a Neapolitan suit as made for a local, with great restraint and taste, with none of the bullshit we tourists are subject to.

It's a pity I can't get the photo to show the whole of the shoulder, as the original photo does show the full Neapolitan shoulder, but what gets posted here on LL is cropped. Don't know why …

[Russell]

but what gets posted here on LL is cropped. Don't know why …

The full photograph is there is you click on it to open in another window (or save the image).

It's happened for the few images I've posted as well. Perhaps something to do with the image size/aspect ratio or something but I've no idea how to correct this prior to posting.

Regards
Russell

[Frederic Leighton]

Hectorm has stated above that only 2-3% of his tie collection goes unused. Is that the general experience here??! [...] 90% of my wardrobe (ties and everything else) goes unused, unloved, un-looked at, in any month.

One day I realised that 75% of my wardrobe was going unused - 24 suits, 3 overcoats and 60 ties were never seeing the light. I planned a one-year period of 'observation' of my habits, after which all unused items would have to go. At the end of that period, as a pure exercise of willpower, I sold the rare vintage items for twice as much as I paid, gave another part of wardrobe to a friend and the last part to charity.

Now I wear 90% of my wardrobe and qualify for a free drink (will send PM with application). The plan is to slowly renovate this minimal wardrobe of suits, overcoats, ties and shirts - one bespoke in, one RTW out. No extensions.

Beware: confine yourself to a minimal wardrobe and your eyes will wander, your mind will dream, and your heart will lust.

It's in their very nature to wander, dream and lust. The number of your belongings is of no matter.