Ties!

Let me start off by apologizing for the delay. I have a few things I'm juggling right now, between work, school and my own writing, that I sometimes forget I started a blog with every intention of maintaining it. Well, I dropped a class, giving me an extra hour and a half on mondays and wednesdays, which would presumably be used to sleep more, but I'll use it to post when I can. So, onto business.

Someone in my previous post asked about ties, and I thought that would be a fantastic thing to talk about because ties are fantastic things. Like shirts, pants, jackets, coats, shoes, and hats (and anything else I miss) ties are made with almost every outfit mood in mind. However, unlike shirts, pants, jackets, coats, shoes, and hats (and anything else I missed again) the popular opinion would lead us to believe that ties are for formal and business use only. Not so! Given the proper attire and assembly you could wear a tie everyday if you felt so inclined, and it would be appropriate. So let's begin.

First off, I will say that I do not wear every style of tie available to me. I have yet to learn to tie a bow tie with no real intention of learning (not because I hate them but because I have about 30 ties and wear maybe 5 of them), and I have one skinny tie. For a long while my favorite style of tie was the Cambridge (or university) tie, which is amongst the most conservative style of tie you can find, but I love color in my wardrobe and these had it.

They're silk, which means you can't really wear them in the rain, or any place they might get dirty, which really limits what these ties are appropriate for.

Another style of tie I have become quite fond of is the sock tie, which is more or less just the way it sounds. It is usually cotton, or maybe wool, and is knit, much like a sock.

They're usually square, and they look great loose with the top button of your shirt undone. These, and very skinny ties tend to be the least formal and can be worn with jeans, trousers, a nice sportcoat (with elbow patches, for those of us who really want to look dapper) and a great oxford. The nice thing about the less formal ties is that they look great with colored oxfords, as opposed to my cambridge ties which go better with white shirts.

A note about bow ties. They look great, very dapper, when tied correctly and when proportionate to your neck. The last thing we want to do is look like clowns.

Well, unless you're a clown. And you really don't want to look like a clown if you have a job like a driving instructor or something...or a magician. And typically, you're going to want to wear a jacket with your bow tie, because let's face it, they look amazing.

My final note about ties: only wear them with button up shirts. Not polos, not T-shirts, or anything else of that nature. Avril Lavigne did it and that should be reason enough for us not to. But if you wear a tie correctly, colored to match, and the proper one for the job, you're going to look dapper...wait for it...as hell.