Tie Wars?

Today's necktie is one that I got in a package deal from Ebay. In other words, the other tie was the one that interested me. This one's pretty cool though. It's got sideways diamonds of brown and olive with a white swooshy thing in between the diamonds. They kind of look like T.I.E. fighters. The diamonds also have little gold and gray swooshy things on them. The navy background is actually two different shades of navy with a somewhat crosshatched pattern woven in.

The tie is a J.Z. Richards brand. I read somewhere that the designer worked for Robert Talbott at one time. I don't know if that's true or not but there is one interesting label stamped on the tie. It has a design number with a copyright. That's just about the first time I've seen a tie design copyrighted. I had no idea the neckwear business could be so cutthroat.

The dress shirt is a tan broadcloth straight collar. I think it might have a bit of a twill weave. If I really knew what that meant then I could be sure of it. The sportcoat is, of course, navy.

I think I finished the week stronger than I started out. Improvement is always good.

The Tie Rules All

Today's necktie is how I picked the rest of the conglomeration. Not any less boring but I thought I'd keep the theme for the week since it's nearly over. The tie is another Jos A. Bank Signature with small navy, blue and gray ovals.

So how did it pick the rest of the conglomeration? The dress shirt is a pinpoint navy, blue windowpane with a spread collar. To finish it out I topped it all off with the gray sport coat. How clever, eh? I did mix it up a bit by knotting the tie in a half Windsor.

Boring Week!

So far this week I've been bored with my boring choices for conglomerations. Today's is no exception. Safe, tried and true black and white. But wait! I did add a red necktie! How daring! I'm a little scared that I might be suffering from conglomeration block. Maybe I'm snugging my neckwear a little too snuggly.

Oh well, on to today's "conglomeration", if it can actually be called that. White pinpoint straight collar dress shirt. The one thing I really like about this shirt is that the stitching on the collar is at the edge rather than a quarter inch in or so. It gives the collar more of a finished look to me. I have a few like this that Paul Fredrick calls a European straight collar.

The tie space seems to be a bit less with this collar so I usually wear a less substantial necktie. Not today though. Today I selected yet another woven Jos A. Bank Signature number. It has what look like smooshed ovals in grey and also in the background color. It's almost Escher-esque in its presentation and one of the reasons I acquired it. In the center of each gray smoosh is a black square. It really made it easy to pick which sportcoat to wear. Yeah, the black one.

Speaking of Escher and ties, I've long considered getting a few. This site has a few that would suit me. Maybe I should really shake things up and get a bow tie. That would get me laughed right out of here. Yes, I do know how to knot a bow tie. I've got two but have yet to muster the courage to sport one outside of the safety of home. That, according to most bow tie folks that I've read, automatically excludes me from being a bow tier.

This Necktie??!?

I have no idea why I purchased this necktie. It's probably because it's one of those Jos A. Bank Signature Collection models that I'm stuck on right now. This one has a somewhat orange (?) background with little blue and tan circles linked together. I had a terrible time conglomerating this thing!

Since it had blue circles I decided the blue point collar dress shirt was the most obvious choice. And since it had tan circles the tan sport coat was the most obvious choice. I guess it didn't turn out too bad.

That's funny. I just noticed that I wrote "had" instead of "has" when talking of the circles on the tie. Maybe I've already decided to get rid of it and I just don't know it yet.

Discovery Monday

I took today off to catch up after travelling for the weekend. I had some errands to run so I thought I'd do something I've never done on a day off and running errands -- wear a coat and tie! What a goofball, eh? The funny thing is I'll probably do it more often since I seemed to be treated better and more people smiled and said hello. Maybe I smiled more?

Today's bricolage (thanks to Knot a Blog for the new terminology) consists of a very simple combination. The dress shirt is a white, spread collar pinpoint. If it's simple then it must be the navy sport coat. The necktie is a regular Jos A. Bank with a lavender background with white and navy stripes.

I've had the tie for a while but today is the first time I have worn it. The lavender color reminds me of the lilacs that line one side of my back yard. One of my favorite times of year is when they finally blossom and fill the air with their scent. They only last two weeks or so which makes it even more special when they are in bloom. If they lasted longer then there would be the risk of growing less than fond of them. I guess I must be getting a bit impatient so I substituted the tie for the lilacs. Not a great substitution but it'll do.

I've recently added two other necktie bloggers to my links. I've mentioned Burl Veneer before and today I get to officially welcome Michael from Knot a Blog. Be sure to check out Michael's blog because he, like Mr. Veneer, goes into great detail about his neckwear. Both of these gentlemen prefer more interesting patterns than I do. That's what's great about ties -- it's the one place in a man's wardrobe that he gets to show a bit of himself.

I just noticed I had only saved this as a draft rather than publishing it. Ooops!