Same Suit, Shirt, Different Tie

Today's suit and shirt are the same as Sunday's. The necktie is quite a bit different and illustrates yet again what a difference a tie can make for a conglomeration. It is another Jos A Bank tie -- regular, not Signature. The lavender stripe picks up the color of the dress shirt really well. The orange stripes add a little contrast for some interest.The purple/lavender basket weave stripes add some interest in texture.

New Suit, Fancy Tie

Today's necktie is somewhat special. I have never worn it before even though I've had it for years. It's a Robert Talbott Sevenfold. I acquired it on Ebay for a lot less than what it was originally priced but I still somehow had that feeling of dread should harm come to it. Silly.

It's a fairly different tie than what I normally wear but still very much in the realm of repetitive geometric. It's more horizontal than I normally care for. The pattern is made up of varying shades of blue and gold. In person it really is a very nice tie and nearly ties itself into a pretty nice knot.

I draped it over a background of an off-white (ecru) pinpoint, spread collar dress shirt. I was trying to pull out the gold a little more because the suit is a cross-hatched navy/blue pattern. I figured there was enough blue already between the suit and tie but I could have easily paired it with a blue or white shirt.

Speaking of the suit, it is another Jos A Bank but it's an Executive collection rather than Signature. It's not quite as constructed (conglomerated?) as the Signatures but the pattern/texture was too cool to pass up.

Supply and Demand

Evidently I am the only supply of neckwear wearing at the new job. My casual Friday experience was what I thought it would be -- nothing special. Except that I was continually asked where my tie was. Several people nearly demanded that I continue to conglomerate. They did not actually say "conglomerate", of course, but that's how I heard it.

Today's conglomeration is all new. I actually started with the shirt this time, sort of. When I picked up the suit earlier in the week I had this purple (They call it lavendar) in mind but I didn't have a tie that I thought would work. I found a similarly colored shirt and the salesman showed me this tie. It has a light gold background with darker gold squiggly lines. What's difficult to make out in the picture are the dots that are different shades of purple. It's a regular Jos A Bank brand.

The suit is a new Jos A Bank Signature. It's a medium gray solid. I had been looking for just such a suit for quite some time so when it went on sale at 50% off, I couldn't resist. Then when it was totalled up at the register, it turned out that it was really about one third the original price. SoI bought another blue suit that should make its debut tomorrow.

After looking at the picture, I'm really going to have to figure out a better way to take the pictures. The flash washes out a lot of the color and textures of the dress shirts. Sometimes the ties too.

Something A Little Different

The necktie is a little different. Sort of. It's not a Jos A Bank Signature, for one. It is, however, a Ferrell Reed City of London. It is the very first one that I acquired and the reason I acquired so many more. If it's not the first then it's very close to it. It's a really nice combo of navy and gold with a fairly interesting (if very repetitive) pattern.

I usually conglomerate it with a blue stripe but decided to stay fairly plain with a white spread collar. Of course the navy sport coat got the assignment to round out the conglomerating.

That's about it. It's late and my drastic change in schedule is starting to catch up to me. I'll be taking a break from conglomerating tomorrow and seeing what all the fuss is over Casual Friday. I've got to try it at least once, don't I? Not to worry. I will be conglomerating something brand new on Sunday.

Yet Another Conglomeration

Everything is still going very nicely on the new job. Every day there are more positive comments. Quite a change, actually.

Today's conglomeration began with the necktie, as usual. It's a switch for me and my first Charles Tyrwhitt. I was really wanting a bit more of that English bold and bright coloring for a change of pace but ended up with a regular gold colored tie with blue dots. So it goes with Ebay sometimes. Really, though, I just wanted to try one of their ties to see how they suited me, so to speak. The texture of the weave is quite substantial and makes the tie far more interesting than a regular gold, blue dotted tie would normally be. Maybe I should try harder for a Turnbull and Asser tie if I really want bolder colors. Besides, if anyone asked about it, it would be cool to say, "Yeah, it's a real Asser!" Or, "This one's so bright it'll turn a bull!"

The dress shirt is a Land's End, blue stripe, straight collar. Nothing special at all. The collar is a fair bit higher than most I have which makes it able to handle the thick knot the tie produced. The collar will not come together at the top in the inverted V that "They" say is so important. The gray sport coat tops it off although I think the navy would have conglomerated just fine.

Blogging and Conglomerating to Continue Indefinitely

If I'm coated, tied, blogging and conglomerated then it must be ok for the new job. Either that or I'm looking for a new job that's tolerant of conglomerating and dresses for interviews.

The new job is everything I had hoped for and more. My conglomerations are not only tolerated but have also been encouraged a bit here and there.

Today's necktie is another Ferrell Reed City of London. It's a very fresh Ebay acquisition that has somewhat brushstroked squares of different shades of gray. The smaller blue squares keep it from being too monotone. The jumbling of the squares on the black background keeps it from being too orderly yet it is quite orderly and symmetrical. Pretty cool tie that was an absolute steal on Ebay -- less than $6 delivered to my mailbox.

The dress shirt is a black and white Ottoman stripe that really appears gray from much of a distance. The stripes add a fair bit of texture, close up or far away, and a bit of a sheen. The only real option for a sport coat to finish off the conglomeration was the black one.

Two days on the job and two conglomerations. It'll be interesting to see how long I bat 1.000.

First Day

The nervous and exciting first day on a new job. I haven't done this in over a decade. I also get to find out if I'll still be conglomerating with any sort of regularity. With that in mind I decided to go with a full suit, hoping that overdoing it on the first day would make it easier to continue. Kind of asking forgiveness rather than permission.

The necktie is a brand new Talbott Best of Class. Yes, I actually bought it brand new with the first day on the new job in mind. I now understand why they are considered some of the best on the planet. I have other Best of Class ties but they have already been knotted by someone else before I acquired them. Now that I've experienced a brand new one, I'll go back to acquiring others on Ebay. I had to try it once.

The background is black with an open basket weave design. The colors of the weave are shades of purple, blue, and teal(?). It's a real eye catcher and it will be a favorite for a long time to come.

The dress shirt is also a Robert Talbott. It's got a windowpane weave with a dobby weave inside each "pane". I know it's called dobby because that's what the description said. I purchased both from Hansen's Clothing in Iowa. I dealt with Mr. Hansen himself and it was a pleasure. The shirt and tie cost more than the suit. That's probably the last time that will happen and it won't be because I'll buying more expensive suits.

The suit is the charcoal gray one. I had planned on having a new, medium gray solid but it's not yet ready. Such is life.

Hopefully I'll be able to continue conglomerating or I'm going to have to get rid of a bunch of dress shirts and ties and acquire some other form of clothing. I do have other clothing but not in a quantity sufficient for everyday wear.