Navy and Purple

This is the first time I've conglomerated purple with navy. I think it is anyway. The necktie is a Robert Talbott Best of Class for Nordstrom and another Ebay acquisition. The dark squiggles in between the purple squiggles are navy which is the reason I decided to try the navy sport coat. I think it works pretty well. And, of course, the white centers of the "eyes" is why I conglomerated the whole thing with a white dress shirt.

The dress shirt is different than any other dress shirt I've ever worn. It's not that it's white or has a spread collar though. It's textured. I think the combination of the flash and reducing the size of the picture washed out the texture of the shirt. That's too bad because it really adds to the overall interest of the conglomeration. Here's the manufacturers picture of the shirt with a closeup:



The tie is sure to be a favorite for a long time to come. I think it'll be conglomerated with something gray next time. That's what I was thinking before I saw it live and in person.

Monday's Trial

Yet another Jos A Bank Signature necktie. It's one of the older, non self-tipped versions. This particular one was extremely difficult to get a decent knot and after several attempts I just went with what I had. That's a problem with Ebaying ties -- there's no test drive possibility. Life's about trade offs anyway and I guess the trade off for cheap, nice neckwear is the lack of knottiness.

The dress shirt is the off-white (ecru) straight collar and the only sport coat I figured would conglomerate is the tan one. Maybe I should have stayed in bed. It's my last week at this particular job so I couldn't do that.

Burgundy With Charcoal

No, I'm not talking about barrels of wine.

Today's necktie is yet another Jos A Bank Signature but it's a Signature Gold instead. It's another advertising thing like "new and improved" or something. Actually the Gold lines are a notch above the regular old Signature line and they are numbered as well -- like # 172 / 210 or so.

This is the first time I've tried anything other than a gold or blue tie with the charcoal suit. I had taken a salesman's advice on the colors of ties up to this point but decided to risk a little and try my own hand in the conglomeration. I think it works and the tie does have some gold and blue in the pattern. I knew better than to stray too terribly far. That's one of the very attractive things about ties -- you can change the whole look of a conglomeration just by changing the tie.

The shirt? Just a regular old blue point collar. Well, French blue.

Another Simple Friday

Well, sort of simple. The necktie is yet another Jos A Bank Signature. It's a really thick, unwieldy tie that has a mind of its own. I doubt this one will make it out of the closet again because it's just too stiff.

The dress shirt is a red and blue striped point collar. I really didn't want to put the navy coat over the top of this pair so I conglomerated it with the tan coat. I think it works.

Breaking The Trend

I started the week off with three straight floral designs. Alas, I could not find another to conglomerate that I hadn't already worn. Today's necktie is a basket weave. I guess it could be continue the trend somewhat. A flower basket?

Another Jos A Bank Signature with the dominant colors being navy and gold and a touch of red in between the weaves. I suspect this is an older model because it is not self-lined like most of the other Signature ties I have. I also a few other Signature ties that are not self-lined but they are not in nearly as good condition as this one.

The dress shirt is a blue spread collar pinpoint. I'm beginning to like spread collar shirts more since they tend to show more of the tie knot. What other sport coat could I have conglomerated other than the navy? The gray, I guess.

Flower Power

I was proofreading yesterday's post before I added the picture and published it and noticed I mentioned I'm not fond of florals. I then noticed today's necktie is also a floral. Then I noticed that Monday's had a bit of flower power in the pattern as well. Must be the subconscious at work.

Today's floral is a Ferrell Reed City of London. It doesn't mention anywhere on any of the labels that it's an extra long but it must be. I ended up folding the tail back on itself and pinning it just so I could get a decent knot and apron length. That's the first time I've ever done that. I had thought about wrangling it into a full fledged Windsor to soak up the extra length but decided against it since I already had on a straight collar dress shirt. The gray sportcoat was a natural selection to conglomerate with the purple and gray in the tie. I may try the black one next time around.

Black Tie, Sharp Dressed

What's a blog worth if you can't quote ZZ Top at least once? The "paper" it's printed on? I doubt you'd be able to see a tie on Billy or Dusty.

Today's black tie is another Jos A Bank Signature. It's a floral pattern which I usually avoid. The jacquard weave adds another interesting texture to the overall look. The dress shirt is an off-white (ecru) point collar. I usually wear this tie with a French blue but decided that as good as my life is going right now that I really didn't feel black and blue. The black sportcoat tops it all off.

I stopped by the local Jos Bank store on the way home from work because they had a pretty good sale going. I had my eye on a gray solid suit (Signature, of course) and after they totalled it up it was half what I expected to pay. That's a really good sale! So I bought a blue tick (I think it's tick) as well (not Signature). The sale was for Father's Day, I think, and to offload the current season's leftovers. I'm not a father which is one of the greatest regrets of my life. So I started the process to join a mentoring program. I hope that all works out.