So, we have covered in previous guides how to pick out a suit and better yet, how to pick out shirts. However, we still have not discussed picking out your ties and cufflinks. Of all the sections that we have discussed, I feel that this one should be the easiest to grasp especially because picking out ties and cufflinks have a much less rigid appeal than say... picking out suits and shirts. There are a lot less rules to go over and much of it is personal preference as opposed to sometimes harsh, sartorial mandate. But lets be clear on something before we go in, just because much of this segment is ruled by personal preference doesn't mean there are not rules. If there weren't any, then I sure as hell wouldn't be spending my Sunday afternoon writing this guide for you fellas. So, how about we go in?
Quality Control
Before we even advance to the fun part of our tie search, there is a certain element of tie purchasing that we have to acknowledge... Can you guess what it is?
Not all ties are created equal! It should be a slogan of mine by now... I think I'm going to trademark it or something. But hey, its true. It goes past simply weeding out ugly ties from attractive ones (some of that is relativity anyway). What it boils down to is how well it is made, what type of fabrics are used, is it crooked? And yes, just because a tie comes from a "reliable" name brand company doesn't insure it from being crooked. Understand that crap can be found anywhere.
Okay, I am going to assume that many of you are going to be hunting for the average tie in dimension. This means that when picking out a tie that is the right length, you will be looking for something that is about 54 inches in length and 3.25 inches in width. With this being traditional length, it should ensure later on that the tie falls at the right place when tied correctly. If you are a taller man (and I mean freakishly tall, not my height which is 6'3" Inches or 190.5 cm) then you should certainly be aiming for something longer than 54 inches.
So here are some steps to follow when picking out your tie:
- When picking out a tie or any piece of formal wear for that matter, do youreself a solid and ALWAYS pick out natural fabrics. Its easy to get carried away by the price of a tie and completely disregard the look, feel and quality of the tie. But remember this: unless its on sale, cheap doesn't look good, and good sure as hell aint cheap. Cheap ties traditionally have use really crappy materials that I cringe at when catching sight of. They feel abysmal and generally scream tightwad. Therefore, ALWAYS go for natural fabrics or fibers. Silk is the standard. If you feel that it might be too pricy for you, its not, you're just cheap. Silk IS the standard. Trust me on this, if not, you will be doing yourself and the rest of humanity a disservice if you choose to ignore this simple rule.
- No seriously. Bodies will fall from the sky, rivers will turn to blood and a sartorial apocolypse will be soon upon us if you don't listen to me on this one.
- Okay, so maybe i'm exaggerating a bit... Okay, maybe a lot.
- Touch your tie, not get an emotional connection with your tie, but really touch your tie. First of all, it will feel nice and smooth to the touch. Also, a quality tie consists of three pieces of fabric sewn together. Never settle on this one.
- When inspecting the ties lining, it should be lined to the tips... Quality ties will be lined with wool preferably.
- Beneath the two joined flaps on the back, pull on the loose thread found underneath. This is called the slip stitch, and a quality tie will gather in the folds when the slip stitch is pulled.
- Finally, take the tie and grab it in the middle so that the tip of the skinny end and the tip of the fat end are dangling at equal-ish length. Now drape the tie over your hands. The skinny end should be resing squarly in the middle of the wider end. This means that the tie will lie flat on your chest. If the tie twists some when draped over your hand, I would hope for the sake of humanity's intelligence that you wouldn't go ahead and still buy that piece-o-shit.
A final bit about tie quality: The Seven Fold Tie
It certainly wouldn't be right if I went on about tie quality but simply did not acknowledge the pinnacle of tie quality: the seven fold tie. If you did not catch what I said earlier, the seven fold tie, is about as good as it gets when it comes around to purchasing quality ties. And just so you know, that's pretty damn good. So what makes it so special? Well, I'm glad that you asked. It is a very material intensive process that utilizes no other fabrics beyond silk. Approximately two yards of heavy silk is required for successful completion. After the required amount of materials have been obtained, the silk is sewn in together. After that the sewn together silk is folded in upon itself seven times. The seven fold tie uses NO other materials such as cotton or wool, it is the highest level of the silk tie, since the tie is made
entirely of silk. As you can imagine, the seven fold tie is not cheap either. Essentially what makes it so expensive are not just the folds but also the amount of silk that is used in its creation. While it was much more commonplace in the earlier 20th century, the great depression almost made the seven folding process extinct because silk became a commodity due to shortages and the tie itself required lots of the material. The seven fold is not nearly as commonplace as the standard tie and a few retailers make the tie. I would also assume that some bespoke tailors also perform the process as well.
However, don't assume that only seven folds are the only quality ties in the bunch. It is a wonderful process, but understand that it isn't a necessary one. If anything it is a luxurious feature of clothing that one can indulge in should they feel compelled to.
Now that we have general rules of thumb laid out. Lets go on to the fun part! Colors, designs, and all that other good stuff.
Style
So there are certain things we should go over before moving forward. When it comes to the style of your tie, there are a couple of ways you can completely obliterate your wardrobe and many ways you can take it to the next level. However, I think that many of us fellas still screw this up by somehow doing the few things that ruin our wardrobes. Luckily I'm here. If somehow you don't remember anything that I have told you, at least remember this: what you want to do is create a wardrobe that is classic. This means, following traditional stylistic conventions instead of picking out a lot of this crap that's out here today. I'm not saying to pick out ties that look OLD, but rather, ties that look as if they can sustain the test of time and as well as ties that have a little flair, but still follow the traditional rule and thumb of what it is that makes a tie attractive. An example of a stylish tie would be the striped repp tie. For as long as there will be suits and ties, you can guarantee that a striped repp tie will always be considered stylish. A tie that is not attractive by any means are these geometric, generally hideous ties that not only look "trendy" but also look tacky as hell and will look like a nightmare from an earlier era after a few years. While trendy is cool, understand that trendy also means dated. Remember, when it comes to your professional wear, classic is cool, dated is not. This also means if you are inheriting any ties from your dad or grand dad, this doesn't immediately make them classic wears. Trust me, if your dad or granddad had impeccable style in his day, it will still show today. If not, it will just show that he had no taste then and its coming out now.
So what are classic wears exactly? Considering how much I am talking about them I might as well describe them to you since we are here. Traditionally speaking, classical style that is even so much as timeless feature certain design elements as opposed to certain colors. Most of what you will see in traditional, designs are one of these four elements: Paisley, Stripes, Dots, or Solids. Other classic designs that are somewhat less commonplace are floral prints, plaid and what I like to call critters (little animals, symbols, or objects that are repeated throughout the tie).
Building Your Tiedrobe:
Just to clear some air before we move forward: I don't want you all to think that just because I am advocating traditional designs, doesn't mean that they can't have their edge to them. Its all about how you choose to wear your clothing as well as how it is cut.
When Building your wardrobe of ties, it is very similar to building your wardrobe of shirts. You have a base layer, your flair layer and your seasonal layer. For those of you who have not read my guide on how to pick out a button down shirt, these layers are easy to remember. The base layer consists of your colors and designs that will deliver for you when you feel like you have nothing else to wear. It is great to fall back on, but can also be used as the forefront of your wardrobe if you feel like. The flair layer is more varied in terms of color and design. Finally, the seasonal layer consists of ties that you would mostly wear during certain parts of the year, but certainly not year round.
The Base Layer:
Should consist of at least six to eight ties most of which are standard width and length(unless you are freakishly tall as stated before). As far as design and color are concerned, we will typically keep the colors conservative and design elements are limited. When it comes to building this layer here is what I suggest:
- Roughly four striped rep ties in traditional color combinations such as but not limited to navy blue, crimson and gold, gold and navy blue, and maybe one green and navy blue. Since navy is such a safe color, it combined with other colors makes it safe enough to use with most shirts, but not safe enough to the point where its impeccably boring.
- Two Critter ties with either rep stripes or in solid prints also in traditional color combinations as well.
- Two Solid ties in traditional colors such as navy, or light blue.
The Flair Layer:Should consist of at least eight ties which vary in width and length as well as pattern and color. The color variation and design elements should be more liberal than the base layer. To start, what I would suggest is:
- About three rep ties in these colors: pink and green, purple and white, and baby blue and white. You might as well get them out of the way. I would suggest that they all vary in width. HOWEVER, if you have opted for an american cut suit, I would highly recommend that you keep these ties at standard width.
- Paisley ties: Get three of them. If you really want to get the little tiny paisleys, feel free. But my logic is that if you are going paisley GO ALL THE WAY or go home. As far as base colors, go with green, purple, pink, or yellow. I suggest a standard tie.
- Dotted ties. Two of them should be fine for now. Make sure that you dont get two of the same tie. Which means dots with varying widths and sizes. If you want, you can get both of them in navy. Go standard to narrow with these ties.
The Seasonal Layer:Is a layer you can have more fun with when it comes to ties because unlike shirts, you can get the ties in different materials as well. These ties are ones that you only want to wear during certain seasons. And by certain seasons, I mean spring and summer for the most part. Start off with about five of these ties.
- Get some floral prints. I suggest experimenting with two. As far as starting colors go, try out yellow, green, or orange for starters. Then move onward. Try both of these in standard to wide.
- Whether you like it or not, only own ONE madras tie. In narrow width. If you want a wider madras tie later on, go ahead and get one, but i suggest starting out with a narrow one.
- If you can brave it, snag a seersucker tie. Get this in narrow width.
- Finally, if you have a linen suit, see if you can snag a linen tie. Standard width.
And that's It! If you need further information on how to tie a tie, I will be writing about it in the future. Just sit tight.
But wait, there's more!
You are satisfied with your look, you have the right suit, shirt and tie, but now you want to take it to the next level. You want to stand out in a crowd. Well, that's what accessories are for my friend.
Accessorizing your look
I'm not talking about putting on a jillion gold bracelets or having rings the size of venus, putting on fedoras, and walking around with a cane. I mean, I don't want you to look like a pimp or something. What I am talking about is putting together something attractive and making you the dapper male that you deserve to be. Of all the accessories we can talk about the first we should mention is the pocket square.
The Pocket Square: is something so simple but can completely transform an outfit from being average to being something more unique. In order to effectively wear a pocket square, it must be working to complement the color schemes in your outfit. Of the folds available, there are only three that you should know.
The TV Fold: is the best option for work place attire and is the most formal of the three that I suggest. It only consists of a tiny sliver of fabric peeking out from the top of your chest pocket.
The Puff Fold: is the best option to utilize when folding a silk pocket square
The Reverse Puff Fold: is my personal favorite and is the most casual look of the three. If you are trying to make a suit more casual this is an excellent option. Also, if you are interested in taking your casual outfit to the next level this option works well too.
Cufflinks: Are great areas for customization. If you are trying to be quirky without wearing a stupid smily face tie, it is always an option to look for clever cufflinks. Cufflinks are also great tools for detailing your outfit. If you are looking to pay an impeccable degree of detail to your outfit, be it with certain themes, or color schemes, cufflinks are an excellent area to customize. The only issue with cufflinks is that they can get a bit pricey. Especially for those who lose their articles very easily. In this event, I suggest purchasing silk knot cufflinks. They are equally as attractive, and can be consistently paired with your outfits according to your color scheme.
Tie Bars: Are certainly not a must, however, if you are looking for a very together and clean look, they are certainly an option to consider. While there isn't too much customization with tie bars, they can be a great asset to a man's wardrobe.
A note on metallic pieces:
When considering metallic pieces, I suggest opting for sterling pieces. Generally speaking they are rust proofed and therefore have a longer lifetime in your wardrobe. You can also choose pieces that are gold or gold plated, however, I would only suggest this if you are the type that doesn't loose their accessories.
It seems as if we have gone over most of the main assets to a man's wardrobe. I hope you apply them well. Be sure to look out for the piece on leather goods to piece suit. I'm talking about dress shoes. Until next time, keep your eyes peeled, asses wiped and your noses clean.
Credits:How to buy the right tie - by the eHow fashion and care editor
How to fold a pocket square - by Men's Fashion Tips
Information about seven fold ties - RL: Style GuidePictures courtesy of Brooks Brothers and Polo:Ralph LaurenTechnorati Tags:
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Yeah, I thought so. Recently Kurkova has recieved a lot of heat from some smack talking journalists down in Brazil for her unsightly appearance at the Cia Maritima fashion show during the Sao Paulo fashion week. Pretty much, she is getting shit for wearing a binkini that was a couple sizes too small while at the same time rocking back fat love handles and cellulite. Yeah, I know, it sounds like an exaggeration right? I wish it were. Pictures released by the press reveal at many different angles, Kurkova's very full and out of shape figure. Pardon me, if I cannot help but look at the situation from two different angles because I certainly see it in the following way. We have to remember that Ms. Kurkova is not just a model, but a person (oh crap, i'm starting to sound like that flamboyant, cross dressing, makeup wearing, melodramatic youtube guy... i wish i could remember his name...not). But really, we shouldn't crucify the poor woman because she likes her collard greens and pork chops. HOWEVER... on the other end of the spectrum I have to say this much. WHAT THE HELL WAS SHE THINKING? I mean, she isn't just a woman, she's a super model. Just because the average chick can eat her KFC and McDonalds and not work out doesn't mean she should do the same. That shit would be like me saying just because I smoke cigarettes and drink beer, that its okay for Terrell Owens to do the same thing. He's a damn professional athlete! He should be held to a higher standard, because he IS NOT average compared to the rest of us mortals.
Offermann, an avid fan of Obama and supporter since day one, has constructed a special edition collectible doll that is supposed to be "in the image of Barack Obama" however, there is a big problem with this picture: It is not. The Doll, running in limited quantity (999 specifically) dons a blue suit, an American flag lapel pin, shirt, and tie. However, the biggest issue with the doll is what it actually looks like. As opposed to simply constructing a doll that actually looks like Barack, Offermann has simply created a doll that was black with curly hair, and nice pink lips on it and mostly resembles Gary Coleman more than anyone else.
