I'm mad, you're mad, we're all mad for madras

With unseasonably warm temps hanging around these parts lately, I've made it a point to wear madras on just about every occasion that I can. Soon enough, it will be time to relegate them to the lesser-worn area and break out the tweeds, but for now it's been a steady diet of soft-faded plaids in beautiful colors.


This particular tie is yet another from my recent tie bonanza haul and interestingly enough it still has the original paper price tag still attached to the inside of the tail.

It's a bit on the skinny side (probably 2.25 - 2.5 inches wide) and has an original department store (from a local, now-closed high-end place) price of $10.00, so I'm guessing it hails from the sixties or so.

Seeing the price on the tag actually made me chuckle a bit, as I haven't paid that much for a tie since I bought a new one in college in a specific color that I absolutely thought I needed at the time. Since then, it's been all thrift-store and garage-sale finds, and despite paying between $1-4 dollars for every single tie since that time, I've amassed what I would say is a rather solid collection.

Sure, I lust after new Drakes ties and would even like to grab a nice seven-fold someday, but in the past two months especially I've been reminded that ultimately ties are just skinny pieces of fabric that you tie around your neck. In that time, I've lost one for good when a cup of coffee spilled the wrong way and have had just about every tie I've worn in that time grabbed at (and sometimes pulled) by a four-month old. Ties are meant for wearing, and if I happen to lose a couple every once in awhile, then I certainly won't cry too long knowing I dropped less than an Abraham Lincoln on one.

I probably wouldn't have quite the same reaction if a coffee had tanked all over a juicy Kiton.