Tags and Textures: Madras tie

Just over a year ago, I ran across three madras ties at a thrift store and couldn't believe my luck. All had absolutely beautiful coloring, and I wore each a great deal over the course of the warmer months. That being said, I can only remember a single post where I'm actually incorporating one of them into my outfit, so I guess I'll have to remedy that in the future.

With the weather warming up here, I thought it would serve as a good time to feature some detail photos of one of them.


None of the ties are spectacular in terms of brand name (two vintage Hathaway's and one Rooster), but they're just absolutely lovely in terms of color and quality.


Here's the edge with some extreme detail of the weave.


It's all about spring and summer, and they're going to be pulled off the tie rack a lot more in the next couple months.

Speaking of madras, I used a photo from the same shoot as a background on my recently-launched twitter page. After much hemming and hawing, I decided to start up an account mainly as a way to communicate with other bloggers who have twitter accounts, as well as a way to make some shorter comments that might not really fit on here very well. I'll also be posting links to what I feel are really excellent deals that I run across on ebay. The auctions I link to will have no affiliation with myself, just things that I see when I'm searching for things myself and decide to pass along. If you're on twitter and that sounds interesting, follow me and say hello.

Tags and Textures: Vintage cream / red / blue silk tie

While the good things about winter include re-discovering the joys of my vintage pea coat and nearly wearing out a heavy-duty Pendleton scarf from daily use, my patience is starting to wear thin with the cold temperatures. I probably wouldn't be so grumpy about it all if the skin on the tips of several fingers wasn't cracked and bleeding, and I'd probably even find it slightly tolerable if our furnace hadn't decided to stop working on not one, but two separate nights when the temperatures dropped into single digits, but seriously.

At least I'm getting some extra cardio with all the snow shoveling.


Really, though, I'm ready for some warmer temperatures and a brighter color palette. In anticipation, here's a vintage tie from the venerable Maus & Hoffman of Florida, who have been in business for over 70 years.


I've never been there, but based on their website collection and quality of this tie and others I have from them (including a really old Hermes), they're purveyors of only the finest of finery. Yes, they're pricey, but lest you think all their prices are out-of-reach, check out the sweet madras pants on clearance for only $59! Damn!


Made in Italy of some sturdy rough silk.


This particular tie was featured in this original post and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that it was not only frayed at the bottom, but had a couple stains (on the back, thankfully). I wore it once last fall during a particular Indian summer-ish day, but I can't wait to break it out again soon.

Tags and Textures: Mint green silk tie

Last week I tried to do a little something new by starting up a series of macro shots showing off textures and colors of different items of clothing that I love.


This time out, I'm featuring a light, minty green 100% silk tie that is one of my absolute favorites to wear. Instead of smooth silk, this one is slubbed, giving it an absolutely killer texture that almost looks like paper maché in places.


Not to mention, it has lines of blue, dark brown, and white running through it, so it can play off everything from a blue and white university-striped oxford and dark brown belt and shoes to something like baby blue pants and a white belt.


Basically, it's everything you want in a tie for when the weather gets warmer.

Tags and Textures: Navy knit silk tie

I've been trying to incorporate more texture into shots for this blog lately, and after receiving some nice comments on my last post, I had an idea for a series of photos that highlight both the textures and tags of various clothing items that I love.


First up is this vintage navy blue (which tiptoes ever so slightly towards purple) knit silk tie. From a distance, it's somewhat inconspicuous, and in this shot one can get a vague sense that it has some texture and depth, but those small details are about all that's offered.

The tie has two tags, one from the (now defunct, according to web searches) men's store it came from, the other denoting its fiber content with a nice shield motif.


A close-up reveals an incredible amount of detail in the knit, with repeating patterns of dots and lines that really pop in the right light.

All silk navy ties are not created equal.