Friday, November 19, 2010

What's in a name?

I'll be the first to admit that in my early days, I would often buy thrift clothes based on labels alone. While I often ended up with nice pieces, there were other times that I purchased an item which was created during a rough patch of a particular manufacturer and I ended up with a piece of junk. Obviously, some labels are better than others; some have their ups and downs (lets be honest, the 80s were bad for a lot of people), while others are pretty much tried and true in terms of quality.

Over time, I've learned not only more about the names on the labels themselves, but the eras in which they were produced and the quality I can expect from such. Since I'm working on a limited budget and I'm not exactly the easiest size to shop for, I can't really be a label snob, but I have to admit getting a little giddy when I run across the big-names in a piece that I can wear.

Of course, the easiest piece of clothing (accessory or otherwise) to shop for is ties, and over the course of the past few months I've ran across some fairly big names.

Armani tie
First up is this Giorgio Armani tie. While I'm not a huge fan of the design, the tag leads me to believe that it's from the 70s, which would make it a very early Armani tie, and worth purchasing simply to have. While it's certainly no investment piece, it is cool to have (and I'm sure I will wear it with a gray suit at some point down the road).

Balenciaga tie
Next up is this gorgeous plaid number from Balenciaga. Based on other patterns I've seen from this label, I would have never guessed I'd see something so understated and lovely from them. This is a tie that I've already worn and will proceed to bust out a great deal more.

Hermes tie
To be frank, I'm not a huge fan of most Hermes prints on their ties or other accessories. By some dumb luck, though, I stumbled upon a couple of them earlier this year and re-sold them, in turn funding some more thrift store clothing purchases in the process. This particular tie was the most understated one that I found, and due to a couple small spots I decided to keep it. So now I own an Hermes tie. Whoopdie doo!

Gucci tie
Like the Armani above, I mainly bought this Gucci tie due to it being a bit more vintage. That said, the texture on the tie is pretty incredible (you can see it a bit better in the detail shot of the label) and because of that it will likely stay in my collection.

My holy grail tie is still a six or seven-fold silk tie, but I'm not holding my breath for one.

It won't stop me from digging through swaths of polyester and acrylic in my valiant quest, though.

3 comments:

  1. The Balenciaga's certainly my favorite. It's hard to balance your collection when you find such rare, expensive ties that don't really fit your style.

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  2. Great finds, while I don't usually like Hermes design, I like this particular one a lot. I enjoy finding crazy high end ties like this and figuring out how I'm going to pull them off.

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  3. Bahahahahaha I have that same Armani tie, I found it thrifting and I kept it for the same reason you did and also because there was some fraying at the tip that made it not good enough to resell.

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