Pattern mixing is an excellent skill for any man to develop. Taken on their own, many TRADitional items of clothing are a bit staid, but when properly blended they all work to elevate each other. A regimental stripe tie, university stripe shirt and paisley square may all be nice enough separately, but put them all together and you have something else entirely. Add the texture of a hopsack blazer, and you've got a lot of visual interest.
Of course, part of the trick is knowing when to cool it. On the bottom, I chose to keep it simple, with khakis, grey socks and loafers.
However, if you really feel like pushing the whole thing over the edge of the sartorial cliff, throw in an outrageous vintage wool plaid cap.( Which of course I did.) There's nothing like an individual and stylish look built entirely of conservative elements.
On another note, it seems our incestuous little family has become even more perverse. On the new blog Ivy Style, the dozen or so guys who write all these other blogs ( who I believe are also the only dozen or so who read them) are now all contributing to the same blog. Next we should build a tree house behind somebodies mothers house with a sign at the bottom of the ladder that says 'no girls allowed', where we can listen to jazz records and hide all of our skinmags.
p.s. Anyone know what 'regiment' that tie is? Google search turned up nothing, but I am interested to know whose hard fought military service I have decided to appropriate in the name o sheer dandy-ism.
You could almost spoil your suit with a fifth pattern. Tomato(from your garden-which I hope you enjoy), bacon-guanciale, and a thick spaghetti called bucatini. It's thick , and flips around so much it almost always ends up on your shirt! Looking at your patterns, this would be an almost perfect fifth pattern.
ReplyDeleteLove your posts, BTW...the garden and the clothes. Keep up the great work! When you start with a garden you can feed a beautiful family with the best food on earth. your own. The excess produce, are gifts for friends.
The trick with bucatini is to wind it around the fork with the aid of a big spoon. Besides, thats a dish best enjoyed in you undershirt, which should already have wine and tomato stains on it anyway.
ReplyDeleteCould you let us have the details of the necktie?
ReplyDeleteThe label on the back reads: "Aras / Arthur L. Johnson"
ReplyDeleteA second tag reads: " all silk handmade by J.S.Blank" My guess is it's 80's vinbtage.
I'm not sure, but I think Aras was a Boston area men's store in the old days.
A search for J.S.Blank turned up this:
http://www.macraesbluebook.com/search/company.cfm?company=502214
They are a New York based accesories manufacturer, who, interestingly enough, makes epaulet boards, armbands and chevrons...vey military stuff.
Hi Giuseppe:
ReplyDeleteGreat outfit & gorgeous tie. It may not be an authentic regimetal pattern, however. The reason I suspect this is because the stripes originate at the upper-right hand side of the tie & slant down to the left. In my experience, an authentic British regimental pattern goes the opposite way, with the stripes beginning on the upper-left (thus eminating "from the heart" as it were) and slanting down to the right. Irrespective of whether or not it's "authentic", it's still great-looking!
PS. If you want to see a dizzying array of British regimental stripe patters, school patterns & various authentic crests, I gleefully direct you to the Ben Silver website. You might want to be sitting down when you view their selection, it's overwhelming in scope!
Cheers,
David (DWWS)
Filenes Basement NYC was blowing out some really nice J.S Blank pocket squares.They also had some cool striped bow ties...
ReplyDelete