Annotated Style
Drawn by Louise Fili, one of today’s leading graphic designers. She has designed a Love postage stamp, among other prominent commissions.
I’m glad Kent and I share the same last initial.
“They’re such beautiful shirts,” she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. “It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such – such beautiful shirts before.” -The Great Gatsby
My original interest in doing this series was to track down “Golden Era” Brooks Brothers OCBDs and see how one of…
$35 Lambswool Ties
I’d like to meet Paul Winston someday. As regular readers know, Paul runs the traditional clothiers business Chipp2/ Winston Tailors out of midtown Manhattan, and his father – Sidney Winston – was one of President Kennedy’s tailors. I’ve talked with Paul a few times over the phone and he always comes off as an incredibly charming man with lots of great stories (which he tells in his slight New Yorker accent). Last time we spoke, I asked him why doesn’t he charge more for his grenadines. They’re handmade in the US and use the same fabric as everyone else, but are currently cheaper than grenadines machine stitched in East Asia. Paul told me that it’s because he’s old enough to remember what prices used to be like back in the day, and can’t bring himself to charge more, even if people will pay. I’d normally think that was some slick marketing line, but when you talk to Paul, you easily get the sense that he’s a real deal, sincere guy, and I believe him.
In any case, Paul recently got a bunch of lambswool ties in. Since he runs a custom clothier business, he has some lambswool left over from jackets he’s made, so he decided to turn them into ties and sell them at a cheap price. There are seventeen colors, all solid, which make them a good complement to patterned shirts and jackets. Each tie measures 58.25” long and 3.25” in width, and costs $35 (shipping for up to three ties is $7.50 within the US, and $13.50 for international). Unlike his grenadines, these are machine stitched, but still made in New York. The interlinings are a wool/ poly blend, and a bit thicker than what seems to be the trend in high-end neckwear these days, but I knotted a few of them up and they still seemed great. With a little bit of tugging on each side of the loop, as demonstrate here by Bernhard Roetzel, you can get the knot pretty small. For $35, I think they’re a pretty good buy. Good enough that I purchased one for myself before sending the lot back.
I snapped a few photos, but for some reason, the colors didn’t come out terribly well the group shots. In the top most photo, moving from top to bottom we have: tan, gold, toast, sky blue, light blue, navy, and black. The “black” should really be the same color as my navy sport coat, which the ties are laying on top of. It’s really more of a midnight navy, not true black, in my opinion. The tie labeled navy (second from the bottom) is perhaps one shade lighter than a midnight navy. The colors are better represented in the close-up pictures, though navy and black are still lighter in the photos than they are in real life.
In the second group shot, again moving from top to bottom, we have: grey, light grey, pumpkin, mauve, coral, purple, light plum, and lilac. Again, the colors are better represented in the close up photos.
Tan and sky blue are already sold out, and two colors not pictured here are chocolate brown and royal blue. Customers can request swatches if they’d like to get a better sense of the fabrics’ textures and colors. And if you purchase something and don’t like it, Paul is happy to take returns.
To order, you can just go to Chipp2’s website and buy one of their dog ties, then in the comment section, say something like “I don’t want a dog tie, I want a ….” Or you can call Paul directly at (212) 687-0850. Unlike his grenadines, which will always be available, this is a limited run only. The quantities are quite uneven, and some colors only have six or less in stock. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.
The thing I like most about this is his hair. Taking notes for when I start to gray.
(Source: mayorroma, via abitofcolor)
Boom. Nearly perfect. The only thing that would make it better would be omitting that red from the pocketsquare.
(Source: styleforum.net)
This is awesome. My pick would be the bottom left.
(Source: reindeermoose, via abitofcolor)
Fly Fox Hunting
Quilted Bomber Jacket: Ralph Lauren (Cadwell) | Oxford Shirt: Gant Rugger | Tie: Dibi | Sweater: Vintage | Cap: Stetson
not shown: Trousers: Rogue Territory | Belt: Tanner Goods | Shoes: Allen Edmonds x FSC Kenilworth
Ralph Lauren F/W ‘13
This whole article from Tweed in the City is fantastic.
“Pattern matching shouldn’t be about ad hoc tweaking. The typical approach is to throw things together out of brute impulse, then adjust by trial and error to salvage the resulting disaster. In my experience, you’re far more likely to succeed if you employ an organized decision-making process, a sequence of considered choices. To do that, you need solid principles.
When it comes to the four components that comprise the suit-based ensemble (suit, shirt, tie, and pocket square), there are only three principles you need to know.
1. Two or three are key.
Wearing only one pattern tends to look conspicuously anomalous, even though it’s widely considered a safe play. Adding a fourth pattern makes the balancing act exponentially more difficult. So, two or three are the sweet spot. The others can be done, but they carry a higher penalty for failure. Consider them advanced-level.
2. The pocket square stands alone.
The pocket square is a paradox: it’s a purely nonfunctional ornament, yet it must avoid immediately appearing that way. Books could be written about grappling with that problem. But for this discussion, it boils down to this basic fact: unlike colors and textures, patterns are intrinsically contrived, so the mind’s eye is especially quick to recognize and relate them. Hence, when your pocket square shares the same pattern with your shirt or tie, they are likely to appear paired. Then, the jig is up. The fantasy of nonchalance has been quashed before it even had a chance to takeoff. So, if your square has a pattern, make it distinct from everything else. A helpful tip: avoiding pocket squares with tie-like patterns makes life much easier.
3. “It’s the economydensity, stupid.”
Pattern variation is of the most important, yet misunderstood, concepts in the universe of classic menswear. It is one of the chief reasons outfits fail. Yet, it absolutely must be mastered.
Think of any given pattern as having two main attributes: type and density (color matters too, but that’s part of a whole other discussion). By type, I mean stripes versus check, versus herringbone, etc. Simple, right? Density is a little more complicated. It refers to the closeness and fineness of a pattern’s details. The more close and fine, the more dense. Scale partially influences density, but it’s not perfectly definitive. You can have a large-scale or non-repeating pattern that is very dense. Take a pocket square with a baroque scene for example, such as those from Rubinacci or Drake’s. They may only depict a single large subject, but if lavishly rendered, it may be tightly packed with different colors and shapes.
Ideally, all patterns in your outfit should vary appreciably from each in density. In fact, when wearing only two, consider it a hard rule. Why? Well, even if patterns are technically different in type, they tend to follow a few basic geometric patterns. For example, the little floral medallions popular on ties are arranged just like dots would be. So, if you were to wear a dotted pocket square of equal density, the patterns would read as conspicuously similar even though we call them different things. Another example is check and houndstooth. Nobody would ever confuse the two for each other, but realize that they both share the same grid-based, stacked square arrangement. Hence, two of similar density do not pair well.
Make no mistake, when it comes to pattern matching, density variation is far more controlling than pattern type. With sufficient variation in density, two items can share the same type of pattern quite easily–say, a candy-striped shirt and a wide-banded regimental tie. In contrast, two patterns of the same type and density should never, ever be paired. Matchingthree patterns of the same type is always likely to fail, but if anything is to save the day, it will be dynamic density variation. If two patterns are similarly dense, compensate by differentiating their pattern types as much as possible (different scales plus different geometric arrangements). Never wear three patterns of equivalent density.”
