Category: Ties

I rarely wear a bow tie. Certainly never casually, and the number of black tie excuses has dwindled since I left my job in legal journalism.  Back then there were several award ceremonies a year - we even threw four ou...

I’m pleased to say that the jumper and tie I had made by 40 Colori turned just as consistently and professionally as everything else I had experienced from the shop.  The cashmere crewneck fits well, with the measur...

A reader recently recommended to me the made-to-measure knitwear at 40 Colori, a shop on Lamb’s Conduit Street in London.  He has trouble getting knitwear to fit, being rather tall, and 40 Colori did a good job of ma...

Let me set the scene. Macclesfield is a small English market town, and it’s a grey day. The bright-green casentino overcoat of Benedikt Fries, as he walks towards us, rather stands out.  Photographer Alex Natt and I ...

Wearing a white tie with a blue shirt is something that makes perfect sense in Naples. To a certain extent, wearing sugary-pink jackets and lapis-blue tailoring makes sense too. It's just sunny so much of the time, even...

I don’t tend to wear brightly coloured ties. Too often they’re brash and loud, where a dark simple tie would be more tasteful. The only time I’ve regularly worn them is in unusual colours like lime green, rath...

Next year I will publish a travel guide to the best men's stores around the world, with Thames & Hudson. Alongside the city chapters there will be interviews with well-travelled people in the menswear industry, high...

Given the heat at the moment in London, it shouldn’t be surprising that linen is the most attractive thing in the pop-up up shop, which has been going wonderfully so far. Edward Sexton’s Hollywood-top trousers (abo...

I’ve noticed in the past year that a lot of my favourite ties are from Shibumi. They’re always on the end of the rail; they always get picked up first. Yet I haven’t written about them for quite a while. Having Be...

It’s been so fun swapping in brands every week or two during the pop-up shop. A lot of work, but fun: it feels like a different place, a slightly different atmosphere, every weekend. On Wednesday this week we exchange...

Drake's was one of the first menswear brands that really inspired me, back in the days when I'd sit in Michael Drake's study going through old decorative art books, dissecting patterns. Drake's managed to combine craf...

Bigi is in many ways what Drake's used to be before the expansion of its retail and collection: a small brand and a top-line tie manufacturer making for the world's top stores. A third generation company, it has a works...

Talking with Kenji Kaga of Sevenfold (and Tie Your Tie) recently threw up some interesting questions around what makes a tie appear vintage. Kenji is heavily influenced by 1940s-1950s styles, as is evident in his tail...

1 R. Culturi There are many brands launching ties or handkerchiefs online these days, given it’s an easy area to try and express something new - and the lack of sizing makes it relatively easy to sell online. One that...

I know I've written about green and pink a few times before. I could find one old post with a little flower illustration, but there must be more. Perhaps it's the fog of Christmas food and wine clouding my mind.  In an...

The next in our regular installment of small brands doing interesting things looks at some ties, handkerchiefs and knitwear. Viola Milano x Alexander Kraft First up is a collaboration between Alexander Kraft and online ...

I was quite intrigued to see Ethan Newton’s Bryceland's store in Tokyo when we visited a few weeks ago. In particular, how he is presenting his view on tailoring and how that mixes with the more casual americana side....

The Italian Background: an awkward but persistently useful phrase I coined back in 2008 to describe the tendency of Italians to wear blue shirts and navy ties under strongly coloured suits. Rather than the English alte...

A few week ago, Drake's asked me to try out their made-to-order tie service, which has been given a new digital home on the website.  The prime question is, of course, do you really need a MTO tie? It didn't even feat...

   Readers often ask for ‘capsule collections’ of types of clothes – shoes, suits, ties etc. There are many reasons such a list is useful. It can point to the ‘essentials’: those things th...

   A few weeks a reader asked for a post on what makes a tie more or less formal, smart or not. It’s a very relevant question. Few men today wear ties, but when they do, they rarely want them to be as smart as the t...

    In the spirit of our recent posts on assembling outfits, here’s the process that put this one together. Originating idea: I’ve always liked the way this pale, silk tie from Ralph Lauren goes with my Rubinacci ...

  Dark green is a subtle and versatile tie colour. You’re not surprised I think that, right? After all I sing the praises of green at every opportunity. But broad truths bear repeating. With an outfit like the one...

Conservative accessories are a great thing to master. First, because the acquisition of unusual clothing – such as cord suits or purple jackets – requires something effective to balance it. And second, because dressi...

The cost of variety is rarely appreciated by consumers. Among all the things that make up the price of a piece of clothing – materials, labour, rent, tax, marketing, R&D – the waste implicit in a broad range is h...