Royal finish.

Thursday April 17, 2008:
Today marks the last entry in this illustrious series. I have to say it's been a lot of fun picking through the selections and getting to make interesting combinations. Today's choice offers a bit of symmetry. When I began my life of wearing ties in Washington, DC I chose this tie, a deep purple Ralph Lauren tie with silver stripes. I found this tie on a shopping trip with Katherine and her mother at the Woodburn outlets. This, I believe, was our then-annual early wake-up day after Thanksgiving bum rush of stores. The two women who have purple in their veins decided that this would be a great new member to my growing family. I chose my favorite gray suit, a french cuff shirt and my cordovan Cole Haans. It was a good day to dress well, I thought.

So yes. This is it. The end of the trek through my ties. I ventured into this crazy blogging world, I didn't know anyone. It was scary. But I soon became accustomed to my surroundings and I settled in for many late nights of typing.

This trip has taught me what I like about fashion's power of self expression. It creates an individuality that is both sets you apart from the world you live in also entirely part of you in your world.

As I am sure you have ascertained, the ties were the real stars of this story, but I have to say there were many, many supporting actors. I would like thank my shirts, the many that I have worn over the weeks and weeks. This blog has set a baseline for me and also opened by eyes in terms of combinations that work and don't work. I would also like to thank my suits and jackets. They have been there for me every step of the way and I appreciate the role they have played in this. Without them I don't know what I have done.

But most of all I would like to thank my friends and family who have humored me in this little adventure of mine. And of course I would like to thank those of you who were lucky enough to be on my guest tie blog - but really, shouldn't you be thanking me?

I am trying to decide why I should continue this blog, since my task is done. Saturday I will pour out my ties and rehang them. It will be different to see them all again. Maybe there is some other, perhaps additional and superfluous reason for addendum, but I can't figure what that would be.

Penultimately Pink

Thursday April 16. 2008:
Today's selection had to be one of my boldest selections. It's a pink knit tie I purchased from JCrew about three weeks ago. I was picking through the JCrew website and saw a female model wearing this yellow banker's shirt and a bright pink tie. The color was awfully striking. I immediately and excitedly sought it out in the men's section hoping it would be there. And it was! And not only was it pink, it was azalea! Pronounced a-zal-ea. I love interesting color names. Anyways, I paired this tie with my khaki suit, a blue oxford shirt, and my dark tan Cole Haans. It was an interesting and ballsy look, and one that I had to lean back on that "happy spirit" of mine to carry through - it took a little silliness, too. It all turned out alright, however, because the props I got from friends and colleagues, my boss, and the elevator look in an elevator made it all worthwhile. I should also note that this is my penultimate tie. Friday equals freedom.

"For duty, duty must be done; The rule applies to everyone."

Tuesday April 15, 2008:
Being of proper upbringing, I was exposed to the works of the Victorian era partnership of librettist W. S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan at a very early age. I remember the Kevin Klein and Linda Ronstadt version of The Pirates of Penzance and then the numerous rentals of The Mikado and The HMS Pinafore, and then the performances at the University of Portland until I was a teenagers. I am probably sure that those productions weren't all that great, however, it was nice that our parents kept us interested in wit and frivolity. One of the continuing themes in the works of Gilbert & Sullivan was duty. This sense of duty committed people to carrying through with their, well, duties. From the Pirate's Frederic, to the Pinafore's Ralph or the West Wing's Sam Seaborn, their sense of duty brought them to realizations of right and wrong, their past and their future, and how to cope with seemingly unsurmountable odds, and above all, carry on and shoulder the burden. And sing about them. It is this outstanding trait that brings me to wear today's tie - a bow tie. It bought this tie as a surprise to wear for Katherine's med school graduation ball, but, since I cannot keep a secret, I showed it to her. Oh well. It is black with purple and gold stripes (Go Huskies! Go Dali Llama!). Because the world now knows about this tie, I felt the duty to wear it. However, since I am on the brink of completion of this journey I couldn't wait till a Friday to hide it away from the world so I jauntily paired with my herringbone suit, white button down shirt, tied the tie around my neck and left to face the world, as the I am the very model of a modern gentleman.

*Blogger's note: You don't have to have my upbringing to catch Buttercup references; you could have caught Gilbert & Sullivan references in the TV shows The Simpsons, Mad About You, Animaniacs, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Veggie Tales, Frasier, and The Muppet Show.

Spring stripes.

Monday April 14, 2008:
I should actually be happy that the weather is having fits, because if you consider the alternative - instant sticky warmth - I would take blustery every single day. Today's mixture epitomizes such weather. The tie is one that ended up in my collection through happy accident, ie my mother. Sometimes things just appear in my collection and this was one of those things. This JCrew selection appeared somewhere between 2004 and 2005. Yes, I know I am usually exact on the procurement of my ties, but this one eludes me. One of my better combination was this selection with white stripes on a spring green field paired with a lilac colored shirt and my seersucker suit - this was for a spring horse race so I figured this was going to be the only opportunity for that sherbety mess. Today's shirt was my blue J. Nordstrom French cuff shirt and my newly rediscovered suit from Banana. Shame on me for thinking I was going to do away with that suit.

Hippos!

Friday April 11, 2008:
I cannot express the joy this tie brings, and the challenges. This tie presents the ultimate test for me and my demeanor. This is definitely not a business tie; it's a playful and meant for garden parties and weddings. It's so playful, in fact, that I think it takes a commandingly playful spirit to carry it off. In the midst of the strict time lines, black sedans, and the neoclassical architecture of my world I feel the need to insert a group of green hippos hiding amongst leaves on a pink field just to show everyone who's the boss. Go ahead, talk about my green hippos! Chances are you are going to end up finding it as perfectly juxtaposed as I do, and not help smiling at it. Katherine and I found this item at a store in Williamsburg when we ran down there for the weekend. We walked out of a ye'olde peanut'n'ham shop and saw pink and green in a window. We walked into the Pink Cabana and I was instantly drawn into the world of Lilly Pulitzer. My old roommate Lex had told me about her love of this label since she had gone to school in Virginia. The tie is cotton and definitely meant for summer. The first time I wore it was to my other old roommate's wedding in Denver. I thought I needed to bring a little east coast to the front range so I paired it with a navy linen blazer, a pair of light khakis and a great pair of shoes Katherine and I had found at the Cole Haan outlet in Castle Rock, Colorado. I smile pretty much all day when I wear this tie.

Super Seersucker Thursday

Thursday April 10, 2008:
This tie is yet another exceptional find in the Brooks Brothers clearance bin. I found this tie when spending the day shopping with my mother in Woodburn. We found it and it was instantly a winner. It is a cotton tie in a light blue with criss crosses of variegating stripes of white, along with red and yellow and blue. It is also a little seersuckery. It's really a three month tie (May, June and July), and a pretty casual one at that. The first time I wore this tie was for my sister's graduation from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I actually basically duplicated that outfit today with a white shirt and a really cool linen suit I scrambled together from Banana Republic. It's in a dirty green, but not really an olive color - I think it's too dark. It was in the 70s today and even though I didn't get to go outside until after 6pm I imagined myself on a veranda sipping something tangy.

Found Gem

Wednesday April 9, 2008:
This tie falls into the category of astonishing. It is everything I have learned to love: shiny, purple and patterned. Oh, and inexpensive. I spent the day shopping (I do other things, too.) and ended up at Marshals in Pentagon City where I was going to scoot through not planning on finding anything. This is a great idea if you weren't actually shopping, ie looking and investigating. Discovered in the tie section was a Ted Baker tie and this tie by Alby. I have always liked the pattern of glen plaid because of the formality of the texture. I had my eye on a wool one at some point, but I lost track of it and instead found this one. When I first looked at it I got excited about the pattern, but I soon discovered that there was a thread of purple woven in. On top of that it has a little bit of sheen to it. I wore it with my favorite gray suit and my cordovan shoes for a really cool classy, evening look.