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.

Pink day.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008:
Today's selection was inspired by yesterday's entry regarding the balance of pink in your tie. Today's tie is a Brooks Brother's tie I bought at the outlet in Woodburn, Oregon. I was on a shopping excursion because I swore I needed a pink tie for my young collection. There is a little story here, and a slightly embarrassing one at that, that can explain the inspiration for this purchase. It goes like this: During my senior year at Colorado College we watched a lot of Will and Grace reruns on the WB (now the CW). Also on the WB was also the banal family series 7th Heaven. On one particular evening there was a spot of 7th Heaven and it showed some party and one of the characters, the young guy who marries one of the preacher's kids, was wearing this pink tie with rep stripes in a dark navy (think pink and ink) or black. Anyways, I decided at that moment 7th Heaven was going to help me let pink be OK and perhaps be a masculine tie color. It wasn't the clincher, for sure, since I had to privately try it out and then seek approval from a bona fide feminine source. Needless to say it all worked out and I am not sure as to why I really needed to share that. Oh well. I was really tired of wearing gray suits and lucky enough when I was digging in my closet I found another suit. Yes, I know. No need to tell me I'm a glutton. Remember, I am blogging about my 60 ties. I am very self aware. Anyways, it was a wool suit I bought two years ago at the Banana outlet and it is a gray with a rough texture and there is a hint of blue. I don't know if it's real, but I believe it's there.

I would also like to share Scott's selection today. I have noticed this selection before and I have to say that I am impressed by Mr. Olson2. Stripes are hard to pair together, especially when they are the same relative width. Scott's bold striped tie, and I think it's City of London, is paired with faint stripes. I really like the match here as the intensity of the shirt really does balance the tie out. Way to go Mr. Olson2.

Pink and Ink

Tuesday, April 1, 2008:
Again Spring passed on it's opportunity to show itself, but I chose to bring out another spring tie. This tie was found in the spring in 2004 languishing in the sale rack of the Banana Republic at the Cherry Creek mall in Denver. The tie cost, get this, $6.99. When I brought it up to the counter, the cute girl at the counter said, "Wow, that's a great deal." And I replied, "Yes, you have to love the pink and ink." I think my knowledge of catchy, swank fashion jive caught her off guard and thus ended conversation. Oh well. The combination of a dark navy with a light, almost candy pink is the perfect mix of masculine and feminine for spring. Obviously when you start approaching that 50/50 balance and the tie becomes more pink you need to have different conversation with yourself about what you want to pull off. The neat thing also is that the tie isn't set on the square and the dots run slightly at an angle. I wore it with a simple light blue shirt and a dark gray suit.

Grin and bare it.

Thursday, March 27, 2008:
Today was a hard choice. I honestly feared wearing this tie because of the formality in it. It is a solid gray satin tie that I bought in high school for a dance (remember those?). It looks silver and gun metal at the same time - I'm sure it was a smash hit. Anyways, I had thought I was going to hide this tie under a sweater (a purple one) but I decided not to at the last minute to let the world see the whole tie as long as I wore color somewhere. I chose to wear my Cole Haan cordovan shoes and matching belt I bought at the NEX. This, I thought was sharp, however when I got to the door I saw that it was raining, so I decided that leather soled shoes weren't the best option and so I instead wore my trusty black Coles with my black plaque belt buckled belt. I felt it was a little monochromatic with my Banana gray suit, but I decided I really didn't care at this point, and that it was sharp enough. I felt like I was dressed as the day was - gray gray and more gray. However, it worked enough that I will try it again when it's not raining so I can wear the cordovan.

Solid blues

Tuesday, March 18, 2008:
Today's tie was all business. The tie, a solid blue tie from JCrew, was purchased along with the shirt at the JCrew outlet in Leesburg, VA. It's a very simple story, really. The tie was heavily reduced in price, and I really like the way JCrew shirts fit, and so one for $30 that will get a lot of wear is totally worth it in my mind. I put the tie on the shirt, it gained my approval and Katherine's nod, so I figured it was good to go. The tie was $19.99 and sometimes when you pick up a tie you know it ties well - I think it's in the stiffness of the fabric. For someone my height and shape (short with a short torso and long legs) vertical lines always appeal to me because of their lengthening effect. I'm still not 5'6", but I'm getting there. I like the solid blue tie as an anchor to the stripes and it is really nice under a simple gray suit.

Cool Crosses

Wednesday, March 12, 2008:
I have a problem with this tie - I can't for the life of me remember when I bought it. It's a satin tie with woven cross hatched stripes from Banana, and I vaguely remember getting it when it was on sale, but I can't picture if it was after I moved here or before. Regardless, it was a smart call. I am really fascinated by satin and the effect light has on it. This two tone effect paired with the cross hatches of dark navy and light blue is really strong, and at the same time reminds me the visual effect of water on window panes. I think that it's a really smart tie, very upscale, and paired with a white shirt and my favorite suit from JCrew (that is a little snug right now) it is one of my favorite combinations. The sad part is that I have had this in the back of the rack and it took so long to surface, with 24 days to go.

Shimmery Gray Day

Monday, March 3, 2008:
Today was a hard selection. It was an unseasonably warm day for early March so I decided to wear a cotton suit, but it was still March so it had to be one that was still pretty subdued - so no khaki. I bought this suit two years ago because I wanted to wear it to an formal event for Katherine's medical school. I also wanted a new light weight suit that could be worn in three seasons. The gray suit has a nail head dent pattern in gray cotton with a light tan pin stripe. I chose a tie I had purchased with the suit which is a woven silk tie with three colors; taupe, tan and blue. The three colors combine to give the tie a shimmery and silvery effect, which adds to the its formal look. You have to closely examine the tie to pick out the colors - just ask, I'll let you. Like most things in my life, the tie and the suit are from Banana.

Vintage YSL

February 11, 2008:

Thanks to my mother I know who Yves Saint Laurent is, and again thanks to my mom I own a vintage YSL tie. She gave it to me this fall and it probably was from a sale years ago and then resided in a box until being unearthed in some great passion and brought to my attention. I really like the pattern and the maroon, yellow and gray stripes, but I was nervous to wear it because it is narrow. I should have just sucked it up and worn it with a white suit, but I didn't want to look rock star, young hipster, and I can't faux-hawk my hair so wimped out and hid it up a sweater that was of similar colors.