English Squire

Friday, March 7, 2008:
Today's selection is from the annals of history and style. It's a tie my mother gave to me, part of my father's collection. The label is "Churchill's of London - English Squire" and it's a place that no longer exists. I checked. It's a tattoo and piercing parlor. It's a skinny tie, and the first one I've worn out in the open. I didn't know how I felt about it at first, but when I paired it with a white shirt and my gray suit from JCrew. I really like the calm yellow behind a really complex paisley pattern with reds. If I had these glasses, I would have had the complete look.

tiny dots

Thursday, March 6, 2008:
I continued my excursion of mixing up the tones I would normally select with other options. I wore my herringbone suit with a blue shirt with a navy tie silk with tiny green dots. Yesterday I chose a suit/tie combination with a cooler tone and I wasn't truly happy with it. Today I worked with the same theory but I think I chose a little wiser of a combination and I felt better about it. It's funny how you can feel uncomfortable in a combination that you feel doesn't work. Yes, I know, my girlside is showing.

Can't convince myself.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008:
I think it's funny because I haven't yet uttered dislike for any of my ties, but I think this the closest I will get. This tie is one of the first ties I bought at Brooks Brothers. It is a simple pattern in three shades of blue. Clovers made of alternative medium blue and light blue sit on a navy field. The pattern is printed on silk, and the tie is so old the label has fallen off so I am forced to use a safety pin to keep the tie under control. Sometimes silk print ties are harder to tie and produce thin knots, all adding up to a frustrating experience. Surprisingly this morning, this tie cooperated and produced a nice dimple. I decided to wear it a with my navy suit with a a brown pinstripe. I am not all together convinced I enjoyed this outfit, but I decided it was because I have never worn the suit with a tie that didn't have warm colors.

Orange outfit

Tuesday, March 4, 2008:
When I went on my first shopping trip to a Macy's I was unescorted. Even when I tried to seek advice, or restraint, I was thwarted by the lack of cell phone coverage inside the store. If you know me, then you know that's a little to close to trouble. At that time I didn't know what I was looking for, and if you have ever been to a Macy's mens department you know that you are suddenly thrust into the world of color and stripes and patterns and fabrics and choices. I spent a good twenty minutes running around before I got my head together so I could focus on what I needed and what I wanted to try out. I went for this orange and blue tie, part of the Tassa Elba, because it was a new color for me to contemplate, and I knew it could be worn with a white shirt and my gray suit and everything would be okay, and relatively safe. I leapt at this shirt because it was the opposite of all the points in the previous sentence, and that it was an adventure for me to wear it the first time, however I have received many compliments on this combination. I think it’s a keeper and I have been waiting to wear it.

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.

Kennedy Center debut

Friday, February 29, 2008:
Tonight I took Katherine to see one of our favorite groups, Pink Martini, at the Kennedy Center. A couple months ago I was procrastinating at work and was on the band's website where I found out they were going to be in town on February 29, 2008. Since I did the calculation that Katherine and I going to see Pink Martini at the Kennedy Center on February 29 wasn't likely to happen again anytime, soon I made the rare executive decision to buy us tickets and Katherine, who likes to be taken out to fancy things, easily compiled. Not to denigrate, since I love fanciness, too, and so we make a good pair. The show was simply fantastic - they played with the National Symphony Orchestra and did one of my very favorite songs "Brazil" as an encore which left people dancing in the aisles. We had seen them once before at Wolf Trap but we were WAY out in the grass, regardless the music and the people watching was priceless - and we had bought all our parents tickets for their New Year's Eve show in Portland - my father could not stop talking about it for the better part of a week. So anyway, I chose to wear a tie that I had purchased during my trip to Boston to see my dear friend and old college roommate, Carla. We walked on Newberry Street (fancy) and that's where I found Frank Stella Men's Clothier (fancier still) - how could I not go in? I had seen a tie in the window that I really liked, but when I went in and found their complete collection, I decided I needed this one. One quick consultation of the rule book, where I didn't find any mention of prohibitions on purchases made within the time allotted of blogging, I decided to buy it. The tie is a purple-ish navy field with burnt yellow, fuchsia, and emerald leaves drifting across left to right in loose stripes. I wore a blue french cuffed shirt from Nordstrom with cuff links purchased in Williamsburg with my initials on them - made by one of the resident craftsmen down there. I wanted to be worthy of the venue and the concert. After the show Katherine and I stood in line for autographs and we got our programs signed and chatted nervously with these great performers. I had commented on the guitarist's tie and he nicely returned the compliment, only to receive a jibe from the bassist about how I hadn't commented on his tie - they had actually done a very good job of coordinating that night, which we all laughed at. Then, for some unknown reason I blurted out that I had this blog, and in her unmeasurable good humored way, Katherine backed me up in explaining it. They were totally into it, and the guitarist asked how to find it on the web. So I told him. Looking back, I should have probably have written it down for him on something, but I hope he remembers it. Either way I can put this in the same column as riding an elevator with Nancy Pelosi, being told "Good Morning" by Speaker Hastert, meeting Lucy Liu and being introduced to Carl Castle by the President of NPR. God I love this town.

Peacock stripes

Friday, February 29, 2008:
I continue to be amazed with the ties buried on my rack. It's actually fun to find these lost treasures and bring them out and be surprised with how much fun they are. I try to buy ties that exist on the edge of ordinary while still being professional and I think this one is definitely one of those. I remember buying this tie early after I had moved to DC. My clothing collection exploded once I got here because I felt an enormous amount of pressure not to consistently wear the same thing over and over again and that's hard since you have to come to work ready to represent the office and look professional and I think, memorable. The stripes are in peacock greens in a herringbone pattern against a steel blue background. Not only is the green eye catching, but the herringbone adds so much to the experience. The tie is from Banana, and since I couldn't see this tie compete with anything I just wore a gray suit and a new white shirt I got on a recently shopping spree.