Cravatomancy

Paisley again

Friday's tie and I return to paisley. This one uses madder, showing the characteristically subtle tones of that dye. I bought it from Kent and Curwen's shop on the corner of Piccadilly and St James's, which closed some years ago.

An unlucky tie

This tie bears a curse. I wore it to an interview for a job, and while I was successful at the interview, the job turned out to be the worst job I ever had.

It's another Duchamp.

Spots

Today I choose a red spotted tie, cheerful enough to banish post-election pain. I like spotted ties and should wear them more. This one is by Harvie and Hudson.

Don't panic

There is so much uncertainty, political, economic, existential, that I felt it necessary to do my bit to restore some calm to public life, so I chose a plain maroon tie by Turnbull & Asser. Their ties are expensive, but worth the investment. This one has stood up to repeated wear (I am not the gentlest of knot-tiers) and still hangs well. Moreover, it is generously cut. I have a long torso and find many ties too short to take a decent knot and hang correctly, that is to say exactly to the waistband of my trousers, not falling an inch or two above, exposing shirt buttons and paunch, nor hanging down over my flies.

Our first guest blogger

Pray silence for our first guest tie blogger, Sweder, ultra-marathon runner, sometime roadie to the stars, gourmand and boulevardier in his native town of Lewes, to be found on Twitter as @sweder. He offers this from his remarkable collection

Some elephants, the first of many beasts

I worked for five years for the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, as Head of Library and Information Services. I noticed that male veterinary surgeons often affected animal-themed ties; small animal vets would have cats and dogs, the large animal chaps would go for cows and sheep and those with zoo animal practices went for the big game animals of Africa. I bought this tie from Budd, a shop in one of the arcades between Piccadilly and Jermyn Street, who probably sell most of these to people who have shot one.

I wonder about the roots of this habit. Primitive peoples wear the skin or horns of the totem animal, in the belief that they will acquire its admirable traits. I wonder if we wear animal ties for the same reasons; in other words this morning was I hoping to acquire or emulate the sagacity of the elephant?

Paisley

A paisley tie, provenance unknown. I think I bought it around ten years ago and the label has fallen off

Here be dragons

Today's tie was a gift from a friend who works at the Royal Pavilion, and is a homage to chinoiserie. Made by Fox and Chave, it is tied with a full Windsor

Stripes

A striped tie from Turnbull & Asser, bought last year and one of my favourites

Proletarier aller Länder, vereinigt Euch!

A red tie for May Day, a tradition of mine. This is in wool from Marks and Spencer and so old it has a St Michael label. Knot: half-windsor