Thank you Shawn

Thank you Shawn, I am happy that you found the cleaning tips useful. The tie you have described is possibly made of tussar or ‘tussar’ silk. This is sometimes also known as ‘raw silk’. Ties made from tussar were very popular in the seventies when they were imported from Asian countries. The fabric is very delicate. I would suggest you clean it by dusting it with talc and gently brushing it off after a few minutes. The talc will absorb all superficial dust and the tie will be as good as new!

How to strut your stuff in a tie

Hells Bells! Nothing like a well designed tie to create that dapper look. I don’t know about you, but I love my tie. This ‘noose’ does something for my confidence. I for one wear a tie almost everywhere…of course not to the game, but just about everywhere else - to the workplace as office wear, or the party. But I make sure to wear the absolutely right tie. Call me a perfectionist, but if there is one thing that gets under my skin, it is a mismatched tie. Please guys it does not take a genius to get the combination right. You would not wear a brown tie with a blue shirt, would you??? Or may be you would. I have seen people with weirder pairings. Of course, the tie is supposed to complement the shirt but there should be a sense of matching. I would go for a tie in the same color as the shirt, only having a different shade. Also, you would never go wrong with a plain tie over a striped shirt or the other way round. And please, I repeat PLEASE, if you have any respect for your fellow human beings, wear the right color for the occasion. I guess what got me into this tie matching frenzy is what one crass individual wore for my sales felicitation 4 years ago. He had the gall to wear an orange tie. It stung my eyes to see that bright color in front of me when I went to receive the award from Matthew Bernstien, our Director. The function was a strictly black tie event. So, here’s another TIP TO BE FOLLOWED – keep all your loud colorful ties for your wedding, for a serious occasion please wear a black tie or a pure white one. Enough for now. I will be back with more tips. Meanwhile, check this link for more interesting information.

How ties came about...

Did you know that the tie you wear everyday was actually worn centuries ago. I always thought ties were a modern concept, something worn with a formal shirt and stuff.

But in the Victorian era? You must be wondering what I am talking about. Sure you have never seen anyone wearing a tie in all those ‘Les Miserables’ and ‘The Man in The Iron Mask’ movies. But those frilly things they wore around their necks. They were the cravats - ties of those days. By those days I mean around 1660 give or take a few years. This period followed the infamous Thirty Year War. Historians say that our ties came from those cravats.

Supposedly, Croatian soldiers wore those cravats to wipe their faces of sweat. Maybe those cloths were even used to wipe off blood or to bandage wounds. Later, when the French king Louis saw them, he was pretty impressed. He started using the cravats for style and soon even his subjects began to use them. I am calling those things cravats but they were not called cravats then. That name came later, maybe influenced from the word Croats only. Hey, I came across this link where they have given almost the entire history of a tie in details. We will explore more about ties in the next post. Until then enjoy!