Saturday, April 11, 2009

Vintage Neckties Make a Come Back



After seeing my uber-cool Silver Surfer tie hanging in my closet, my 15 year old daughter, young Galadriel Tanqueray Onassis, asked if she could wear it.

So I put it on, tied it for her, slipped it over my head and let her have it.

She liked the way it looked on her and asked if I had any more ties.

Of course, I do. I worked for the biggest telcom in the world for almost 20 years. Suits and ties were required. "Dress down Friday" just meant that you could wear Dockers, a dress shirt and a sport coat without a tie.

I gave away all of my suits years ago, but I still had a rack of ties. So I pulled out a few I thought she might like.

The first was the one I always thought of as my "12th & Vine" tie.


It had a cool jazz vibe and brought me comfort in the cultural desolation that was Corporate New Jersey in the late '80's.

She declared it hideous and wanted nothing to do with it. Fine! H8R! Whatevies!

She likes The Beatles so I thought she might like this tie.


Yeah, she didn't get the connection either, so I had to show her the label.


Didn't matter. She still thought it was stupid and didn't want it.

So I pulled out one of my old favorites.


She liked that one a lot!

So now she has this one and the Silver Surfer tie in her stylin' teen wardrobe. I wonder if she'll notice the name on the label.


That's right. Its a Jerry Garcia tie.

Because, as we all know, Garcia's biggest claim to fame was being a well-groomed, GQ clothes-horse who refused to perform or be photographed in anything approaching "casual attire".







As for necktie knots, I use the Half Windsor.

8 comments:

SmedRock said...

Full Windsor or nothing, you puss.

kcmeesha said...

after having to wear a pioneer tie every day in school, I don't think I ever owned a tie.

Keith Sader said...

I have to agree with SmedRock - Full Windsors or you look stupid.

mamagotcha said...

You might be interested in my friend's Tie Project.

My favorite pair of Birkenstocks ever were the Jerry Garcia designed sandals... but they didn't have a Watchman or anyone else on 'em.

Marti_L said...

Those are some great ties! I never learned how to tie one, husband always had to do like you did - tie it on himself, then slip it off and give it to one of the boys to wear.

Saw you ditched some folks on Twitter, hope I wasn't one of them! Hugs and Happy Easter!

Nuke said...

SmedRock and Keith have it right,Full Windsor or go home.

When I managed a Blockbuster (or blockheads as we called it) I had to wear ties. So of course I went with interesting ones. My favorites were the Ed Podalack, the Holstein Cow Pattern, and the Tabasco.

Recently I don't wear many ties, but 2 of my favorites come from Mr Garcia's label.

The DLC said...

I went to catholic school and had to wear a tie every damn day. My favorite at the time was a huge polyester fatty with Snoopy and Woodstock playing tennis.

Unknown said...

The JGarcia one is my fav! I have a similar one, but this one is even better. Awesome tie.