the tie: dead or alive?

Sometimes, on a whim, I’ll throw a tie on with a button up shirt, cover it with a graphic tee, and head out on the town.  This look would no doubt be to the chagrin of some of the ladies in my life, but I like it.  I’m actually planning on adding a few ties to my wardrobe this summer/fall for this very purpose.

Overall though, the tie’s relevance in men’s fashion seems to be on the decline.

Young, mod indie-rockers however, may be changing that.

According to the sartorialists over at iAfrica:

In the last three seasons, top fashion gurus such as Hedi Slimane who has just left Dior, dazzled the catwalks with an array of skinny — often loosely-knotted — ties, inspired by rock stars such as Franz Ferdinand or The Hives, a throwback to the Mods of the 60s and 70s when even the Beatles did their thing in ties.

Often plain-coloured, the new look ties are four or six centimetres wide, against the traditional nine.

“Young people are buying these ties now, and the designers are offering new colours, new fabrics, new collections, they’re making ties un-stodgy,” said Nauerz, a reference to Dolce and Gabbana, Armani, Dior, Calvin Klein and Paul Smith.

Men’s fashion historian Farid Chenoune agrees;

“There’s currently a reassertion of central city elegance, based on the jacket, shirt and tie,” he said in an interview. “There’s a kind of struggle going on, which even has a slight political undertone, between suburban fashion and inner-city fashion, even though there’re links between the two.”

“The return of the tie via young rock groups is part of inner-city fashion, inner-city youth.”

Read the whole article here.

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