I’ve reprinted this photo on the site before, because it is the foundation for my whole summer look.
Over at the FB Group I am featuring 22 pieces from Andover, in celebration of their 75th anniversary. Today’s is this turtle tie:
… which got me thinking about the last time I wore a tie when I didn’t have to. These ties are perfect for that.
Last time you wore a tie that wasn’t for work and that you didn’t have to was….?
The last time I wore a tie was 18 months ago at my mother’s 100th birthday party; a navy knit tie on a blue gingham shirt.
My niece’s first communion celebration a couple of weeks ago. Most men, myself included, wore a blazer, white or blue shirt, chinos and loafers. I decided, unlike most of them, to add a tie, a repp one by PRL. Partly because I don’t have many occasions to wear a tie these days (our dress code at work is smart casual) and partly because you see fewer and fewer men wearing ties nowadays. I wore mine out of sheer pleasure, and it made a difference amongst the many tieless gentlemen at the celebration. Only a few of us were in the know.
Great!
Last Sunday I elected to wear an ascot to dinner. (first time) I found the item at an estate sale. Considering that the ascot is a form of tie, this was the last time I wore a tie. Loved it. Being older enables one to pull it off.
Last time I wore an ascot was because I had to. OCS.
Aside from a funeral, I can’t recall being anywhere in the past few years where a tie was required or expected. However, I enjoy wearing a tie and tend to wear a coat and tie for at least a portion of most days. For instance, I wear a tie when my wife and I go out to dinner, even if I was dressed for yardwork earlier in the day.
Typically, even at church and in the office, I am often the only tie-wearer present, and rarely do I see more than a couple of others. But, as I mentioned in another recent comment, we coat-and-tie-wearers tend to receive unsolicited compliments pretty regularly so there is that consolation.
The last time I wore a necktie was last week when I went to the dentist. I loosened my collar button and necktie before sitting down.
When he was my age (80), my father would have apologized for doing so. Times have changed.
John
small correction. It’s seaward and stearn not stern. Love that you are doing a story of my favorite store as maybe you could tell from my post yesterday. I am 78 yr old and I wear a tie out to dinner and to church. Being retired here in Vero Beach we go out probably 4 to 5 nights week plus church that is 6 times a week.
Sandy
Perhaps I will eventually come out of my shell, but I’ve been slow in warming up to this look.
Every Sunday.
Yesterday (jacket, chinos, loafers, knit silk necktie) to shuttle my son to/from a doctor’s appointment, and will don similar attire before taking him to the dentist late this afternoon I dress similarly (sometimes even a full suit with white shirt) for my own personal appointments, travel, and of course work on campus. It’s just how we roll here.
Yep, pink and green work nicely together. Lots of lovely ties on the Andover Shop website too. Hard to narrow things down to just one, but there was one example with giraffes that caught my eye.
Kind Regards,
H-U
Aw, Jeeze Louise! A run-on sentence in the post above. Someone, put me in a home now. Please.
H-U
I wear a tie, by choice, Monday through Thursday. Sure for work, but really I just have an appreciation for tailored clothing.
Bravo, Benjamin. I posted a similar comment earlier, but it seems to have been caught up in “moderation” for some reason.
I seldom wear ties, though I have a decent handful that I really like. Most of them are vintage Brooks Brothers ties, but there’s also a black grenadine I bought from Chipp and a black silk knit tie I bought eons ago. Those are the most versatile ties in my humble collection by far. The last time I wore a tie when I didn’t *really* have to was at the graduation ceremony of a young family member. Sure glad I did.
I think it’s hard to wear a shirt and tie sans jacket without looking like a waiter. No offense to waiters of course but not really a look that I care for personally.
Right. A coat sans tie is an after-work, happy-hour, weekend look. Tie sans coat is a temporary solution for when it’s really hot and/or working at your desk/conference room.
I wear a tie weekly to church and church events. I’ve been doing so since childhood. The last time I wore a tie but really didn’t need to was for a work dinner hosted at a restaurant which has the vibe of a gentleman’s club but is public. I’m sure at some point, a tie and blazer would have been mandatory there. That dinner really brought home for me that most everyone has a skewed since of what “dressing up” entails.
Almost every day, it’s ironic, wearing a tie sets me apart, albeit I wear it loose and a bit Ivy Rock.
I had to get photographed recently for an ID card, and intentionally wore a blazer and tie for the photo – don’t know how often that office had people come in with ties on for their IDs, but I felt it looked better. (Coincidentally, I wore one when I got my current driver’s license six years ago because I was on my way into work.) As it is, some of my colleagues have become more relaxed with their own attire at work unless they know they have a meeting with senior leadership or an outside stakeholder, so I’ve seen fewer ties on men, and even some uncollared shirts, which was not the norm pre-COVID…but a few of us persevere.
Similar to Charlottesville and Benjamin, I wear coat and tie or suit to work most days and church on Sunday. Frequently, I am the only one in meetings doing so, but don’t care. I am an attorney and like dressing as such and think I look better in tailored clothing than casual attire. At this point in life and my career, I cease to care what others think of my sartorial choices.
Good for you, RW. It is better to err on the side of Ivyness if cameras are involved. Or as someone once said, “It is better to be overdressed than underdressed”.
Yesterday at an 80th birthday party on the lawn under a white tent at the historical society. Maroon knit tie on a blue OCBD.
I wear one very frequently, even on an airplane, where they are always non-existent, except for male members of the crew. Last October, as I boarded an Air France flight to Paris, one of the flight attendants not only said some words of admiration, she reached out and touched the silk. On my return flight from London two weeks later; different airline (Delta), different tie; a flight attendant stopped by my seat to praise it.
Even though I am in the tie business I rarely wear a tie. Operating the business ( I am 84 ) gives me something to do. Like being in the buggy whip business, there is not the call for my product that was formerly the case.
I attended a memorial service in a church two weeks ago. I wore a blazer, oxford BD and a tie.