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TRAVEL TOOLS, GREAT GADGETS & COOL STUFF TO DO
Tie One On
Loosen up, they said. Get rid of the tie. So,
corporate went casual, but much of the
creative energy that was supposed to be
unleashed was squandered trying to figure
out how casual is too casual, and now guys
are rediscovering what their fathers knew
all along: Nothing says you’re the man like
a tie, smartly selected and worn well.
Start with proportion. Today’s ties are
likely much narrower than the ones your
dad taught you to knot, and “nothing looks
worse than a skinny tie with a collar that’s
too wide,” says Michael Macko, vice president of men’s fashion at Saks Fifth Avenue.
Want to think outside the box? Don’t be
afraid to mix patterns. But again, Macko says,
proportion is key: Pair a small-check shirt
with a tie of small paisley, for example, or a
narrow-striped shirt with small polka dots.
Big polka dots? “Never,” Macko says. Unless, that is, you work for Ringling Bros. And
remember, a tie isn’t just a tie, it’s part of an
ensemble. Think holistically. “I always tell
guys, when you buy a suit, buy two shirts that
go with it, and a tie to go with each shirt,”
Macko says. “It’s so much easier to have it all
laid out at once than to go home and try to
mix and match.”
