Advice needed from the STW menswear gurus – what tie ??

For the first time for a long time, I have to wear a tie for work – but what style/colour/flavour or whatever is “in” – fat? thin? Paisley swirls? reindeer?

What’s a boy to do?

thin one

My tip would be subtle colour shirts, with colourful, yet understated ties which compliment the shirt, without looking too gauche.

For some guidance, look to TM Lewin, Charles Tyrwhitt and Roderick Charles. Their sites will all have good images as inspiration.

Tie tips;
Avoid faux-club ties. If you have a club, wear the tie, if not don’t pretend.
Silk is essential, never polyester. Woven silk is the way ahead.
Knot should be smallish, never a kevballer sized huge knot
Avoid trying to be “funny” with a tie. No one wants to look like Colin Hunt.

Some key shirt tips as well;
Double cuff only
No pockets
No button downs with a tie. Maybe OK on a Friday, but otherwise no
No short sleeves, don’t want to look like a bus driver, do you?

Pretty much what CFH said

any of these are well in at the moment

URGH!

Houns – you think sports jacket with jeans is an OK look – we don’t take no advice from someone who dresses like Calrkson.

Tie – thin and plain.

🙄

Square bottom, wool or silk, grey stripe or….

get one of these, no one will know

One of these will see you right 😆

Ask a well dressed Lady-they know.

Get a GF.

swisstony is most like my style 🙂

No short sleeves, don’t want to look like a bus driver, do you?

I’m sure I told this one before…my mate made the fatal mistake of wearing a short sleeved shirt with a tie into work one day only to be asked by the rest of the lads there: “Where’d you park your bus mate?”

Never did it again.

As for the tie question – depends on what sort of a place it is really. Light coloured shirts worn with ties with a diagonal stripe are always good, plain, double cuffed (but not stupid cufflinks…keep the fancy ones for weddings and just get the little elasticated ball type ones). Avoid clashing patterns unless you’re really brave.

Oh and learn to tie a half-windsor. Keep practising till you can do it with your eyes closed. It’s almost the perfect knot – not too big, not too small. And the tip of the tie should rest somewhere between the top and bottom of your belt. There should be no shirt showing!

If I see you wearing braces (other than for orthodonctal reasons), I’ll come to your place of work and kill you!
(only joking with that one)

s’all boll0cks though isn’t it.

thanks i am a leader of tie zeitgeist

deadlydarcy, don’t wear those ball cuff links, they come free with shirts and to me look like you haven’t got any decent cuff links or have bought a double cuff shirt by mistake.

LOL at TJ… Brilliant.

Stand up for yourself, you weakling. Protest. Claim sex discrimination or something.

Ties are the work of the devil. And bow ties are the work of the devil’s paedo-minions.

thanks i am a leader of tie zeitgeist

What??? They’re your ties? I thought you were taking the piss with that picture 😯 😛

Yeah, fair enough about the ball things…but simplicity was the thing I was trying to get across…where do they come free then? M&S?

Double cuff only
No pockets
No button downs with a tie. Maybe OK on a Friday, but otherwise no
No short sleeves, don’t want to look like a bus driver, do you?

You were doing all right up until this bit – normal button cuffs are fine and pockets are OK as long as you don’t actually use them. I’m right with CFH on the button downs and short sleeves, though.

My personal opinion:
* Don’t get too thin a tie, they look stupid with dress shirts.
* The paler you are the louder the colours you can get away with.
* Match the tie colour to the shirt, ideally with a detail colour to the suit.
* Avoid mixing stripy shirts + checked ties + stripy suits. Really avoid this one 🙂

where do they come free?

usualy either attached to a shirt or most shops have a big bowl of them in case you want to try the shirt on.

Nothing wrong with fancy cufflinks, just make sure the tie/watch/cuflinks compliment each other.

Ohhh, and be brave, why not, who says paisley doesnt go with a stripey shirt? At the very least your shirt/tie combination sparks a debate.

Go to a nice department store and pick one you like.

The nice men there will be able to advise you if you really don’t know what’s suitable for office wear.

Don’t go thin, go slim. The really thin ones look like you were dressed by the Hollyoaks stylist.

Of course width of tie relies to some extent on the type of jacket. Being a bit of an unreformed rude boy I prefer a single button no vent jacket, always a white shirt – coloured shirts are for advertising men only and to go with a jacket of that style then the tie must me under an inch wide and the knot much smaller.

Dont forget shoes as well – brown is for the country and only cads wear brogues

always a white shirt

Oooh, go for that just-out-of-school look!

Coloured shirts are fine, how loud you fancy going depends on how confident you feel. Think of a sliding scale from insecure IT types (white) to unbearable marketing bods (primary colours) and you won’t go far wrong. For interviews, pale colours are ideal.

Brown shoes are fine with very pale suits, but again you need a certain amount of confidence to pull it off. Black are a safer bet.

white face, black shirt
white socks, black shoes
black hair, white strat
bled white, died black

Sweet…