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Tag Archives: Shirts

February 6, 2009

Drake’s Of London Ties & Squares

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I love this tie and the kind folks over at Drake's taught me about madder and referred me to a piece by G. Bruce Boyer
 If you dont know him, look him up asap. 
madder- a natural dye from a Eurasian herbaceous plant, Rubia tinctoria, the root of which was used since ancient times as a regal dyestuff. Thus “ancient” madder. Since the 19th Century the dye has primarily been used on silk, producing beautifully deep, muted and soft colorations of red, green, chocolate, medium blue, and yellow. Silk dyed in this manner is characterized by a dusty-looking finish and a feel (referred to as a chalk hand by the experts) very much like a fine suede, and a matte finish. And not just any silk. A special “gum” silk, is used. The silk is first boiled to remove its natural gum (an organic resin), dyed, and then the fabric is bathed in a new gum-based solution that gives it its characteristic soft handle and heft. 

Today the process is employed mainly for neckwear printed in England in a paisley or small geometric pattern. The coloring agent in madder root – called alizarin — was in fact first chemically extracted and then synthesized in 1869 by two English chemists. Although the dyeing process, even today, requires a variety of painstaking steps, synthesized alizarin brought the price within the reach of commercial producers, and paisley-designed silks of ancient madder became popular in the second-half of Victoria’s reign for neckwear and scarves. 

Paisley madder ties have been a status symbol on college campuses since the 1930s, as a natty alternative to the traditional striped tie. Paired with a tweed sports jacket, they’re as conservatively colorful and slightly idiosyncratic today as ever.

This next group of ties are in the crystal weave, a very old fashioned cloth that was originally done for college reppe stripe ties. The smart folks at Drake's thought they'd give it a nice little twist to quote Michael Hill. The plaid is five colored special warp so very unusual and not easy to weave. The gingham is also an end on end warp (woven with both black and white in the warpP1140451P1140452

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January 12, 2009

“The funny thing is, people think light colors are for summer only”

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This gents kit is remarkable huh!? Plaids for days, the tartan lining revealed under his made in England Brooks Brothers camel, bone/horn toggle, duffle just pops off the mustard n light blue  plaid shirt, love how the classic Burberry check scarf is strewn and almost abandoned over his casual posture, there's an heir of regal deliverance in his face as he lightly peruses the flea market, the tortoise shell spectacles add a nice touch of intellectual demure…I aint the least bit mad about the way he accessorizes the periwinkle wide wale cords with the canary yellow banded n butterscotch leather strap belt, that match the gloves, neither…notice as one is stylishly removed unveiling the imperial crested  ivory  engraved gold pinky ring, possibly a family heirloom, or a Masonic symbol, maybe its both and he found it out thrifting…but oh, lemme find out that he actually has a timepiece tucked into his watch pocket and a gold fob too boot- and shoes are always of grave importance as we all know, so is a proper break with or without a cuff, this is honored here with a casual two tone suede buck, another great find, candid as always, you know MISTER MORTs intention may have been to find a rare pair of cuff links but instead, he finds gems like this cat here. A Country Gentlemen at its finest.