100 Days, 100 Ties

Thin’s in, baby. Thin is IN. Don Draper and his co-workers at Mad Men‘s upstart ad firm Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce Rowan Martin Comet Cupid Starsky & Hutch all got a new chance to show off their newest vintage ties at this past Sunday’s season premier. I had a front-row seat (on my couch) for the TV event of the summer (not counting the World Cup, LeBron James’s bad decision, CNN’s coverage of Hurricane Petrol, Pillars of the Earth, and Sanford & Son reruns).

I was so touched, that I skipped a day of wearing ties to play golf. Oh, just kidding, I could have worn a tie, it would have been too hot. Sweat stains on a tie? Not. Pretty.

My impressions of the first episode of MMIV? It was a mulligan (golf term). They laid up (another one) and Sallied the putt up to the hole (I’ll stop). They had a lot of transitions to cover–divorced Don, divorced Betty, new office digs, new Peggy wardrobe, same Joan buxomitude–and I think they just wanted to gurge them all up in Epi #1. But, in the last minute, it’s obvious that the show will quickly get up to no good. In a good way.

And, so, to honor this slow start out of the gate that will undoubtedly (please, writers?) turn into another great season, I bring you MTTW, Mod Thin Tie Week. Or just TTW, in case I’m misusing the word “Mod.” Or should I go back to MMTW (Mad Men Tie Week), my original premise promise? Nonetheless, it will be a short week, but I will make it worth your while (please, writer?), and I will have settled on a name by then. Or afterwards. By Sunday, I swear.

Less tie, less chance of hitting it w/soup

My Tie du Jour is a muted, two-tone electric blue (I think I just invented another oxymoron) from Wembley, and not only does the label create a new synthetic fabric–WEMLON (Orlon, Dacron & Rayon were just not cheesy enough)–but they give you matching ideas. Right on the label, it says (for Blue, Black or Gray Suit).The print, alas, is too small to take a picture.

All blue, black and gray suits--any Wembley ties?

That just slays me for some reason. In the 60s, when this tie was likely created (pretty sure that WEMLON was outlawed in the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, signed by Nixon & Brezhnev in May ’72), blue, black and gray suits just HAD to have accounted for 99.1% of all suits worn by non-pimps and non-Frenchmen (French pimps wear blue suits, ironiquement).

I wonder how many times that closed the deal. “Well, honey, this tag says ‘Blue, Black or Gray Suits.’ I could wear this tie every day!” And he probably put it onto a short-sleeve shirt. Sigh. Gotta show cuffs, guys, unless you’re freakin’ Sipowicz from NYPD Blue.

Until tomorrow. Thanks for reading…Brooke

This entry was posted on July 28, 2010 at 12:24 am and is filed under Guys With Ties, Tie du Jour. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.