Archive for the ‘Tie du Jour’ Category

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I know you’re knot, but what am tie?

March 22, 2012

Are y’all ready for this? [insert techno/dance/sports arena music. loudly]

It’s time to get back on the 100D100T horse. I know you’re probably saying that you’ve probably heard this before, probably even from me. But, I’m serious!

All sorts of stuff going on in Tieland. Chris and I are trying to get TieXchange.com out there, for all to enjoy. All of you who wish to wear ties, that is.

This Tie du Jour is going to be of the grab-bag variety. I’m just going to go into my folder and grab the first tie that grabs me. In fact, I can even start to describe it, without seeing it.

This TdJ is much longer than it is wide, on a scale of almost 20-to-1! It can – and has – been manipulated into some sort of fashionable knot, at the picture subject’s (me) neck (my neck). The color is probably not puke green, nor puke brown, nor even puke blue (long story). It has a tag, and pointy ends.

The winning tie is…[drumroll please]

It’s a! It’s a! It’s a Paul Fredrick! No surprise there, since it’s the brand of which I have the most, thanks to their generosity. They will be a big part of TieXchange, as they have donated 30 ties to our inventory. And that’s not to mention the 10 ties that they gave me a couple of years ago, just because they liked my blog. I have bought a bunch of them, too, from their website as well as from various thrift stores. I think this is my 14th PF tie on 100D100T.

This particular tie, besides its obvious dimensional prerequisites, is a lovely medallion design of blue, brown and gold. This particular photo, however, takes us back to the days of the crapiPhone camera. Sigh.

I have a Guy With Tie here, who’s even a GWT alum, if memory serves. John Noyes is a fun friend of mine here in Evanston. He’s with 1st Advantage Mortgage, and he’s the founder of the Evanston Real Estate Trolley. John chaperones a dozen or two people on a monthly tour of Sunday open houses in Evanston. It’s a great idea that will catch on…

Thanks for reading…Brooke

 

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Happy Valentie’s Day

February 14, 2012

Well, I’m actually writing about today’s Tie du Jour, since my subject was named by Julia. It’s kind of obvious, but I’d not thought about it. Good to know that part of my wacko brain has been passed on for the next generation.

This magnanimous celebration of pink was created by Izod; or, more likely, an Izod buyer claimed 100 just like it at a clothing mart and had 100 Izod tags attached to it. The pink really called out to folks today, as it garnered a few compliments. I don’t think it’ll make TieXchange level, as it has a small pull in the tip.

It’s from the PKos collection, aka the ties of the late, great Paul Kostuik. Paul was not only the father of my friend Paula, but also a very good friend of my parents. Paul’s widow, Donna, sent a box of spectacular strips to Paula for her to give to me. They are worn proudly as I salute the Kostuiks.

Thanks for reading…Brooke

 

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TieKO

January 29, 2012

It is time. Time to reason with myself. I’m not going to write a full blog post for all of the ties that I’ve tossed into the procrastination bin. It’s time to catch up, and knock a bunch out.

This will be a lightning round, a TdJ marathon and a necktiepalooza all rolled into one. And I won’t forget all the Guys With Ties, and Girls With Ties, who made it fun along the way.

Ready, steady, go.

I start out, rather fittingly, with this tagless striped strip. I am pretty sure I got it from my friend Paul Giddings’ collection. I’m also pretty sure that Paul never put it with a plaid shirt. Hmm, not sure this works…good thing I can’t wear this tie again.

I get a little bit better (not everyone would agree) with Lightning Rounder #2…this Enrico Rossini paisley tie has a nice orange/brown tinge (not everyone would think that sounds great), and matches up nicely with my shirt’s stripes (not everyone uses parentheses three times in a paragraph).

By the way, it’s probably not possible for you, dear reader, to notice, but my tie-wearing ensembles have been a bit less formal lately. I’m only wearing suits about 10% of the time that I wear ties, which is a pretty polar opposite of my time at the Evanston Chamber. My Few Spirits, TieXchange and State Farm duties have been a bit more casual, and it’s never good to find myself in a suit when something needs to be lifted at the distillery.

After all that blahblah about not wearing suits so much, this next TdJ-shirt ensemble was actually sported with one. It’s another great tie, made with more beautiful fabric, by my friends at Paul Fredrick. This will definitely be a TieXchange tie, very soon…where it will join 40 other Paul Fredricks.

Next is a spectacular blue from Hugo Boss. It was given to me by a spectacular woman, my girlfriend, Andrea. I wore this tie with her, and she sparkled as much as it did that night.

We enter into the much-less-sparkling-and-spectacular arena with the next one, a vintage wool tie under Italian designer Gino Pompeii’s Nik-Nik line.

Aaaaand, back to the silk with this brown and blue striped number from Jones New York. While it would be somewhat muted on a plain white shirt, I decided to doll it up with this aquamarine shirt.

Well, I’m up to 6 here. First time I’ve gone with more than 1, if memory serves. Feeling a bit crowded, but…Onward and sevenward?

We stick with our pattern of new tie/vintage tie (a nice way of saying TieXchange-worthy/non-TieXchange-worthy) with yet another brown tie. This is from Huntley’s, which was a men’s store in Evanston until the 70s or 80s.

And here I come to my first Guy With Tie, who, it turns out, is actually a BWT (Brother With Tie). My younger brother, Grant, who has made an appearance as a BWT before. He lives in Denver with his wife, Mo.

Forging on to Nos. 8-10 (which puts us in the 339 ties realm), let’s make this a lightning round of the lightning round…

Some Fruit Stripe stripes from Kenneth Cole…my not-so-crapIphone camera went back to crapi on this one. It’s a lot less muted in real life.

And this next tie is pretty funny. From a designer called Linnea Franco, I picked it up at a resale shop, probably Unique Thrift Store. But, I didn’t really check the length when I bought it. So, when I put it on, it only came down  between my bellybutton and my medulla oblongata. Wait, that’s not right, that’s in the brain. Sternum? It’s the sternum! Dang brain. Anyway, the tie was obviously built for a child, or Peter Dinklage. Soooo, I threw a sweater over it. Silly me for not taking the pic in its infinite shortitude. Wimp.

Okay, now the lightning round will come to a close with another Hugo Boss effort. Bright red with little squares. Aaaand, I’m done with knocking out these 10. But, I guess there weren’t so many GWTs, but there will be some in the next few days. Promise.

Thanks for reading…Brooke

 

 

 

 

 

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RIP Rusty Cavataio

January 20, 2012

Well, I see that I could have taken that subject field in a couple different ways. RIP Rus-tie Cavataio, or RIP Rusty Cava-tie-o. Either of those would have been pretty basal. Way too common for perhaps my favorite coach.

Over the years, I have liked most of my coaches. In fact, I can’t think of a bad one. Oh, wait, there’s one. Ah. And another. No matter, this isn’t about them, the not-so-great coaches. Some of my coaches were my PE teachers. Since I played soccer (British eq.: football), I’ve definitely had the most of that flavor. But, I’ve had football coaches, baseball coaches, basketball coaches, cheerleading coaches (oh yes he di-id), swimming coaches, a tennis coach and probably a golf coach for a lesson or two.

Many of these coaches were with me for longer than a season, being teachers at my various schools. The one that stands out for me was rather a flash in the pan, at least to me. Coach Rusty Cavataio was in his first year at Christian Brothers High School, and he took over the JV baseball team. He made our team so much fun that we became almost unbeatable. Well, that’s an untrue statement, since we lost our first game, to a varsity team. We only lost 1 more game all season, going something like 23 & 2. I think we said it was an exhibition, but, really, aren’t all JV games exhibitions?

Anyway, as a side note, I’ll take you to the bottom of the 7th (the last inning) of that first game. We were getting crushed. 14-zip. I get tabbed to go pinch-hit to lead off and start our rally. First pitch, I swing. I’m so far from hitting it, it’s a joke. Second pitch, a curve ball that doesn’t curve. I somehow remember to duck the beanball attempt. Somehow it calms me, and I give a little butt-shake. Third pitch, I hit the holy living shit out of the ball to left field. We weren’t playing on a field with a wall, but it would have gone over any wall in baseball. I could have run around twice, it rolled so far. 14-1, and in my high school baseball career, I’m 1-for-1 with a dinger. Should’ve retired. Glad I didn’t.

And, thus concludes the glory days portion of today’s 100D100T. Back to Stump, which is what we called the 5’6″ (being generous) Coach Cavataio. Coach was so great to all of us, cussin’ and teasin’…it really was the most fun team I’ve ever been on. After Coach’s obit was posted on Facebook, a couple of other ball players mentioned his famous drill. We had to hold a small rectangular piece of wood in our glove hand, and he would screech grounders to us on a parking lot. We had to learn to field with our other hand, too, pinching the ball with both hands and our ‘mitt.’ We weren’t able to stop until the whole team cleanly fielded grounders all in a row. Amazing team builder. I really am surprised one of us didn’t go out and play an inning with one of those boards in our hand. We…our team…would have done that for Coach. I’d have loved to have told him how much I’ve thought of that drill over the years. When I go back later this fall for my 25th high school reunion, I’m sure there will be many stories told about that season.

Anyway, my Tie du Jour is bedecked in CBHS  purple and gold (we are the purple wave). Although I’m thinking Coach abhorred wearing ties (he seemed much more comfortable in those BIKE coaching shorts), he may have given in to these colors. Rest in Peace, Coach Cavataio…Godspeed.

Thanks for reading…Brooke

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Too little, tie late

January 16, 2012

‘Twas a bad, bad week for football in the state of Louisiana. And ’twas a bad, bad week for the so-called lucky tie effect. The state of Louisiana, consisting mostly of Saints and Bayou Bengal fans, mourneth.

Last year, I waited too long to wear my New Orleans Saints tie, as they lost in their first playoff game. Once again, I forgot to wear it leading up to their wild card game last week against the Detroit Lions. They came through and gave me a chance to wear it again, but to little avail. I sported my NFL Shop Saints tie, given to me a couple of birthdays ago by my parents. It features a menagerie of Saints memorabilia, in the genre of oh-wow-grandpa-paints?-I-guess-we-should-buy-it. The Fleurs de Lis are cool. This will likely not make it to TieXchange, unless I get an inordinate number of Louisiana members.

I have spoken before about my preference for the half-windsor knot; it gives a symmetry, and some size, without getting too sizey. But, I think we have found the quadruple-windsor, here. I’ll stick with football for a bit longer, with ESPN’s Merrill Hoge and his HU-MAWN-GOUS knot. He could be hiding his lunch in there.

Thanks for reading…Brooke

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Let Bygones Be Tiegones

January 13, 2012

Sometimes I don a tie, and feel that it was one that I wore back in the high school days. I wore a tie to school every day in junior high (dark blue in 7th grade, our choice in 8th) as well as high school. Ah, Catholicism…

Solid as Iraq

My Tie du Jour is from days gone by. It’s a vintage knit from the Royal Knight collection from Joslins, a company so out-of-date that it is ungoogleable. This is a kid’s tie, as it barely had enough tie to make it down to my belt. I don’t think you can see from the picture, but the tail is held together by the tie bar.

This day was a pretty big day in the history of TieXchange. Friend and a many-time GWT, Dr. Vince Roberts (of Reavy Rehab) submitted the first picture of his TieXchange tie, a purple striped beauty from Astor & Black. This was a former 100D100T strip, from last April. Another friend, and former GirlWT, Billie Kershasky, is a sales rep for A&B.

Thanks for reading…Brooke

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Roll Tied Roll

January 10, 2012

Well, it was a well-deserved victory last night. Not only did ‘Bama win the BCS national championship, they also won placement as 100 Days, 100 Ties subject header, over ‘Geaux Tiegers.’ I’m sure they are reserving a spot in their substantial trophy case to prominently display a screen shot of my blog.

Funny story about Alabama. I only applied to three colleges – Georgia Tech, U of Illinois & Alabama. Tech admitted me first, and then I chose Illinois when they let me in (they pledged that the weather would be MUCH better). But the best admission came from Bama, from whom I received a packet addressed to ‘Miss Brooke Saucier.’ Yes, they had accepted me as a woman. Over the next few weeks, I got letters from prospective sororities, and a note from my resident advisor in my dorm, who said something to the effect that she knew about all the best parties.. My thoughts immediately went to how much fun it would be to shock not only my roommate, but her daddy. “Hi, I’m your roommate. Brooke. When’s shower time around here?” Oh, but, alas, Bama’s new student week perfectly coincided with U of I, so I wasn’t able to give a poor fella from Montgomery a heart attack.

As for my Tie du Jour, I thought it best to wait on the purple and gold tie that would have celebrated a victory for the ‘Geaux Tiegers’ subject header. Better to let the wounds heal. This strip from Perry Ellis may be just the soother that Bayou Bengal country needs. Its texture goes pretty well with that of my gray (British eq: grey) shirt. Well, I’m just so proud of myself, aren’t I?

I’d like to introduce a new Guy With Tie here. Paul Zalmezak is a planner with the City of Evanston’s Economic Development Department, focusing on technology and its place in the Evanston business community. He was meeting over at CoLab Evanston, where TieXchange offices. Great guy. Great tie.

Thanks for reading…Brooke

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White Ties Can’t Jump

January 9, 2012

Since my memory is not as good as it was since before I can remember, I’m changing things up here. I mentioned in my last post that I have 18 ties to write about, and I can’t keep letting weeks (oh, ok, months) go between wearing and writing about ’em. There are just too many things that are going on in life, and I want to make the posts timely. So, this post will actually be for a tie that I wore today; I’ll probably post about a past tie tomorrow, or on a day that I don’t wear a tie. Must. Catch. Up.

So, my Tie du Jour, I’m afraid to say, reminds me of Alabama’s colors, crimson and white. It’s from Arrow, and it is pure white. Of course, I wore it with a red, checked shirt. I blame the fact that it was early in the morning when I got dressed. I did tone it down a bit, wearing a gray (British eq: grey) v-neck sweater over it all. Not sure if this one will make it to TieXchange.

Yeesh…my Cajun relatives will be very upset with me. I probably shouldn’t mention that I had a gorgeous, purple and gold strip from Lee Allison, ready to go. I’ll just wear it tomorrow, after they win. I have a New Orleans Saints tie that I’ll need to sport by the end of the week. Got to show some love for the state of my conception*. So, tomorrow’s subject will be based on the winner of tonight’s game: Geaux Tiegers or Roll Tied Roll. A little bet with myself.

*No, I do NOT know the actual story of my conception. (Ew.) I do, however, know that my parents moved to Memphis 6 months before I was born. Math. Conception. Know it.

We have a couple of GWTs here…one Guy With Tie and one Girl With Tie.

Our GuyWT is Chip Grogg (call him Grogg). I met him with his business partner, Sallie Arant, a former neighbor of mine. They’d stopped by the distillery, and he was wearing this very cool, vintage tie. He upped the ante by sending this shot of his tie cubby. Oh, man, some of these fabrics are soooooo cool. Color me jealous.

But, check this tie out…Vanessa Walilko has a jewelry/fashion design company called Kali Butterfly. Amazing chainmaille necklaces, bracelets, earrings, even clothing. She made this scale tie…it resembles a beautiful fish, doesn’t it? I’m afraid I may have to wear this one day. Kinda even matches her phone case, dudnit?

Thanks for reading…Brooke

 

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Can’t spell ‘Tim Tebow’ without T-I-E…

January 9, 2012

Not wearing a Tebow Tie

I figured I may as well strike the Tebow search engine while it’s at its hottest. Even though my TdJ was worn about 2 months ago, I’m moved to mention today’s Tim Tebow’s playoff victory with the Denver Broncos. It was a very fun game to watch, as Tebow tebunked his image as an all-run-no-throw QB against the vaunted Pittsburgh Steelers defense. First play of overtime, long pass to Demaryius Thomas, turn out the lights, thank you for coming, drive carefully.

So, back to the fashion portion of the blog. Or, rather, back to what passes for fashion with me.

Air-men-eh-HEEL-doe

My Tie du Jour hearkens back to a pronunciation lesson that I posted many months ago. Ermenegildo Zegna crafted this light-green, striped beauty. So much quality in this tie. The subtlety of the colors, the weight of the fabric, everything. This will be a big hit on TieXchange, I can tell.

And now I have another thing to count. The number of ties that I have worn that remain un-posted. Yikes, it’s up to 16. Wait, that’s a lie. I have one on my crapiPhone (yes, I do think my pix have made their way back to crapi). That makes 17. And, the lie gets more lie-y…I’m wearing another. Eighteen ties. May need to have a marathon writing session here soon.

Thanks for reading…Brooke

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Ich bin Tien Berliner

January 6, 2012

In a very famous linguistic incident, a very famous tie-wearer, President John F. Kennedy tried to announce to a raucous crowd of Berliners that he, too was a Berliner. Unfortunately, adding the ein in there meant he was claiming to be a jelly donut.

In the past couple of years, it’s been cool to see where 100 Days 100 Ties has shown up, electronically speaking. WordPress has a great statistics interface that shows you how people are finding your blog. Today I was intrigued by the fact that 3 users had come to the page via a German blog called ‘Tie Society.’ I went there, scrolled down about three or four posts, and voila! A mention of 100D100T. All in German, of course. So, for 5 frenetic minutes, I cut/pasted to Yahoo’s Babelfish website, hoping to get a sense of what they said about me (and hoping they didn’t think I was ein Jellydonut.

I love Babelfish, by the way. When you enter full sentences to translate, it usually throws back some fairly hilarious English equivalents. Here is the last sentence of the Tie Society post (which assures me that they’re on board with the concept of 100D100T):

For all the little experimentation joy, offer the side thus a row at carrying and combination variants and the whole have are simply a funny and unterhaltsame idea.

Unterhaltsame, upon further research, is German for ‘entertaining.’ I can take funny and entertaining!

My Tie du Jour (or Krawatte des Tages – KdT – in German) is a skinny one. Very synthetic and very very vintage. It’s from the house of Haband’s. Not sure if I’d wear this pukey-colored mustard on many other articles of clothing, but it seems to be okay on this strip. The cornflower-y blue helps a bit. It pains me to imagine the original owner of this tie potentially wearing this with a pair of matching, pukey-mustard pants. Sansabelts. [shudder]

There is a blog/tiemaker/retailer that I follow a bit, Ellie Laveer. She makes custom bow ties via her company the Cordial Churchman. She and her husband are posting one gorgeous bow tie per day in 2012. Check them out…the fabrics are simply stunning, almost like you can feel them online. I’d love to get some of her ties onto TieXchange.

Thanks for reading…Brooke

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