366 Bow Ties: Day 82

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Well, I've gotten behind on these posts, and I'm afraid I have no good excuse. Except perhaps that Ellie is hogging the computer. Something about an e-commerce gig selling---I forget---bow ties, or something?

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The big news that's not new anymore, but is represented in this post, is that I shaved my beard, leaving only the mustache that I'd been leaving be since Bow Tie Day 1. That is, since January 1. Just in time to go to Family Fun Night at Deacon's school.

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It's kind of a big deal. Because I don't want to be a 'hipster', whatever that exactly is. I'm not going for 'ironic', exactly. But it is ironic that I think a mustache is kinda cool after thinking they were utterly ridiculous for so long. I'm justifying the move by doing the Rollie Fingers thing. Handlebar. Curly. Yup.

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I figured I'd document some of the initial reaction as well.

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Everyone was so astonished by the stache that they failed to notice the saddles. Bought these at the thrift a long time ago. But they're black, with brown. I don't know what to do with black. I'd make a lousy goth. But I figured out what to do with them: take off the laces, and the socks, roll up the denim, and boom.

Speaking of missing other important things: the bow tie! Used to be a Polo Ralph Lauren slender neck tie, which I liked quite a bit. But there it went: into the demolition and resurrection pile. The money is going to Haiti, I figure. It's a gorgeous bow tie: navy with these golden paisley do-dads. Narrow, if I remember correctly. Good stuff. Yours for a mere $29. 

366 Bow Ties: Day 81

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For those really hot days, trade your navy blazer in for a matching headscarf. Ok, just kidding. Our friend and very cordial churchman saw this luxurious UK silk fabric for sale and thought it had TCC written all over it. (Not literally, silly.)

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Run and grab this club diamond cut pink and blue silk bow tie now. There'll be a limited run of them available soon, but wouldn't you like to own the first? 

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I spent a couple hours in the new TCC studio Wednesday, just horsing around. The boss even bought me Vietnamese!

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Cliffe also made his presence known, though, like me, lent no real helping hand. We like to think of our value proposition as "lightening the mood" and "consuming surplus Vietnamese fare", which I'm sure you'll agree are both slam dunks.

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Spring has really begun springing in Carolina the Southern this week--so much so that we got to eat dinner outside for the first time, on our friends' deck. It was the second consecutive Taco Night, but who's counting? I am, and I'd do it again tonight.

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It was a gorgeous day to be a Carolinian, and to enjoy our fine town---which, while we're talking about food, is about to be graced by a Jimmy Johns sub shop. They offer free smells if you're ever in the neighborhood. Our historic downtown has several quality indie restaurants, but until Jimmy Johns, no chains. I'm one to always favor indie over chain, but the presence of JJs represents some economic viability that our splendid town needs in order to see a sustainable revitalization of our Old Town district. I'm honored to be friends with some of the fine people who are working hard and smart toward this goal. And who knows--perhaps TCC will one day open up a storefront to complement our Main St. studio.

 

March 21, 2012

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Andy blogs › Bowties ›


Sweet Sixteen!

March Madness, sartorial style. Why not vote for us?

Our friends at Great Lakes Prep are getting their madness on, and we need your help. We defeated Vineyard Vines in the last round. I think we can go all the way. We're in a close race in the Sweet Sixteen right now with Streaker Sports. You can vote once/day, it seems like.

So….vote!

Thanks!
Cordially,
Andy

366 Bow Ties: Days 77-80ish

Okay, we're going to play a little catch-up here.

The new studio is in full working order (except for an internet connection, which, for an internet-based business, tends to be important), and the ladies are enjoying the elbow room to work together and collaborate much more than they used to. I am enjoying having the craziness mostly confined to another address than my own, as well as the solitude I am afforded by my new study.

The 366 project is still going strong. But the problem is that I can't just wake up, exclaim that I need a bow tie--stat!--and have Ellie make one for me right on the spot, the next bedroom over. Which means we all have to do something that doesn't come very natural to us: plan ahead. So the above photograph represents something truly revolutionary in the 366 project thusfar: a 4-day plan for bow ties.

The first of the bunch (2nd from the top on the cutting board) was a great choice for St. Patrick's day. Orange oxford shirt (some Protestant identity for you), geeky clip-on suspenders, blue jeans, and a green plaid bow tie.

St. Patrick's Day is always fun in Rock Hill. This year's event was fun for most people. I, however, spilled my Killians (the only Irish-esque beer available on the street [FAIL!]) while waiting for 40 minutes in line for Deacon to get a balloon sword from a clown for he and his brother, who was asleep in the stroller. Both swords broke within the hour. Oh well.

On Sunday we had church. Daniel, my intern, wore a bow tie, but forgot to tie it. (Mr Stephen Crotts, illustrator.)

I wore, and tied, the Braden madras.

You can't really tell here, for various reasons. But it's true--I wore it. Buy just this one at a discount.

Monday was my day off, and I dressed up more than I did for church on Sunday. Oops. My buddy Ray dropped by and we were both looking so classic American that we had to have a photo together. Nothing like a blue blazer and khakis.

The bow tie is a rusty red-orange with paisley, formerly a necktie. A pretty rad bow tie.

My boys are growing up very fast. Wow. There they are hamming it up at Rock Hill's new Riverwalk.

The Riverwalk complex includes a fantastic velodrome. You've really got to see it for yourself. Wow. Them bikers get up on that there embankment real high like.

Tuesday I pulled wrinkly Bill's Khakis Weathered Canvas from the dryer and threw them right on. I'm actually losing some weight and they're going to have to be taken in soon--but they fit nicely for the first day after being laundered. Sturdy nonchalance. Mmm.

Wore a brown plaid with red and yellow accents, a pretty un-flashy bow tie, but with a little attitude since cut in diamond point.

Paired the Bill's with my new Wolverine 1000 Mile Boots, and stole Ellie for a photo with hers. What great boots. We're very thankful to 1K for partnering with us for the 366 Bow Ties project. You know you're wearing a great shoe when you wear it all day, take it off, and all you smell is leather, leather, leather.

Go grab these bow ties while they last. Some of them will never be seen again, unless you happen to know whoever buys them. And don't forget that all the proceeds go to Haiti, to help build a school there.

Cordially,

Andy

 

366 Bow Ties: Day 75

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Cobbled together from leftovers from two custom orders, today's tie is a looker. Reddish orange chambray on one side, patch madras on the other. Rendered in straight batwing cut.

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This may be the last day in which it's appropriate to wear spring-ish bow ties for the next week or so---the weather forecast calls for solid electrical storms booked through next week. It'll be time to break out the more subdued ties for a while, and to throw on the ridiculous and awesome Le Chameau wellies.

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Get this bow tie today, or it's gone forever, never to be duplicated.

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With the warmer weather, it feels great to wear Bill's Khakis M3 Original Twills instead of denim. They were wrinkly as heck from having a pile of sport coats on top of them on my valet. Threw them in the dryer for 10 minutes this morning, and they were perfect: not wrinkled, but not pressed and creased either. In ohter words, casual. Chill. Comfy. American.

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And speaking of American: Oak Street Bootmakers pennies. Got to wear them sockless today. I love sockless. One of the pennies fell out of these pennies. Is that bad luck? I also read recently that it was ladies that first put pennies into penny loafers. Whoops. Oh well.

Happy bow tying.

Andy

366 Bow Ties: Day 62 - Black Tie Optional

I wish I could say that I had my snappy attire all planned out well in advance of this black tie optional event. Not so. Thanks to my good friend, Dr. Ray, however, I was able to secure a tuxedo at the 11th hour, and Ellie had one of her luxurious satin black bow ties all ready to tie up.

And it's a good thing, too, because about 50% of the gents at the event were in black tie. I don't think I've worn a tuxedo since our wedding in 2002, and I didn't wear a bow tie then. (Shameful!) So it was especially exciting to dress the part last Saturday for the Arts Council of York County's annual 'An Artsy Affair' gala.

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Since we--despite the fact that we run a bow tie company--are decidedly plebeian, most everyone in whose company we were delighted to spend the evening were folks we didn't yet know. And it was exciting to make the acquaintance of several of our community's long-time servants, arts patrons, businesspeople, and keepers of the culture. But the other advantage of this situation is that it truly felt like an Andy-and-Ellie date. We got to enjoy each other's company more exclusively than if we had shown up with our plebeian posse. And that's not at all a bad thing.

It so happened that my drink of choice for the evening was gin and tonic, and that my mustache wax emitted the same aroma. Hence, with each stolen kiss, Ellie would nod her head and declare: "Gin and Tonic." Indeed.

The other exciting thing about this semi-formal event was that I got to wear French cuffs--and with them, the cuff links my mother got me for Christmas in 2010. They're black and silver--so the elegance, I would like to believe, is retained. But they, of course, are repurposed old typewriter keys. "Shift" shown here.

Check out more photos of the 2012 'An Artsy Affair' here.

To get hold of this exclusive, elegant black satin tie-it-yourself-and-make-all-the-ladies-melt-and-beg-you-to-fetch-them-a-gin-and-tonic bow tie, go ye here, and get ye there in haste.

And take your special lady out for an elegant affair sometime. Borrow a friend's tux. Drink a gin and tonic or two. Spend a few extra minutes shaping the 'ole mustache. Fold the white silk pocket square meticulously. Open the door for her. Mingle with your betters. Slow dance. Enjoy good things with a thankful heart.

Cordially,

Andy

PS--Congrats to one of our favorite local customers, Mr. Jay Rinehart, who won the auction for a set of madras and seersucker bow ties and neck ties from TCC. Glad to support the Arts Council of York County!

366 Bow Ties: Day 67

This is the first bow tie Ellie made in the new studio. It's a silk navy bow tie with white stripes and a thin red pencil stripe surrounding each white stripe. A handsome, classic bow tie if I ever saw one--and cut in Classic Butterfly shape.

When wearing, try to look like less of a goober than this fella above--especially when making a key presentation in front of 40 people. The only redeeming quality here is new Wolverine 1000 Mile Boots in tan. A fantastic pair of boots, and the best I've ever owned, period. More about these to come soon. We're thrilled that they've contributed them in support of our 366 Bow Ties project for Haiti. Speaking of 'more to come'--we're excited about the details of our project that are coming together, and very hopeful that we might end up visiting Haiti ourselves toward years' end.

There she is--'she' being the bow tie, on the cutting table, in the new studio. We'll post more about the new studio soon. It's a really exciting transition for us.

One can restore one's self confidence after being snagged in a goobery photo by cleaning the kitchen. Hey--I just remembered there's one other mark in the 'plus' category here: Bill's Khakis pima cords. Thanks to Bill's also for their generous participation. (It looks, by the way, that they've got themselves a handsome new website. Check it out, and get a pair of the best khakis in the world, made in USA.)

Run and grab Day 67's bow tie before it's gone forever. And you can be a part of history: the owner of the first bow tie ever made in the new TCC studio. We should be framing it, but instead we're offering it to you and sending the money to Haiti.

Cordially,

Andy

366 Bow Ties: Day 65

I'm really a lot more happy about this bow tie than this picture would make you believe. In fact, this is a true favorite: a brown cashmere diamond-point with a VERY subtle orange-y pinkish (??) herringbone pattern. As you can see, it's so subtle that the non-up-close photos hardly even hint that it's there.

This favorite of mine is actually no longer available---AFTER this one is gone. (If one is attune to the TCC archives, one would be aware that this used to constitute half of The Clevelander--a reversible cashmere number with an equally brown with orange-y subtleness occupying the oposite side.)

It doesn't really make sense to wear this with red and navy socks, but that's what I had on when the bow tie was finally made...so back off! Besides, once you've got Oak Street Bootmakers pennies on, and are digging the look with the denim and the striped socks, there's no going back.

There---I'm happier looking. The oxford button down is an unthinkable cotton-poly 60/40 blend. But it's pale pink, it was cheap from the thrift store, and it fits: considerations that for now outweigh my hatred for polyester.

Okay, time to run over to the store and purchase this bow tie before you have no more opportunity EVER. Don't mean to be alarmist. Just stating the truth as plainly as possible. This is cashmere, which makes it worth much more than the very generous price point at which it shall be sold. And don't forget that all the proceeds go to our development project in Haiti.

366 Bow Ties: Day 54 - NYC

Apparently this gentleman has been working in Grand Central Station for as long as anyone can remember. When I approached him about his willingness to be photographed, he replied that his likeness has been carted off all over the world by tourist-photographers, so this was just par for the course. A true gentleman.

And fittingly attired considering the grandeur of his workplace. Truly a breathtaking building. Thank goodness they didn't tear it down to 'modernize' at some point. And thank goodness they never asked him to 'update' his uniform.

I had the privilege of hearing a lecture by Japanese-American abstract artist Makoto Fujimura about his childhood and adult experience with Leutze's Washington Crossing the Delaware. He blew to bits all the nonsensical political correctness surrounding attempts to exclude the painting from the history canon due to its excessive patriotism and nationalism, pointing out that there's a black man, a woman, and a Native American in the boat with Washington, and that the painting was done by a German national.

Then we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and got to experience the painting first hand. A 45 minute subway ride and walk in order to see just one painting. It looks big there. It's actually bigger. Very, very big. And stunning. It was actually a very emotional experience for me, being humbled under the mastery of the painter, his work, and his subject. And I couldn't help but think beyond the American experiment into the realm of the church and its hope for the nations. More to say here than is appropriate for a blog about bow ties, I'm afraid.

I contemplated all this in the company of another scholar-haberdasher hanging out at the Met. Notice all the fabric bolts in the background, the books in the foreground, and the chap's impeccable attire. Ralph Earl's rendering of the early republic's gentleman-entrepreneur is pretty fantastic. Apparently Elijah Boardman founded Boardman and Medina, OH--very close to my hometown.

I spent the rest of the day hitting up some of the men's stores I'd been wanting to see: the Brooks Brothers and J. Press flagships on Madison Ave. (That's me and Eddie Brooks hanging out above; and that's a tailor who used to work at Brooks and now works at J. Press below. He's been doing made-to-measure suiting on Madison Avenue for some 35 years.

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Our friend and collaborator Jesse Thorn from Put This On interviewed this fella recently. Give it a watch.

I also got to see the J. Crew Liquor Store, a men's capsule store that features great brands beyond J. Crew. A very, very cool place.

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And of course we had to do some touristy things, see iconic movie scenes, etc.

The bow tie, you ask?

The bow tie is a glen plaid rendered in club diamond shape, and snazzy as can be. The micro-pattern of the glen plaid allowed me to experiment with an otherwise tough-to-pair-with-patterned-ties J. Crew gingham oxford. Different scales make pattern pairing work. And you can't get more classic than glen plaid--even though it's not typically a neckwear pattern. And that's just the thing: take something traditional, use it in a non-traditional way, and boom---you're automatically freaking awesome.

Be awesome and buy this bow tie. And then wear it to all the places I got to see in NYC.

[PS--I know I'm getting behind on my posts. Fear not--I've been wearing a new bow tie every day, and eventually they'll all get blogged. But the NYC trip has got me backed up--there's just so much to blog about. Once I get through that, the posts will be quicker, and boring-er. ("So, I wore a bow tie to Chick-Fil-A again...") Hang in there.]

PSS--I almost forgot! The Levi's Meatpacking store! What a great place. I enjoyed talking shop with Ashley their merchandiser, and we hope to carry some more of our bow ties and neck ties there soon--as we did when they opened just over a year ago. Read about all that awesomeness here.

366 Bow Ties: Day 53 - NYC

Day 2 of my recent NYC trip started out as it should: coffee at 2 local-as-can-be coffee joints. It was rainy, so I did the logical thing: I wore tweed and carried around a leather satchel, sans umbrella. Nice one, dork.

It was pretty amazing to get to see so many famous paintings at the MoMA, or Museum of Modern Art. Many thanks to Target for getting me and a throng of cheapskate art appreciators in for free. I didn't really plan it, but this Van Gogh piece and my outfit kind of go nicely together.

Aaaahhh...the NYC Subway. I didn't pay a lick of attention to where we were, where to get off, which way to exit to the street, etc. I just followed the crowd who knew where they were going. I spent a good chunk of the day swiping my card with poor touch at the turnstiles and smashing my leg into the metal bar. Oh well. By Sunday I took public transit, with several subway detours and an airport shuttle connection--all without an iPhone and without my friends I'd been blindly following all weekend. Pride.

After having a Chemex from Joe at AuBreve coffee near Cooper Union, we've been brewing like this at home ever since. Smooth, clean cup of coffee. They've just started selling bulk Intelligentsia coffee at the Earth Fare in our neighborhood. Yum.

Got to snag some sample swatches from Mood Fabrics and other stores in the fashion/garment district. Excited about some colorful Irish Linens that may end up in our new specialty line--more info TBA.

What was funny is that I was approached by a young lady panicking over which of two very plastic-y fabrics to buy. She was used to doing administration for a TV network, but got sent to the fabric store to buy fabric for a rain poncho for a TV show. She was concerned about which fabric had the most 'drape'. I faked it, and she felt helped. Confidence, right? It's NYC.

The bow tie was "The Hound" --- pulled from DEEEEEP in the Cordial Churchman archives, and made especially for this trip. It was one of our original wool-silk offerings, and it's still one of my favorites. Get this very one---and do it now  as it might be the last one ever. Classic cut.

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