Ties to the past

Late last year I blogged about a little score at one of my local charity shops.  At the time I focussed on the books and their subject whilst saying of the ties that I would get to them later.  Well, having recently obtained two more items of neckwear I thought now would be the time to go through them all.
  
So, starting with the original pair from December I'll deal with the least "vintage-y" first - the right-hand one of the two, an old Next design made of lightweight silk.  Despite the high street name and the insubstantial nature of its fabric it does have some things going for it.  The thinner silk makes it pleasant to knot and its length is perfect (more on that later).  It also has a rather nifty trick up its sleeve (or rather its blade, perhaps!) - despite being thin silk the pattern is such that from even a short distance away it resembles a much more highly crafted necktie that could easily be mistaken for a woven silk or even a woollen one.  Blue, brown and gold colours means that it goes with several different outfits - this one's got a busy life in front of it.

The second of the two is a study in opposites.  A really thick woven silk, its quality is quite tangible even before you see the name - Wolsey.  Vintage inasmuch as Wolsey don't seem to make ties any more, it is otherwise a fairly pedestrian design but once again goes well with a range of dark colours.  The red flecks are also a welcome touch.  However so thick is this tie that it really needs to be worn with a cutaway collar, and only certain knots work well with it.

The two newest arrivals are both very similar to one another.  I came across them last Thursday in my local Barnados which is quite unusual in that very rarely do I unearth anything of interest there and - it has to be said - it does seem to be at the higher end when it comes to prices (although neither points have been my experience at other branches).  These two beauties however, hanging amongst an unremarkable number of polyester jobs, were a princely 99p each!

They are two of the loveliest traditional knitted ties - 100% wool with the narrower-style blade - both made by two now-defunct tie-makers. The first is a green-grey colour and made by Tern.  It has obviously been worn many times but once I get it cleaned up a bit I'm sure it will have many years of life left in it.  It knots nicely and has a good length to it. 

The second of the two is by far and away my favourite, though.  In a beautiful oatmeal brown, this fellow was made by the Afonwen Woollen Mill in North Wales.  Although I can find no information on it, it must have been a traditional wool mill - the quality is splendid, it is in jolly good condition and knots very well indeed.  If I have one tiny criticism it is that it's slightly on the long side.

Which brings me nicely on to that which I said I'd talk more about later - tie length.  I used to have a bit of problem with ties in this regard.  This stemmed from my being blessed/cursed with long legs (the hunt for trousers is still often a fruitless one - the general 33in inside leg limit of most shops barely suffices; 34in is better but harder to find, so alterations are usually the order of the day...) and a short body.  Never was a man more suited to the (now hard to find!) traditional high-waisted trouser!  The upshot of this is that ties knotted in the common four-in-hand style would finish embarrassingly far below my waistband.  I finally overcame this sartorial problem thanks in part to the wonderful book 85 Ways to Tie a Tie (the title is slightly misleading - there are really only 13 distinct knots with the remaining 72 being variations).  Three in particular produce æsthetically pleasing knots while at the same time using enough cloth to produce a good length.  They are the [brilliantly-named] Cavendish, the Victoria, and the Prince Albert.  Several others - for example the delightful-looking Plattsburgh/Dovorian - I am still endeavouring to master.

Although now out of print, 85 Ways to Tie a Tie should be readily available from most libraries.  Thanks to Lord Whimsy the thirteen main styles are available to download here, along with some equally splendid pocket square folds. In the meantime I continue to look out for more ties with which to practise, but these four are welcome additions for now.

Books, ties and heroes

I'm on a bit of a roll with the old charity shop finds this week, it seems.  Went back in to town yesterday and had a look around the two other second-hand stores therein and came back with two ties and two books, all for less than £10.  More on the ties in a later post, I think; for now I will use the books as a basis for this post.

The latest addition to my bookshelf

These two tomes are by a favourite author of mine and one of them features my literary hero.  The author is William Earl Johns, more commonly known as Captain W. E. Johns (and for those of you who might not have heard of him, or know little about him, here is a short biography of the man).  If you haven't heard of Johns, you may at least know his most famous creation and the aforementioned literary hero  - Biggles.

I make no apologies for my love of the Biggles stories.  If grown men can read Harry Potter with apparent impunity then I can jolly well read Biggles books.  Not many people know that the Biggles series actually started off aimed at adults - they were hard-hitting war stories recalling many incidents and adventures of the First World War, some of them quite grim.  It soon became apparent that the stories appealed to young boys too and so the early tales migrated from Popular Flying magazine where they first appeared to The Modern Boy and thence in to book form (with some alterations to make them less graphic).

17 years of reading and re-reading have taken their toll

Biggles first entered my life at the Imperial War Museum Duxford back in the early '90s.  We'd gone there on a school outing, it was the end of the day and we were allowed to look around the gift shop prior to leaving.  I was searching for something inexpensive but memorable to take home with me and my eye was drawn to a display full of some of the then-new Red Fox (Random House) republished Biggles books.  What 11-year-old boy, already with an interest in military history and aeroplanes, could resist this cover (left)?!  I'd never even heard of Biggles prior to that, but before long I was hooked and lapped up any Biggles stories I could find.  Seventeen years and 47 (out of approximately 98) books later and I still get a thrill of enjoyment from reading the escapades of this famous fictional airman.  I'd even go so far as to say that he influenced me growing up and helped make me the person I am today.

The Biggles books have been accused by the PC brigade of being racist, sexist and imperialist but this, as always, is a misapprehension and glosses over some of the facts - not least the era in which the stories were written.  Putting these spurious claims to one side (before this becomes an essay - a more detailed Biggles post will have to wait, it seems!) Biggles essentially champions the traditional values of bravery, honesty and fair play.  We need more like him.

A fair (and freezing!) day out

Yesterday found me at the seaside town of Leigh-on-sea, which is a charming spot on the Thames Estuary and only a short train ride away from me. It boasts a larger-than-average selection of charity shops, antique dealers and craft stores as well as a preserved "Old Town", complete with traditional pub, sweet shop, museum/gallery and several excellent cafes/restaurants. You can also still see evidence of the area's once-thriving cockle-fishing industry and even buy a pint of cockles if you fancy it! Some time ago I discovered local vintage events organiser Betty Blue Eyes, who helps run a quarterly Handmade & Vintage Fair (left) in the town hall, so I thought I'd toddle along and check it out.

Although I awoke to a vista of heavy frost and freezing fog, with the mercury showing 2 below (otherwise known as "brass monkeys"), I decided to brave the elements and headed on out. A 1950s Chevy pick-up parked outside the venue boded well and the place was quite busy even at 10:30 on a freezing cold November morning! I have to be honest, from a chap's point of view there was definitely more handmade than vintage (as the ratio of women to men - and associated items - proved) but there were plenty of things that I'm sure some of my female readers would have liked, such as a lovely 1930s satin red gown, dozens of fur coats and stoles and vintage handbags aplenty, not to mention candlestick cake stands, knitted items and intricately decorated cakes. Local vintage caterers All The Tea & China of Southend provided these and other refreshments. Also on hand were local 1940s hair stylists Hair Raid Shelter, who were busy offering authentic dos for the ladies, all of whom seemed impressed and delighted and rightly so, for they were doing a great job at only £10 a time.

I did manage to find a couple of stalls selling menswear but it was sadly slim pickings and the only things that caught my eye were some wool jackets and fairisle jumpers, a few ties and a couple of 1950s 3-piece suits (a very reasonable £65 each, I thought, but we chaps have just as much trouble as the ladies finding vintage-wear to fit when we're pushing 6ft and 2/3rds of that is leg! Men before about 1965 all seem to have been midgets, from what I can see. Either of the suits on display would have left me looking as though I were back in short trousers!). I ended up leaving empty-handed but not too disappointed; it was a good day out despite the weather and it was great to see the people of Essex in so many numbers at such an event. The local Salvation Army's brass band was out in the town square playing Christmas carols as well, which lent a pleasant festive air to proceedings. Betty Blue Eyes also runs occasional tea dances at the Southend Naval & Military Club and I intend to get along to one as soon as I am able.

Going round the charity shops later I was delighted to find this perfectly-fitting, thick navy wool overcoat (above) for only £5! Not a vintage item per se but nevertheless a timeless design that's just the thing for these freezing temperatures. Winter, do your worst!

Prince Charles: wear 'vintage'

Prince Charles: wear 'vintage' I always find time for His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, particularly when he gives such sage advice as this. Who better an advocate of elegant and stylish dress - clothing from the past to boot - than the future King? Much of what he says in this article (an abridged version of which can be found here) and elsewhere on the subject makes excellent sense and His Highness is to be applauded for championing such a worthwhile cause. I find myself agreeing with everything he says. I love trawling second hand shops (or "thrift stores" as I believe our American cousins charmingly describe them) on the lookout for vintage clothing because not only do I prefer the fashions of an earlier period but I appreciate the craftsmanship and, as the Prince of Wales hints at, the enjoyment of giving new life to an old garment and the satisfaction of knowing it is saved for another generation. When I have to buy new clothes I always check the label to see what material(s) go to make up the fabric and wherever possible I eschew man-made fibres such as polyester (shudder). Some people seem to think this is a kind of sartorial snobbery but not only is there an environmental angle to choosing natural over synthetic, but by and large the former just looks better. I baulk at the idea of going out in shiny, plasticky, cheaply-made poor quality clothes that disintegrate after a couple of years when there is a wealth of second-hand items of vastly superior style and manufacture just waiting to be snapped up if one knows where to look. If more people thought like this we might even see an improvement in the current standard of dress with, as the article mentions, modern designers already seizing on the growing passion for vintage style and creating new twists on classic designs. We could be on the verge of seeing a better-dressed, more environmentally- and sartorially aware society (oh, how I wish!). So at the risk of preaching to the converted, if I read my audience right, go forth to your local second-hand emporium dear readers and scour the clothing racks - you never know what you might come across! Gentleman, I direct your attention to the likes of Savvy Row and Tweedmans; ladies, umm... womenswear is not really my area of expertise(!). A quick perusal of my blogroll should lead you to a few vintage-inclined ladies whose posts cover this sort of thing much more thoroughly and expertly than I could ever hope to. Happy hunting, and here's to a well-dressed future with Prince Charles at its head!