Uber-Conservative

I'll admit that my tie choices so far aren't really well suited for the fashion-conservative. Thus, I give you Hermes. Most Hermes ties put me off; I don't understand a tie with tesselating octopi... Sure, it must be hell to weave the image of an eight legged cephalopod in silk, but give me a break! I'm not going to spend $160 on a tie with a pattern that can be found on children's pajamas.

But this Hermes tie works against that aesthetic to great success. The hint of orange at the bottom of the tie is clever without being gimmicky and rescues the tie from just being plain boring while keeping it nice and understated. Hermes has this tie in multiple color combinations, but there's something about the brown/orange I really like. Note: Although not on their website now, there used to be a blue/orange version; it may come back so check again in a while if you're partial to blue.

EDIT 06/10/07: I happened upon this tie at the Neiman Marcus in Boston and I was blown away. The silk feels amazing, the proportion is perfect (not too fat, not too skinny), the orange stripe pops so much -- it's striking. Swoon.