Transparency of the Process

Without those little white stitch marks (real or trompe-l'œil, I don't know and I don't care -- same effect) this tie would be pretty bland -- just another simple striped tie. However, not only does the white stitching give the tie some ornamentation and a little visual pizazz ("bling", if you will), it also emphasizes the art of fashion by showing transparency of the process. Fashion begins with the stitch -- and what this tie so slyly suggests is that the stitch is not only functional but also fashionable.

If you don't buy the analytical bull crap, that's A.O.K. with me. It's still a cute tie. Plus, I'm loving the vibrant and warm color choices; the olive green, the warm orange -- it's a very Tuscan color palette. My personal favorite? The plum. Black and purple (especially such a dark shade) is just such a romantic and sexy color combination.

Structure

A note to my readers: I only blog about ties that I love. As in, head-over-heels. And that really doesn't happen very often, because, sadly, ties are rarely the centerpiece of the outfit -- they are mainly there to match the shirt. Lame.

The above Band of Outsiders tie hit me like a train -- the big black & white geometric pattern is bold and masculine. Very Greek-Key. The tie acts like a big visual pillar, giving the model* a strong structural center that is very aesthetically pleasing.

*Jason Bateman of Arrested Development fame!

Photos: Ben Watts for GQ September 2007 Page 387

Fresh off the Runway: Louis Vuitton Spring 2008

Chartreuse? Sky blue? Damn gutsy. Marc Jacobs uses color in a very sophisticated way here. The chunky segments of color with the chunky color progression is, well, besides being chunky, amazingly aesthetically pleasing, especially when it's basically the centerpiece of your outfit (note: I think white/cream is pretty much the only thing that goes with that tie. Anything more and you get color overload). The black stripe at the end is both humorous (completely unexpected) and functional: it serves as a visual contrast to tell you "the tie ends here." Also, note that the chunky parallelograms of color in the tie mirror the diamond patchwork of the jacket (Vuitton's new "spiral" cutting technique).

This tie is almost the opposite of the previous one: not chunky at all, just ridiculously sleek. Once again, Jacobs is using color so well: the silver works as a great highlight, giving the outfit some pop, while the use of ombre (fading from one color to another) to match the black shirt is cool and humorous without being gimmicky.

Photos: imaxtree.com/Alessandro Lucioni