I write this while sitting in a London hotel room waiting for the maintenance man to arrive and fix the shower, which we did not notice was broken until after he departed the second time, having fixed our thermostat the trip after he unplugged the bathroom sink. Once I can shower we will head over to the Wolselely on Picadilly for an early dinner to be followed by an early bedtime. Jet lag you know.
Should we eventually get out, I will be wearing an Italian necktie, that being the silk foulard in the photograph. I call it that not because you will find it in Italy - indeed, you would be as likely to find it at the ASW store, or Drake's Clifford Street store in London as you would be to find it at Marinella in Naples. Tie makers around the world use the same English silks just as they use the same Italian grenadines.
Tie makers are making many of the same neckties, but the proportions of what their customers wear is dramatically different. The English are seen in quite a few woven ties while on any particular day the majority of necktie wearing Italian males will have chosen small patterned foulard printed ties with navy grounds. I do not know why this is, but walk through the business district of Naples and take an informal poll. You will find that the blue foulard is the Italian necktie.
And that really tells the tale. Forget lined, unlined, tipped or untipped. Just have a navy blue foulard.
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3 comments:
You made me count - I own 47 of those, so by my reckoning and nationality you would appear to be right.
Great suit. Details?
Dear Will, hope you enjoyed Capri!
Just thought I'd mention that Naples, Rome and Milan have quite different codes of dress. But the dark blue tie is the mark of a well dressed gentlemen in each city. No wierd colors, no orange socks. Italians will play more with texture than with color. Forget what you see in other fashion blogs about italian male dress. They are incredibly conservative, far more than the British infact.
Have a great trip!
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