It's not what it sounds like, I swear! Get your minds outta the gutter. I came across some pretty nifty ties on one of my last hunting trips- this one from the late 50s/early 60s has pegasuses... pegasi(?)... multiple winged horses on it, woven into the fabric.
And of course, neutral stripes are always nice. For some guys, a skinny tie is different enough just because it's skinny...
But this baby is awesome!
Postwar 40s and the early 50s saw some incredible ties. Following victory in WWII, the country enjoyed the beginning of a prosperous era, silk was available again, and some of these hand-painted beauties have survived. Here's a closer look:
I found another one, with a painted abstract design. Alas, it was the victim of old treatments- chemical weighting and/or salt dyeing. It didn't come home with me because it was shattered silk and fell apart as I gently brushed a spot off of it. Old treatments that once made silks more desirable result in silk splitting or shattering on the cross grain. I was so disappointed.
All is not lost- the ties pictured are available in my Etsy shop
http://www.etsy.com/shop/retrorockit . There's more new stuff listed, and more vintage to come, and more updates will be posted here, too.
