For Want of a Tie

[kybearfuzz]

I have never been one for wearing a tie. I did it as far back as my days working retail in high school. Being of a heavier-set nature, shirts rarely had a neck size that fit right, and if one did the rest of the it was like a ballooning nightshirt.

The sad part is that I like the way a tie looks on a guy. It looks dressy and clean and orderly for the most part. It's one of the few accessories for men, but also is rather sad that it is essentially the staple of the male business attire. Women can get by with far more comfortable clothes and still be in the business attire realm. Men's choices are far more limited.

I'm trying to put forth a better image at work, especially in a leadership role. My goal was to wear a tie every day this month, except Fridays where dressing down is the norm. The tie and shirt I wore today (left) looked pretty good, but the shirt collar chaffed my neck where I shaved and it's sore as hell. So, no tie tomorrow or probably Thursday.

Maybe next week..

Comments

[itzgid.livejournal.com]

I've long suspected that ties were invented by a scorned lover. "Hmmm... I could strangle him but I'll have to make it look like an accident..."

[mort-83.livejournal.com]

I'm not a huge tie fan. I wore one every day from grade 1 through 8. I went to Catholic School. There we wore either clip ons, or ties with a band that hooked together in the back. You had to have a breakaway tie, lest someone yank a regular tie messing around or to torment you.

I probably wear a tie less than half a dozen times a year, if that.

If I wear one in lab, it's bound to either catch fire on a bunsen burner, end up in a petri dish, or get caught in a centrifuge lid. All of which have happened to me in the past 27 years that I've worked in a lab.

[texwriterbear.livejournal.com]

Well I must say you look damn sexy in a tie :-)

[spikejrt.livejournal.com]

The chafing means you could probably go up 1/2 inch in neck size. The dress shirts that I wear with ties (spread collars)are 17-1/2, the other shirts (button oxfords) are 17.

[bruinwi.livejournal.com]

Lucky you! You can find your shirts "off the rack". I have to go to the Big and Tall section, as I take a 19" neck, with sleeves that are only 34-35", and unless I'm careful, the body of the shirt then blouses out at the waist to the point that I look like a hot-air balloon.

[whitmanschild.livejournal.com]

I have a similar problem with swimming around in shirts that actually fit my 18 - 18 1/2 inch neck. What I've done is to basically buy shirts that fit me and have as big a neck as possible, buy the extra-long ties, learned to tie bigger knots and leave the top button undone. Here's where I learned to tie bigger knots:

http://www.totieatie.com/

Full Windsor will give you about a 1/4 - 1/2 inch and still look like it's buttoned up. The Grantchester and Hanover will give you a 1/2 - 3/4 without looking odd. I have never been able to tie a Balthus knot and get it to look right, so I skip it.

Good luck!

[dendren.livejournal.com]

"shirts rarely had a neck size that fit right, and if one did the rest of the it was like a ballooning nightshirt"

I have this same problem, with the added issue of not only beign stocky but short too. Thankfully I don't have to play dress up often (I don't even know how to tie a tie, Bob does it for me) but when I do need a dress shirt it's pretty near impossible to find one that looks decent. I either deal with the tent look or if I have enough time before I need it, I pay and have the damn thing taken in. So annoying. I call it the short stocky person tax LOL

[mikiedoggie.livejournal.com]

I think you look great!