Sunday, May 27, 2007

Silver, with Black and Gold Ornament

This may be the last in the recent series of what I've been calling vaguely heraldic pseudo fleur de lis designs. I'll have to hunt carefully through my collection next week to see if I can come up with any more, but I'm not aware of any off the cuff, so to speak.

Is it mixing metaphors while referring to ties, to use the expression "off the cuff?" I don't know, but at least it's a clothing-related expression.

I think this is the first time I've placed the small end of the tie over the top of the large end in my scan. I tried it initially the other way, but as you can see, in the arrangement I used, the design on the small half would have been directly behind the large end, and wouldn't have showed at all.

I decided it made more sense to see the design twice, rather than just viewing an uninterrupted stretch of those groups of four parallel lines, resembling blank music staves.

I have fairly good reason to believe that this tie was once wider, a true four-plus incher, but that as tie fashions narrowed, someone took it to a tailor and had it cut down, or re-folded. I've always been suspicious of the fact that the design is off center. For this kind of symmetrical design, you'd expect it to be precisely centered on the tie, not visibly closer to the left side, as it is now.

Next, when you examine the tie in the back, the silver fabric comes all the way to the edge of the tie on one side, but on the other side, the silver fabric has been folded under, which is not normal construction for a tie. And the silver fabric overlaps significantly in back, again, not normal. The two sides are sewn up the middle with loose stitching.

I'm considering undoing the stitching, having the tie dry cleaned flat, with no crease, and see if I can refold it to approximate what I believe to have been its original wider size. If and when I do, I'll have to post another picture for your benefit.

The tie has one label, sowed in lengthwise on the small end. It is presumably a seller's label, although I suppose it could be the manufacturer. It sounds like the name of a prestigious law firm:
Woodward & Lothrop
Washington
The two lines of the label are separated by a fancy typographic ornament.

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