This post features my collection of 1970's era vintage ties. Many if not most of these are 100% polyester fabric, thick, and heavy, with big knots when tied. Some of these I owned and wore in the 70's myself, and some I acquired later, mostly as gifts from folks who knew I was a tie collector, and I kept them as representative exemplars of the period.

Nowadays, I regard this period of tie-making with some degree of consternation as having been quite extreme, and over the top. The heavy thick fabrics were not really suitable for ties, and this was certainly not an example of fashion at its best. But it's kind of fun to revisit the era in a tongue-in-cheek manner, and to realize that yes, we wore some of these hideous exemplars at the time.

These three to the left all have labels proclaiming them to be from the design firm of J.B. Ernst. However, since Ernest Beale, the founder of the firm, sold the company in 1970, my guess is that he himself had nothing to do with the design of these examples. See my earlier post for more representative ties from this designer.

 The tie on the right in this picture is like crocheted (but machine not by hand, I'm sure), with tiny holes in the fabric, that show the black lining behind the bright orange. The tie in the middle has a metallic sheen that makes its gold and turquoise colors seem to shimmer depending on the angle.

 Two of these ties, the butterflies and the tiny flowers, were ties that I actually purchased myself and wore in the 1970's.

 The tie in the middle of this photo is one that my mother actually hand made for me in that period. I think she made a pocket square to match, but currently, I'm not sure where it is.

 The tie on the left should be the brightest, hottest pink color you ever imagined or ever saw, but the photograph does NOT do it proper justice, color-wise. It's a very thick, heavy almost fuzzy polyester fabric.

The tie in the middle, with its embedded red dot, is another tie that I purchased and wore during the time period in question.

The orange, navy, and white design on the left is one of my favorites, although this tie was not acquired in the period, but later. It's 100% acetate, according to the label. I enjoy the complicated design. The tie in the middle is off-white, not pure white, like the one a couple of shots up. The fabric could be more natural than many, perhaps a combination of cotton and linen. Almost classy. The purple exemplar on the right is the widest tie of this entire collection measuring only a tiny fraction shy of 5 inches in width at its widest point.