Autumn Leaves Number One

Today is the day after the autumnal equinox, and the day before my birthday. Which makes it an interesting day from my perspective, but especially because we are now "officially" in the autumn season, also known as "fall" because of the falling of leaves from deciduous trees which occurs at this time of year.

What it means for my tie blog is that finally I can begin displaying one of my favorite subcollections, specifically, my collection of vintage ties that depict the leaves of autumn. And here is the first, one of my favorites.

I love the busy repeated pattern of parallel lines of varying lengths which makes up the background of the tie. I also love the curving strip of golden orange color that sweeps down the center of the tie, and of course I especially enjoy the colorful leaves which tumble down and spill off that central strip.

This tie also has a brocade pattern woven into the fabric, which may be difficult to see in the scanned image. It is a geometrical pattern of blocks of squares, four to a block, that is seemingly almost antithetically opposed to the free wheeling and abstract nature of the design of the tie itself.

And what is that dark brown colored fabric up in the left corner, you might well ask. What indeed? This tie is one of those that changes color where the knot would have been tied. If my scanner had a larger bed, and I could show a few more inches of the tie, you'd see it abruptly change to the solid chocolate brown color that instead, is shown in the upper left. From the tip of the tie, to the change in color, is almost precisely 15 inches.

This tie has no lables to transcribe, and I've had it for a long time, so long that I no longer recall when or where or how I obtained it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Impossible, since I get to wear it, and you can only see this picture of it.

Orange with Khaki

This is one of my all-time favorite vintage ties, especially for wearing nowadays. I don't think the color came through too accurately in the scan, but the green squares which highlight the tie are the perfect shade of khaki green to go with a couple of khaki-olive colored shirts that I own.

Having the highlight color on the tie match the shirt, rather than the tie's basic color, is more effective, as the shirt sets off the tie, rather than the two blending together, but you still get a striking color coordination between the shirt and tie.

Beyond that, there's not a lot to say about this beauty. It has no extant labels to transcribe for clues as to its orgin. I have no recollection of when or where I obtained it, except that while I've had it for quite a while, it doesn't date back to the earliest period of my collection, more in the middle somewhere.

Red with Starbursts

This is one of my favorite vintage ties in red. So where are the starbursts you might be asking? You may not be able to see them very well, since they are imbedded in the fabric itself, the brocade, as I typically refer to it.

You may be able to see the starburst shapes a little better if you click on the image to enlarge it slightly. Look especially at the small end of the tie, located on the right. The shapes seem to show up best there.

This tie is similar, so far as I can recall, to one that I lost, one that I bought when I made my first ever purchase of vintage ties as a collector. The other tie I bought at that time is the third tie I posted when beginning this blog back in January of 2006, the one I titled "Shades of Purple." This is NOT the tie I bought with that one, but that lost tie was somewhat similar to this one is design and color, as best I can remember.

This tie has no manufacturer's label, but it does have a seller's label which reads:

Jason's
Billing, Mont.

Silvery Gray Plus

This was obviously a very nice tie at one time, and it still has elements of greatness, but it would appear to be suffering from its own popularity. That is to say, it's wearing out. You can plainly see the wear, especially along the bottom edges. The entire tie is limp, its fabric material having lost much of its resiliency.

But you can at least see quite plainly the gorgeous brocade pattern woven directly into the fabric. And the three large white circles add interest to the design. I have no idea what the small figures inside the circles are. They look a bit like demented stick figures, or perhaps they are green lanterns hanging from ornamental branches. Who knows? Who cares?

Anyway, this is today's vintage tie. Take it or leave it.

The tie has one label, sewn into the large end for a change. Most tie labels are sewn into the small end. The label reads

"Wembley."