Red ties are interesting things, and much harder to wear well than most accept, in my opinion.
This is largely to do with their cultural connections, at least in my UK-influenced mind. For instance, when I see a solid red tie on a white shirt (esp. with a grey tweedy suit), I think "old-school Labour Party". In an analogous way, when I see bright red patterned ties on pale blue shirts, paired with navy or charcoal suit (esp. a striped suit), I think "Apprentice candidate", with all the negative connotations of that tryhard tag. Interestingly, I don't have these various visual associations so much with striped red ties on either white or blue shirts. They seem more neutral; eye-catching but without so much baggage.
Now, all the above commentary may well simply reflect my personal neuroses, so pick & choose how seriously you take any of it. And the negative aspects of all the above is cancelled out if you are actually in one of the camps mentioned. In those cases, rock a solid or patterned red tie. Or if you accept the image and just have fun with it, that's fine too. For instance, I have a red patterned Hermes which is so ridiculously OTT/cheesy-corporate that I wear it in a similarly jokey way.
tl;dr: it's a nice-looking tie that would certainly go with a pale blue shirt in terms of a colour combination, but I personally don't like it.
Edited by Holdfast - 4/23/12 at 6:00am