Wearing Light-Colored Ties

It is often said that light-colored ties are difficult to wear.

I can't remember where and in which thread, but Manton had a very helpful post saying that it's much easier with a darker jacket, light jacket + light shirt + light tie is the most difficult of all. I think this illustrates why:



The colors just kind of all get washed out and it looks like there's nothing there. The tie gets lost in a sea of blandness and it just feels like there's nothing to look at.

This is more successful IMHO:



Here's another all-three-light combination that I find more successful (too lazy to actually put the items on, but you get the idea):

I don't care for light ties in general. The closest I get these days is an old gold.

I strongly dislike when the coat is dark and both shirt and tie are light. There's no balance in that.

I will not quarrel with someone who just says light ties should not exist. But, given that some of us already own some of them, some of which we like, and we like to wear them, this is a thread to provide inspiration for doing that. Doc, you like better the three-lights combination? Do either of the above strike you as at all noteworthy?

On the dark jacket/light/light, I think I agree if it's very dark. The jacket above is on the lighter side of navy, and a pretty vibrant blue. A dark navy suit would be more difficult.

Also, I think light ties in general benefit from having texture.

I don't hate light ties on principle; I do, however, loathe the "dark suit, dark shirt, light (or bright) tie" look, as worn by so many high school graduates.

I think light ties are tricky only because you don't want them to glow or jump out too much. I agree that the "all lights" above doesn't look as good as the second picture. Where I run into trouble is with soft shades, such as tan or light blue.

I'm not a fan of light ties, and I really hate a light tie with a darker shirt.

A thread I will monitor with interest because I like light ties, and have the devil of a time finding combinations I like to wear them with.

The easiest is a cream tie against a blue shirt with a cream jacket or suit. That works in a very specific "summer holiday" sort of way. However, I'd like to see some non-holiday, reasonably businessy ways to wear light ties.



unbelragazzo said:

I will not quarrel with someone who just says light ties should not exist. But, given that some of us already own some of them, some of which we like, and we like to wear them, this is a thread to provide inspiration for doing that. Doc, you like better the three-lights combination? Do either of the above strike you as at all noteworthy?
On the dark jacket/light/light, I think I agree if it's very dark. The jacket above is on the lighter side of navy, and a pretty vibrant blue. A dark navy suit would be more difficult.
Also, I think light ties in general benefit from having texture.

Click to expand...

I too find the light jacket + light shirt + light tie ensembles tricky to pull off.

Like you, I find the lighter than navy jackets easier to pair with light ties than French navy or dark navy / midnight jackets.

However, imo if the light tie has a strong pattern and/ or texture, the darker jackets are back in play.

E.g.



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Spoo - Great stuff. Although I like #2 a lot more than #1. #2 I'm not sure if it's light enough to be a "light tie", but that's just semantics. On #1, the seasonalities are kind of clashing for me. The brown houndstooth feels F/W but the shantung tie feels S/S. Well chosen shirt though. Also, I'd like to commend your PS-folding as being strongly vaginal, which may bother some men.

CEP - I like these. The silver tie on white shirt on navy suit is a classic. What's the tie in #2?

HF - Here's a couple of combos with a cream tie. First is from http://macaronitomato.blogspot.com/, second from Patrick Johnson. I like one much more than the other, but I'll let the crowd weigh in first.

Spoo's second and CEP's second are the most successful so far in this thread, IMO. But neither of those ties is really all that light. Both still act as an effective intermediary between the lightness of the shirt and the darkness of the coat.

Possibly only the first and last are actually light.

^ first one is quite nice IMHO.



unbelragazzo said:

Spoo - Great stuff. Although I like #2 a lot more than #1. #2 I'm not sure if it's light enough to be a "light tie", but that's just semantics. On #1, the seasonalities are kind of clashing for me. The brown houndstooth feels F/W but the shantung tie feels S/S. Well chosen shirt though. Also, I'd like to commend your PS-folding as being strongly vaginal, which may bother some men.
CEP - I like these. The silver tie on white shirt on navy suit is a classic. What's the tie in #2?
HF - Here's a couple of combos with a cream tie. First is from http://macaronitomato.blogspot.com/, second from Patrick Johnson. I like one much more than the other, but I'll let the crowd weigh in first.

Click to expand...

Tie = one of the few Zegnas that I really like. It's an oxford weave from the 2010 S/S Su Misura book.



unbelragazzo said:

^ first one is quite nice IMHO.

Click to expand...

Agreed.



DocHolliday said:

Spoo's second and CEP's second are the most successful so far in this thread, IMO. But neither of those ties is really all that light. Both still act as an effective intermediary between the lightness of the shirt and the darkness of the coat.

Click to expand...

That's a interesting, and quite valid point.

What do you think of texture as enhancing the saturation of an otherwise light tie, doc?