It goes without saying to anyone who cares to pay attention to this sort of thing, that menswear has looked very different for a few years now. Men’s style—be it on the streets, on runways, red carpets, or in shops—has evolved tremendously and gotten far, far away from the traditional box it had been stalled in for too long. The upside of that, of course, has been all the room and freedom to experiment with various styles, shapes, colors. To try new takes on old eras. To play outside of comfort zones and throw the rule book out the window. The downside, particularly post pandemic, is that it’s also meant coming away from very sharp dressing. Suddenly, seeing a man in a jogger pant at an event that once would have called for a tuxedo doesn’t feel so out of place, while men went back to the office breaking dress code without so much as a stern glance in their direction (or doing zoom meetings in a fairly accurate rendition of Risky Business attire—all business on top, underoos and tube socks on the bottom).
Even as a men’s stylist, it’s been a couple years now of basically anything-goes-but-a-button-up-shirt. I’ve dressed guys in tanks, knit polos, turtlenecks, mock necks, t-shirts…. Even no shirt at all (ftw). Pretty much anything under a suit except the classic shirt and tie combo. However, stylistically speaking, if I’ve rebelled against something long enough, I always find myself coming back around to it eventually. And sure enough, of late, I’ve been finding myself in fittings reaching for my old tie racks that had been stuffed to the back of the styling closet, and generally yearning to dress men in the whole old school treatment of shirt, tie, tie bar or tie pin, and at times even a pocket square—a classic look that was so ubiquitous in the early 2000s, back when Mad Men was all the rage, Gosling was giving Carrell the My Fair Lady treatment, and every cover of men’s fashion magazines entailed a guy in a navy suit, combed hair, crisp shirt, and always, always a tie. And now, I say, the tie is ready for its comeback. And because I have taken it upon myself to keep you guys ahead of the style game—even when looking ahead means looking back—here is my edit of some of my favorite men’s ties right now.
Curated by LEO, sponsored by
