Nothing brings a guy's look together better than some perfectly matched, classic accessories. I'm talking about ties, watches, socks, cufflinks, and pocket squares. While I've covered some of these in other posts, today I'm going to talk more specifically about ties, and where you can find some great ones, namely The Tie Bar.
Ties, both standard neckties and bow ties are known to have had tangental origins during Roman times when Roman soldiers would wear a form of them as part of their uniform for others to identify which group they belonged in. The proper necktie from European style though, was popularized during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) when Croatian mercenaries in the service of France passed their knotted neckties to the Parisians who called then kravats (taken for the shortened name of the Croatians: Croat). Fast forward to today, and neckties are an essential accessory for most men's attire from dressy-casual to business to formal. The proper necktie (or bow tie) with the proper knot will bring any outfit together.
Luckily I've found a great place to not only find amazing ties to purchase and add to your wardrobe, but also to get the lowdown on everything you need to know about neckties, bow ties, and some of the other accessories mentioned above. This place is The Tie Bar.
About The Tie Bar
Founded in 2004 by two attorneys, Greg and Gina, The Tie Bar's unique, quality ties were quickly features in GQ, NBC and The Wall Street Journal. With celebrities like Dwyane Wade wearing their ties, they have expanded to include pocket squares, cufflinks, and more. They stick to one main ideal which is delivering colorful, stylish products at value pricing - which means that people like you and I aren't paying an arm and a leg to get a good looking tie. Honestly though, at $15-$25 per tie, there's no reason not to have a tie for every occasion!
Their website makes it very easy to browse for exactly what you're looking for and one of my favorite functions is the shirt/suit simulator which lets you get an idea for how the tie is going to look with different shirt and suit color combos. This way you never need to worry about guessing at whether it will match your lucky interview suit. Another great feature of the site is the tutorial section that covers how to care for your tie and instructions on how to tie various knots. I personally stick with the Windsor and half-Windsor knots most of the time, but they have solid instructions for other's if you're looking to expand your knot game.
The Tie Bar offers free shipping on all orders over $50 which is pretty good considering you're going to want to grab at least 3 of these guys while you're there.
The Tie Bar Overall Rating: 5/5
At their price point and quality, you can't really go wrong. I don't see any reason to purchase $100+ ties when you can get quality, colorful ties for any occasion at TheTieBar.com.
Some of my favorite ties
