Some Background and Some Resolutions

Here we are again, at the changing of the calendar year. To think that just a few years ago there was that whole Y2K problem and now we enter 2011. Where does it go?

In the migration of the www.FourInHand.com site to its new home, I have been retaking pics and relabeling items and I am up to these.  The Double Sided Silk and Cashmere Scarves, perfect for an elegant night on the town.  I hand picked the vintage silks from my tie makers stock (some of them you might recognize as pocket squares) and backed them with what I thought was an appropriate colored Italian cashmere scarf.  Of course, the joining of the two was done by hand, and the result is what you see here:

As the Vintage Silk here has the Burgundy Field I Chose the Burgundy Colored Scarf.  Easy.



Here is the Back front Detail:



Same with the Navy Vintage Paisleys and The Navy Cashmere Scarf



Back/Front:



Here I took a Black Cashmere Backing to work off the Burgundy of the Vintage yet classic Pin Dot Twill giving you a Burgundy/Black Contrast.



Back/Front:



Here I felt Visually that the yellow worked nicely with the charcoal grey cashmere scarf.



Back/Front:



As far as the resolution part of the post...last year at this time I posted about the need for readers to resolve better.  Now its my turn;  as I have been remiss (for a good cause, but remiss nonetheless) in posting my resolution is to spend more time on this blog, and incorporate it into the new website.  This way we can all be happy. :-)

Wishing you all a Happy and Healthy 2011, I remain, Yours truly.

Jonathan J. Fischer

Something Personal for the Mailbag

I fielded a recent request from a reader about a yellow polkadot tie with  blue shirt and blue suit.  The question was as follows:

Hello, great blog!

I have a navy suit, a light blue shirt and a yellow tie with blue polka dots. Do you have any tips about a suiting handkerchief?

This picture is almost identical to my suit combination (except my tie has blue dots instead of blue squares):
http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/05_01/richard180507L_468x612.jpg

Thanks in advance,

Johan

I was slightly embarrassed because I did not actually have a yellow tie with distinct blue circles in it.  I did have yellow and blue which is a nice combo but not dotted.

So I went home and tapped into my private stash for the photo shoot which wasnt a big deal since the object of the post was the square.    Shown below is a Marinella-Like thick twill four fold tie which ties a great knot. Paired with a light blue shirt and a multicolored square.  Is it the only option in squares for this ensemble?  Of course not.  In fact a light blue works (but I think its too much blue), and a white linen or cream (not a bad idea since the white is too bright and the cream is a blend between the yellow of the tie and blue of the suit without being too contrasty and out of left field).  I like this square because its got rich colors and all the colors coordinate.



Here the square poofed in the pocket:



And here with rolled edges showing:

Buildup to Spring Summer

As we enter into the final month of the calendar year and head into the Winter (which doesn't actually start till December 22th,) its always nice to focus on the bright spots of the future. With that in mind I bring you a buildup to Summer called so as I ran the pics here in a buildup of how one might get dressed.

Shown here is the first delivery of Spring 2011 from the Hickey Freeman His First collection for TuesdaysChild.com and the Brick and Mortar store.

Shirt (Blue, Yellow and White Medium stripe):


Shirt with Scrolling Vines Tie (also from Hickey Freeman.)



Shirt and Tie Paired with Hickey Freeman Wool and Cotton Sportscoat in a Whitish Blue.



Looking to give a little oomph of color to the ensemble I threw in the striped square.  Very vibrant and rich colors here which all work back to the shirt and ensemble as a whole.



Finally your finished product here.  Sharp and Elegant.



And oh...I happen to love the Winter ;-)

Some more Wintry mix

To dress it down and make it a bit more hip i propose swapping the regular four in hand ties for some knits. Both the green and the brown work well here.




Have a great weekend!

PS: While browsing elsewhere I came across a reputable merchant selling winter white cream pants in cotton... winter white in cotton? Huh???

A Wintry Mix

I am a hypocrite.  OK, I admit it.  For the purpose of this post I am claiming that this jacket is a Winter color and texture.  Is it?  It certainly can pass for one.  So why am I a hypocrite?  because a few seasons back a customer loved it for Spring/SUMMER and I went against my grain and told her it was acceptable for Summer.  Acceptable for Summer? yeah, probably.  better for Winter?  Most certainly.

Shown here is the Hickey Freeman Hist First Blazer, with a Brown striped shirt from HF His First and an assortment of ties.  Some from the new collections and some older.  The theme of the ties were dark and browns /coffee colors.  The square is a fiery rust square from the vintage collection.

Your thoughts?

First off the Burgundy rust from the new collection.



I like the way the square here shows more black than anything.  This works against the grey in the jacket for great contrast.  The rust, gold and mustard also work nicely off the brown in the jacket.  Again, this is great proof that Brown and Grey work well together.  A pox on the house of those naysayers!



Swapped the tie for another brown based tie.



Some may feel that the above tie is too much in pattern so I swapped that for this brown solid.  Perhaps a little too shiny.



Certainly better with the wool brown coffee colored tie.

Vlog, Shmog

So here we are trying something new. It seems that the Video Blog i.e. VLOG is the New Blog. Here is FTWU's forst foray into Video Blogging. I think though that until we get the lighting and etc in place we will still take some pics. Especially of finished product.

Meanwhile though here you go. Please take the poll at the end if you liked the concept.

The end result should be this:





Vote!

[polldaddy poll=4098036]

IP Man

Sometimes you see something in passing (IP = In Passing) that strikes you as done well even if it wasn't intentionally done so.

After working with a customer a few days back some of the shirts and ties that were left in disarray were the lilac shirt with this blue and brown stripped tie lying on top. I thought it looked lovely together and came up with this look.  Pairing it with a navy striped suit, unfortunately the exposure of the camera doesn't correctly reflect the blended look of the ensemble but as I was mainly trying to show the combination of the lilac shirt with the blue and brown of the tie I let it slide.

First I show the tie and shirt together showing how it works.



Next with the suit without a square:



Finally with a pastel floral square:  This particular square picks up the lilac of the shirt and matches well with the blue of the suit.



If you felt the square was a little too Summery I show a darker one here.  The browns of the square Winterize the look and i like the brown burg of the square with the suit. (The pic is not as clear as I thought it was, pardon me)



In play here:



Finally, as I am sure some of you were expecting something from the movie IP Man (amazing Martial Arts film) here are two great scenes from the movie: