Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-07-08
CHOOSING A NECKTIE.
Mems Taste Not Always Perfect, So
Ladies Say.
Too Often Dose without Regard ios Harmonic
Laws In Coler.

Said an observing Augusta girl the
other day: do you know. l do not
believe there are three men out of
every 20 who are capable of selecting
becoming neckties. I've made the
study of this thing rather a fad and
I've arrived at the conclusion that the
average male should not be allowed to
use his taste. or rather want of taste,
In the matter at all. If there is a
woman about the house he should
leave the selection to her.
Most men would look well in colored
ties II they only exercised judgment in
choosing them; but invariably a man
with red hair will want blazing blue
cravat or one with a lot Of pink in it,
mark my words. Or very light haired
man will choose pale pinks and deli
cate yellows. thus converting himself
into wishy- washy. insipid object
without character or positiveness Of
any kind SO far as looks go. Or a dark
haired man will persistently cling to
| black. and make himself look like q
| funeral.
"A mans clothes are sombre enough
| at best and the tie is about his only
diversion in dress. In it he can give
free vent to his emotions and can reyel
In color according to his mood, but for
PHYS sake do not allow him to run to
blues and greens il he has a liverish
| complexion. A man with an olive skin
should wear reds. especially the rich
dark ones; white tie or cream white
is also becoming to him, softening and
refining his features. One with a very
light complexion, light hair and eyes
looks well in a black tie or some de-
cided dark shade in other colOrs. He
should never be seen wearing a white
tie except with evening dress and then
he is mighty apt to present the ap-
pearance OF a faded out ghost. The
dark man is at his best in evening
dress with a white tie. but he may
wear nearly all the rich, warm shades
and some of the pale ones, too. I
know a youth with handsome dark
eyes who is positively enhancing in a
light blue cravat.
But the man with red hair-aye,
there's the rub. 1t is a very vexing
problem to select his ties and no mas
culine mind can solve it. If he wears
a pale green. a color much affected by
his sisters with hair of the same tint,
he suggests spring poem, and as
cious in their effect Therefore his
range is small. 1t may include, how
ever, cream white, gray, black and a
certain shade of grayish green. If his
eyes are gray. the problem is easier,
but they are oftener a brilliant blue,
as though nature were doing her best
to spoil the whole job. A bilious man
should always wear a red tie, whether
it is the fashion or not
merely ornamental; it is a necessity.
What If man, as occasionally hap |
pens. forgets to put one on in the |
morning and goes down town without |
it. Society points the finger of scorn |
at him and he is currently thought to |
have been "Out with the boys" He |
feels that something is wrong and half |
mechanically reaches for his beloved
tie Horrors! 1t is not there. He is
overcome with humiliation and does |
not regain his equilibrium until the de-
ficiency is supplied at the nearest |
haberdasher's. 1t is worse than a
broken suspender. Society might for
the nonce tolerate a coatless man, but
a tieless one-never!
1T is claimed by some that a mans
character may be read in his tie. and
man well known about town says he
can actually tell the time of week by
it. On the first day or two neat rib
bon and bow set off the immaculate
shirt front; then follows the cravat,
whose beauty is of the negative sort,
as it conceals rather than creates, and
on Saturday the huge British scarf in
stripes or plaids is apt to be the vogue.
ITO the tie. then, let man cling in the
hope that he may be lifted slowly to a
higher aesthetic plane where the laws
of harmony will be more apparent to
his visual understanding"
Bound Tor Quebec.
oorx,, 80 o;rhx A,,~,,..o .~oo.,. ,,,;,, |