Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-17

Those who have faith that men some
day will dress Sensibly In accordance
with the requirements of health, con-
venience and color, keep their eyes on
neckties.
/ Neckwear is the barometer.
AS the necktie goes, so go men
! fashions.
And the sad truth right 'now is that
men are going backward, for the neck
ties are next to nothing when IL comes
! to color.
Here was the one article of wearing
apparel upon which man might vent
a flaming soul. and all that he has
managed to do with II is to make 1t
duller and more conservative season by
season.
He might have given it touch of
, the splendor of dawn, or even made it
nightly resemble a sunset at its
brightest.
He might have gone in for flowers,
stran6e geometric designs and PIN
wheels until the flowing raiment of his
neck resembled Solomon in his legen-
dairy glory.
Instead he sticks to plain black, blue
and polka dots.
x
An inspection of the ties to be seen
upon manly neckS reveals little material
as we have set forth in the first para
graph above.
It is perhaps a bit too early to say
| what the Spring will do for us, but, II
we may Judge from the last OF the
Winter cravatS, it will be precious little.
Fashion may run skirts up and down
the ladies' legs. but the male OF the
species Is more obdurate. When 1t
comes to neckties he is as conservative
as an elder or a deacon.
He believes in strict enforcement of
his personal constitution. which tells
| h m that the best way to go through
the world is to attract as little stten-
ton as possible.
He has swallowed whole the worthy
idea that good taste is best shown by
conservatism. Hence his ties become
mast crpieceS of blue, browns and deep,
rich reds.
The chances are. moreover, that he
| is addicted to wearing one tie at time,
no matter how many cravats he may
have stored away at home.
There was a period when tie holders
had big sales, and we're purchased in
large numbers by modest maidenS who
! wanted to give their best fellows" a
tasty but inexpensive Christmas present.
This article took various forms. but
the favorite was in the shape of large
ring, suspended by chain. the WhOie
was to be hitched to the gas chandelier,
and ties were to be draped carelessly
! over and through the ring.
X 4 x X
The choice of the evenings tie was,
and no doubt still is, major problem
with the very young man. But in the
old days they knew nothing about such
heartless facts as psychology throws
into our faces, and were happily free
from the feeling that If one heSitated
over the selection of a cravat for the
evening he thereby showed marked in
decision, and INDIGESTION was merely a
form of infsriority complex, and an in
feriority complex revealed to the cruel
world that one suffered from fear, and
the possession of fear demonstrated de-
cisively some ancestors mad passion
for the chieftain's grandmother, or
something like that.
The possession of many cravatS. both
plain, speckled and banded, never in
Dictated, nor does it now indicate, that
the man in question wore them. Usu-
ally he wore one at a time, not just
by the evening but by the tie. In
other words, he wore them one by one,
until each came to have worn place
at the tying point. Then he discarded
it for a fresh tie.
In the old days, however, the world
was more speculative In regard to its
ties. 1t would tie anything once. Sc
| we came to have yellow cravats bear