Among designers and retailers, the consensus of opinion has Giorgio Armani (once again) the bellwether influence on the new ties. He was the first to introduce a line that featured softer fabrics and lush, floral patterns. Typically their tones were muted, but the statement was made by the superb silks and extravagant detail. Like minor works of art, these ties reveal their beauty gradually, as you notice the care and work gone into them: the mystery weaves, the rich and subtle palette of colored thread, the patterns laid out in layers that create a complex movement of shapes and field so fecund that field becomes lost, as though one is lolling into a very tasteful rain forest.The true progenitor of the new tie though, the granddaddy, is the venerable French firm, Hermes. Decades ago they introduced a softened, feminized men's tie made from a woman's scarf and it has been a steady seller up to the present. The silks are lighter than air and the look is very rich indeed, although perhaps too foppish for some American men. The French company has thrown a historical flourish into this innovation, in the sense that the first tie was a scarf of lace or linen tied in a bow with long flowing ends. Women wore them widely in France for a long time before men started wearing the direct antecedent to the modern "tie," a silk or linen handkerchief passed once or twice around the neck outside the shirt collar and tied in front.
Hermes is getting endless mileage from their scarf fabric. In addition to the ties, they offer vests, shoes, pleated jackets, covered buttons, shirts, lined glove gauntlets, cummerbunds, and dressing gowns.
A bowtie of scarf fabric can also be found at Paul Stuart, where the "man of the split-rail fence" logo shows a jaunty, colorful oversized tie blowing in the wind over his shoulder. the store has a wide variety of ties that range from traditional regimental striped designs in repp fabrics (a closely woven fabric with a transverse cord effect) and silver/black shepherd's check ties (the wedding day classic), to batik-like turquoise bow-ties.
In the "new" look they offer soft leafy and floral designs and a unique weave which replaces the standard black-threaded warp -- the East-West threads -- with a cinnamon warp. The exquisite result is a tie that irridesces as you move it in the light and has a great complexity of color, like the feathers of a cock pheasant. The artfulness of this tie, the creativity of its design, make it a statement tie in a more self-assured style, closer to Armani than the over-the-top approach of Nicole Miller.