In the 5th issue of Journal de Nîmes we already showed you a few ways of knotting your tie and folding you pocket square. Since the day we made the illustration I was focused on ties and since than I saw them everywhere. We’ve made a little list of our todays favorites and my former intern Mia Porter put together a nice article, sourced from wikipedia and all over the place and came up with this. A ‘little’ history of the tie, which goes back to the mid 17th century, and our favorite ties in a row.

To start with a little list of our today’s favorite ties:

Flouzen
Harris Tweet
Graham Whithers
Gitman at Dann Clothing
Howard Yount
Ben Silver
Drakes London
J.Press
Paul Stuart

Different knots
The “four in hand” knot gained its name from its resemblance to the reins of the four horse carriage used by the British upper class.
The Shelby knot or the Pratt-Shelby knot was invented by Jerry Pratt, an employee of the US Chamber of Commerce. He had been wearing his tie in the Pratt knot for some twenty years before it became popular after TV personality Don Shelby wore it on air. The New York fashion press mistakenly attributed the invention of the knot to Shelby. It uses less length than the Half Windsor or Windsor knots, and so is well suited to shorter ties. Unlike the Four in Hand knot, the Pratt method produces a symmetrical knot.
The Windsor knot, also sometimes referred to as a Full Windsor or a Double Windsor to distinguish it from the half Windsor. The Windsor knot, compared to other methods, produces a wide symmetrical triangular knot. The knot is often thought to be named after the Duke of Windsor It is, however, named after his grandfather Edward V11. The Duke preferred a wide knot and had his ties specially made with thicker cloth in order to produce a wider knot when tied with the conventional four in hand knot. The Windsor knot was invented to emulate the Duke’s wide knot with regular ties. The Windsor knot is worn on more formal occasions, and it is especially suited for a spread or cutaway collar that can properly accommodate a larger knot.

The half-Windsor knot produces a neat, triangular knot. It is larger than the four in hand knot and Pratt knot but smaller than the Windsor knot. Despite its name, it is not half the size of the Windsor knot, and there is no evidence that it is derived from that knot. It works well with light- and medium-weight fabrics.

For the 180th anniversary of a certain brand that has something to do with wool I was looking for old pictures of sheep sheperds and found these beautiful images in the Life Archive. It reminded me of a man I’ve met in Morocco wearing a jacket which was completely naturally ‘waxed’ by all the dirt and sheep wool – and it looked amazing, just like these two…

Last week Bas shared this fantastic work with me and just wanted to share it with the rest of the world. Anna Atkins (16 March 1799 – 9 June 1871), the English botanist and photographer, is considered the first person to publish a book illustrated with photographic images and the first female photographer as well. We really love these (photo)graphic pages taken from “Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions”…

On the birthday of car racer, heart-throb and King of Cool Steve McQueen Nowness published some exclusive photos and an interview with Neile Adams. Adams kept over 40 personal scrapbooks documenting her life with McQueen, now sharing just a little bit with us… Enjoy!

“Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success.”

— Ernest Shackleton, Antarctic explorer (1874-1922)

(This advertisement was placed in a London newspaper in 1912 and inspired nearly 5,000 replies.) Thank you Jorn for sharing.

A lovely series of pictures of a Porsche factory visit back in the days. Especially love this yellow/orange 911… Shared by A Continuous Lean.

I instantly fell in love with Heritage Research. Hand crafted in England using the finest British and Japanese fabrics they’re reviving tailoring traditions and with the addition of Swiss RiRi zips, horn buttons and leather binding they make each piece entirely functional yet distinctive. Above the Union naval officers jacket worn aboard the first ironclad warships used during the American Civil War. The jacket is made from a rich navy Irish Linen and fully lined with English Cambric cotton. It features a slim fitted silhouette with a scooped hem and authentic detailing including a fluted Bluff pocket with invisible stitching, shank cuffs, cowl collar with fastening loop, horn buttons and a single centre vent. Love it!

Slazenger Heritage is going to re-launched an Autumn Winter collection exclusively at Urban Outfitters. Slazenger was founded in 1881 by the two brothers Ralph and Albert Slazenger but the roots of the brand are from much earlier (around 1810, which makes it one of the oldest surviving sport brands…) It’s good to see these classics survive and revive their rich history.

Together with Red Wing, Olaf Tamm published a new book: “Wall of Death – Theatre of Motorcycling”. It is a tribute to these reckless motorbike-riders who perform their acrobatic art since almost a century. The drivers speed through vertical walls of a gigantic wooden drum, showing their repertoire of insane stunts on souped-up, museum-worthy Indian Scout motorbikes dating from the 1920s. The air vibrates from the roaring engines and the scent of oil and gasoline hangs in the wooden barrel that trembles and creaks with the beat of the engine’s staccato.
It took the photographer three years to travel through the whole of Europe and chase extraordinary pictures and exciting stories for his new project.

This beautiful hardcover book with more than 100 coloured pictures on 132 pages plus dvd (with the b/w short film „MOTODROM“ by Joerg Wagner) is now available at Tenue de Nîmes and online at Anothershop.

One of these evenings browsing thru the Life Archives, searching on random words for inspiration, I came across this image. It’s a cotton mill where the cotton is being prepared for weaving. Shot by Nat Farbman in Shaw, United Kingdom. What a beautiful picture!

My find of today: A rare vintage Montblanc dark chocolate brown Saffiano leather wallet from the late 30s. Specially made for the Montblanc Meisterstuck 146… Lovely!

Fred Bschaden from Treibstoff, the german agent for Filson, Red Wing Shoes, Nigel Cabourn a.o. shared a series of images with us from his Filson factory visit last year… And of course, we are more than happy to share it with the rest of the world. More images after the click >

© All pictures by Fred Bschaden, Treibstoff

The Selvedge Yard shared a beautiful collection of images by writer and photographer Danny Lyon from 3 of his books: The Bikeriders, The Destruction of Lower Manhattan and Conversations with the Dead (Just bought it! happy to find a quite affordable one, since it’s very expensive and hard to find). A beautiful time capsule of the iconic 1960s & 70s of America…

Sang Blue shared some beautiful photographs of the Blue Rebel Motorcycle Club in California, 1965 by Bill Ray. Visit the Sang Blue blog for more images…

Too bad they’re not for sale, but this is a very nice collection of vintage military watches. But see it as a good inspiration for purchase… Check Hyunsuk.

“Time is one of the few things that man cannot influence. It gives each of us a beginning and an end. And this makes us question how we use what comes between. We all have a desire to make something that will show we were here and did something of value. To create something timeless.” — Prof. Dr. F. Porsche
Via SeaVees

My love for archives: I can spend endless days browsing trough the Google Life archives… Above Lucy B. Johnson with Secret Service agent in her Corvette Sting Ray.