I know I'd buy one. For those unlucky drones who have to wear ties to work, how about a tie with part of a pattern in one solid color, and another part of the pattern made of a transparent fabric / plastic / polymer? Thus, you could see the color of the shirt through the tie, and always have a match! One day, it's a grey and white tie, the next day it's grey and blue, the next day it's grey and black, etc.

Of course, no one wants a nasty slick plastic looking tie. Space age polymers and futuristic weaving breakthroughs might be needed to not make the tie stand out and scream "Look! I'm a transparent-y tie!"

You might want the solid part of the pattern to run down the center of the tie, so that shirt buttons won't show through, but there would still be a large number of pattern options - diamonds, stripes, flowers, fractals, etc.
-- agentzen, Oct 04 2001

So what do manners maketh?
Anyway, a fishy. If I have to wear a tie (which, at work, I do, except tomorrow, which is a dress-down day for charity), I want people to know about it.
-- angel, Oct 04 2001


If there's one thing that distinguishes you from all the other suits walking around it's your tie. It's an expression of your personality. A statement about your mood, be it bold or mischievous. Flaunt it.
-- Helium, Oct 04 2001


I have to laught at those execs who express their individuality by wearing a Christmas tie towards the end of every December.
-- sdm, Oct 04 2001


Three years ago I had a five minute conversation with a serious looking older businessman in a dark suit. Why do I remember him so vividly now? I had glanced down at his tie where it disappeared under his buttoned jacket, and caught a glimpse of tweety bird!
-- Helium, Oct 04 2001


I also remember an encounter with an embarrassed car salesman wearing a faulty novelty Christmas tie, which starting playing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" every time he tried to talk to me.
-- Helium, Oct 04 2001


If I had a meeting with a financial consultant who didn't respect myself or my business enough to wear a tie, I think it would cast a shadow on my perception of his attitude, and ability to serve me. Am I old fashioned?
-- Helium, Oct 04 2001


Auugghh! Double-fishboned (so far) by the hb elite! I feel I must defend the concept, even while admitting that it might not be that good. I beg you all to think of Joe High School Graduate, who maybe just got a cruddy retail job at Waldenbooks or something, and who can't afford to buy 6 or 10 high-quality cravats. Or Jim Blue Collar, who needs just one tie to go dancing with the Missus on Saturdays at the VA Hall. Just 'cause y'all are possessed of a wealth of tie-purchasing and color-matching skill doesn't mean everybody is.

Also, swivel, I object (politely) to your linguistic fascism. I'll throw around terms like "space-age polymer" and "rack-and peanut steering" even if I have only the vaguest conception of what they mean. Sure, I could have just said 'fabric' but space-age polymer has so much more zing! I think I'll make it a point to include the term 'space-age polymer' in every hb idea I create from now on. :)
-- agentzen, Oct 04 2001


whoooa batten down the hatches, everybody, we've got one of those (out)raging socialists on our hands.
-- lewisgirl, Oct 04 2001


Speaking as someone who had to be officially instructed to wear a tie, I'd just like to say that I hate ties. I also hate all ideas that involve having to wear a tie (unless it's for hanging executives from lampposts with them, or wearing only ties and nothing else). So I hereby donate 1 kipper tie to agentzen.
-- DrBob, Oct 04 2001


I think this is an excellent idea and would actually sell, not to the poor but to the high fashion and iMac crowd. Semi-transparent ties with a slight tint could even provide a nice variation on whatever the owner is wearing, matching it without being exactly the same color.
-- jutta, Oct 04 2001


[swivel6] The HB is about ideas, not about what is possible. And this idea would sell. Especially to used car salesmen.
-- phoenix, Oct 04 2001


sacrilege DrBob
-- Helium, Oct 04 2001


<pedantry mood="amused">blissmiss, scary as it would be if you spelt it correctly, the concept of Sparki as the "soul bread winner" is so nightmarish, I'll need a gross of psychic etch-a-sketch to make it till tomorrow. Whether this involves making bread out of souls, being a bread winner with a soul, or earning money from heartfelt renditions of "Respect" and "Dock Of The Bay", there's no way I want Sparki getting her hands on any immortal part of my being. Letting her earn money is bad enough, but at least it'd keep the manufacturers of personalised luminous paint in pastel colours in business. </pedantry>
-- pottedstu, Oct 05 2001


Paul Merton wore a rigid metal tie on an episode of 'Have I Got News For You' last season, and it looked pretty good. Why don't you just get an optical perspexy sort of thing (like those things that they put in the back of van windows so you can see what your bumper (fender) is hitting) and make a tie with that? or tinted glass?
-- lewisgirl, Oct 05 2001


Silk organza and lace are transparent enough to work; but I bet Space-Age Polymers would sell better.
-- hello_c, Oct 05 2001


Odd to me that PS thought UB to be a non-tie wearer. How come Kiwis and Ozzies don't call ties *tyes*? After all - tires are *tyres*. I've got 20 or so ties left - weeded down from 3 dozen. I used to wear a suit and tie daily for a few years - now it is rare. A few years ago I arrived in L.A. from Washington D.C. where I had been for a year - a friend of mine whom I had known for 20 + years was there to meet me - he didn't even recognize me in my monkey suit - though he was in his now customary Armani. As for the idea itself - Space Age Polymer = S.A.P.
-- thumbwax, Oct 06 2001


<sigh> I tire of this endless banter. I think it is false to assume that the best possible stripe colour is your shirt colour. Have a little creativity.
-- sdm, Oct 06 2001


I was supposed to wear a <small black> bowtie for one of my jobs...I'm such a big boy that it was nigh impossible for me to find one that would fit, let alone a shirt to go with it, so I couldn't even use a clipon. I mostly just ignored the idea anyway, on the premise that if you quietly ignore the rules, people will rewrite them so they don't apply to you.

One day, one of the management demanded I wear a bow tie.

The next day I came in with a <slightly modified> garish pink and green monstrosity...and to make it even better, it spun like a propellor as necessary.

I didn't wear it the next day, and it was never mentioned again.
-- StarChaser, Oct 06 2001


//garish pink and green monstrosity... spun like a propeller// <grin>

I used to wear ties when I worked in admin. I didn't mind, because I went for the bowler hat and umbrella look, sort of John Steed after a rough night. I kind of like dressing up ridiculously.

Alas, now that I'm a 'smart casual' programmer (I've always preferred 'scruffy formal'), ironically, there's less justification for such whimsy. I seldom even have the opportunity to wear my ivory goat's-head tie-pin. <sigh>
-- Guy Fox, Oct 06 2001


Hey, I rather like this. But make mine polarized plastic. As the front of the tie swings in relation to the tail, which won't be stuck through the loop, the tie will change from transparent to semi-transparent.
-- protean, Oct 07 2001


I always wanted a bowler...and a fedora. Problem is, things don't often look as cool in real life as they do on TV...

A friend used to collect ties...Not normal ties, but the kind made of red velvet with gold fringe...He had one that was purple silk and silver foil, six inches wide. He said it hurt the eyes to look at...people used to ask him if that was a tie or was he wearing a space warp on his chest...
-- StarChaser, Oct 07 2001


I want one that makes a tie-shaped part of the body look transparent, so when someone looks at my tie, they see the wall behind me.
-- angel, Oct 08 2001



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