Bow Ties Sydney, Australia - Le Noeud Papillon - Specialists In Self Tying Bow Ties


With over 2 million page views, Le Noeud Papillon's blog continues to provide lovers of bow ties with unique stories and content relating to menswear through interviews with industry icons and vignettes into topics relating to suits, shirts, shoes, ties, designers, weavers and much more.

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Wednesday, September 28, 2011

All You Need To Make Your Bow Brand New



We all have a bow tie or two that we've worn out one too many nights or been on the dance floor busting a move when we pulled off our bow to break free to the music, only to find out the next morning that not only do we have a splitting hang-over but there is an unsightly fraying in the bow and a loose thread or two have appeared.

Not to worry, this isn't the end of that bow tie. All you need are some tweezers and a pair of seamstress thread / yarn trimming scissors like the ones above. Generally speaking I don't need the tweezers, but they can come in handy if you are in a tight corner and don't want to cut into the silk. In this case, use one hand to use the tweezers to grab the strand and your favorite surgeons hand to cut the silk strands.

If you do a good job the bow will be as good as new, if you miss, you can always come and buy a new bow tie from us at www.lnpties.com.

Happy trimming!

N.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

How Cool Are These For Summer Down Under

Swims of Norway - http://www.swims.com/#/home


Have Your Say In What I Do

And let me know if I am missing anything from my collection of bow ties, ties, pocket squares etc. Since you guys are the ones that buy the products, I am happy to hear what you think about the product, what I should be focussing on etc. 

You can leave an anonymous comment below or else email me on bow@lenoeudpapillon.com or use the contact form page on www.lnpties.com . All feedback is welcome!

Regards,N

Calling In All Favours

Dear Customers,

I am looking for photos of LNP bows in situ. Normal, everyday people wearing LNP bow ties in their most comfortable surroundings in their most comfortable poses. If you are a private person and do not wish your name to be published, this is fine. But if you want to ham it up, feel free. If you want to wear that smoking jacket you never wear out, put it on! Whatever goes, so long as you feel happy.

So please, if you are interested in this, can you please email the images in a resolution between 500k and 2mb to bow@lenoeudpapillon.com.

Thank you in advance.

Sincerely,
N

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Testimonials From Happy Customers Make Me Happy

Dear Le Noeud Papillon Sydney,

The tie arrived today! It's great! I'm so happy to have snagged the last one. That was a clever bit of marketing that changed my mind from "nice" to "gotta have".

Kind regards,
Robert
MA, USA

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Men Of Habit - A Good Blog For The Gents


It is borderline ridiculous just how much wonderful content is springing up daily. This truly is a renaissance for men and information spreads like wildfire these days.

Monday, September 19, 2011

You Were Right Under My Nose Rose Callahan - How Did I Not See You?

How the hell did I not know about this blog until now, absolute gem: http://dandyportraits.blogspot.com/




Not Everyone Uses The Real Thing - What Is The Real Thing Anymore?

Before I begin, I must express that this is my opinion only. Having spent some time now looking at different cloth manufacturers, I would like to express my thoughts about textile manufacturing, not only in Australia but across the globe.

Often these days we are lambasted with images of beautiful people wearing luxurious garments and the images are branded so much so that we rarely ask anymore about the quality of the manufacturing and the textiles used in the garments.

You often struggle to work out when you buy off the rack what the quality of the wool is - the micron (super value) , the length of the fibres, the mix of wools. It is quite often tucked away, and not all the information is available to the consumer. Then, with regards to manufacturing, the consumer is often presented with the cheapest fabrication options such as fusing instead of horsehair canvas, cheaper stitching and finishing techniques etc.

As brands become international and need to pump volume through their distributions channels to improve their bottom line, so they lose control over production and quality. And when the marketing animal comes into play, the cost of presenting the brand across the globe is so expensive that they need to fund this beast with additional profits. Since the price of products is being pushed down further and further by global competition, the brands are unable to extract higher prices from the consumer, so the only way they can do this is by lowering the costs. This could be moving your factory to a place of cheaper labour, using cheaper fabrics or cutting corners on manufacturing methods. This is the reason that when you check the label in most department stores, you will see 'Made in China', 'Made In The Phillipines', 'Made In Turkey' or 'Made In Pakistan'. I am not casting any doubt on the ability of these countries - I have recently heard that countries such as China are now, in some factories, making suits as good as, if not better than, the Europeans. 

My concern comes back to my reference to W. H Auden a few weeks back:

" A poet`s hope: to be, like some valley cheese, local, but prized elsewhere." 
W.H Auden 

Shouldn't we hope that in the end, what we buy is no different from the valley cheese - made local - rather than an Italian brand image featuring very little that is nowadays Italian.Or buying from an Australian brand which has 90% of its garments made in a factory on the mainland of China. Of course, my argument is totally flawed - and I am the first to see that I use Italian and English wools to cut suits here, or that I import Italian silks and cottons to make my bows and shirts. But that is where I started getting upset - when I realised that the Australian government had never fostered a value adding service to the wonderful wool and cotton that we already produce. 

It is economically prudent to not follow any of my advice, but I believe in trying to keep things local - so that Swiss chocolate is Swiss and an Australian Akubra is made in Australia. And in buying brands that use the real thing - rather than something that is 'almost the same, they won't know the difference, but half the price'.

Thankfully, some brands, like the ones below, still use great cloth to create their garments.


Super 140 Kirgyz Wool




Kirgyz wool, super 140 (Super 140 = average 16.5 microns) wool which comes from Kyrgyzstan is a highly sought after wool. Again, the harsh conditions of the climate produce a very fine wool in their sheep. Kirgyz is featured in a few Dormeuil books, including their recent 'White Light' book, but in this particular sample approximately 30% of the cloth is comprised of Kirgyz wool. 

Qiviuk - Wool From The Arctic




This is Qiviuk - a wool that is derived from Muskoxen which roam the Arctic. This is a particularly fine wool and was one of the wools that I mentioned earlier when I talked about the price of wool being related to the way in which the animal is farmed and the conditions in which it lives. This is a very rare wool bunch and this particular bunch is the only one of it's kind in the Southern Hemisphere. www.dormeuil.com

Saturday, September 17, 2011

New Black Silks Are On Their Way

We apologise for running out of Mogador Black Satin but we are pleased to tell you that new stock will be coming off the loom next week. We have some remaining stock of bows but we cannot cut bespoke ties for another 10 days.

Friday, September 16, 2011

PLEASE HELP THIS WOMAN COMPLETE HER FILM ON TAILORING!



"

Hi. I'm Vicki Vasilopoulos, producer and director of Men of the Clothan inspiring documentary film about Italian master tailors. Men of the Cloth is currently in post-production, and so far we’ve completed an initial rough cut of the film (a rough draft in the editing phase).

Now I need to raise $20,000 to finish editing my film in time to meet the fall deadline for several important film festivals and launch it on the world stage. So I’m turning to my fans, supporters and new film friends to ask for contributions. In exchange, I'm offering some amazing perks -- like Men of the Cloth posters, DVD’s, fine men’s ties and shirts, premium English suiting fabric, and even custom-made suits!

Your contribution will help us finish this independently produced film so that I can share the story of the pride and passion of these amazing Italian master tailors. "


CLICK ON THIS LINK TO HELP: 

Holland & Sherry - A Short Interview With Simon Rice

Simon Rice is the Australian representative for Holland & Sherry. He is rather shy and did not wish to be photographed for the blog. Working from a modest office in the Sydney CBD, Simon has a vast array of bunches for suiting and jacketing for all occasions. I thought I would ask him a few questions on cloth.

How long have you been working for Holland & Sherry?

I worked for a subsidiary company of Holland & Sherry in Hong Kong before coming to Sydney in 1982 to run Holland & Sherry Pty Ltd, which is also a subsidiary company (not an agent).

What is the most commonly sold cloth for suiting in both colour and texture?

In metres plain black, midnight and navy super 100's and 120's pure worsteds of 240/280gms.
In value 100% pure cashmere doeskin in black, navy and camel 340gms.

What is your favourite cloth for a dinner suit?

A black faille such as 747101, super 140's wool worsted 280gms. If money no object, then 427008 (black barathea) or 427009 (black faille) , both 280gms 50% super 200's worsted and 50% cashmere. Absolute luxury!

What sort of cloth weights should Australian’s be choosing for their climate? Would someone in Melbourne need different cloth to a Sydneysider?

For Sydney, 280/310gm cloths can be worn all year round with the addition of a top coat or overcoat for the colder winter days.
For Melbourne, although 280gms or lighter is fine for mid summer, heavier cloths such as 380/410gms are more suitable for their winter.

What is your favourite navy cloth from H and S and in what texture, weight, weave?

I like 379067 a 280gm navy imitation rib in super 130's worsted, whilst classic it has some texture for added interest.

Does Holland & Sherry make their own cloth or do they sub-contract mills to make their fabrics?

We have our own mills, two in the UK and a larger mill in Tome, Chile. We also buy certain fabrics from non related mills i.e silks, cottons and some fancy jacketings from Italy

Could you explain to us a little about the different weaves and textures we find in fabric books – what are the most commonly used and why?

The most common weave is plain weave, which is basically a cross hatch where the warp and weft threads cross each other alternatively. By interspersing different coloured threads the design is created
A twill weave (2 over 2) tends to give more body to the cloth and therefore the finished garment drapes well.
A similar construction is a prunelle weave (2 over 1)

If someone was venturing into bespoke tailoring – what would you consider their first acquisition be – a work suit, cocktail suit or dinner suit?

I would advise a work suit as this will be worn more frequently than a dinner suit and therefore gives more opportunity to enjoy the the pleasure of a suit tailored specifically for you.

Holland and Sherry can be found at http://www.hollandandsherry.com/

What Main Types Of Wool Can I Choose From?

Wool, which is the textile fibre from sheep and certain other animals, is the best type of cloth from which to make a suit. It absorbs water very well, it resists crushing, it springs back to life and it is naturally a fire retardant. Wool fibre can be extracted from sheep (mostly Australian Merino), alpaca, lama, angora, camel, yak, goats (both cashmere and mohair), muskoxen (qiviut), and vicuña (the most expensive wool in the world). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wool


The most commonly known wool comes from Merino sheep, of which the vast majority is grown on sheep farms across this wonderful country we call Australia. Other Merino sheep wool is produced in Argentina, South Africa, China and New Zealand.... but we don't need to mention that....


Australian Merino wool is known for it's whiteness and softness and over the past fifteen to twenty years there have been substantial wool production advancements in both breeding and production and finishing techniques; so much so that wool which was previously thought impossible to produce is now commonplace. Whereas in the 1960's wool may have weighed 400-600 grams on average, today most working bunches (cloth merchant books containing wool samples) are between 190 grams to 360 grams. There is a global trend towards lighter and finer wool (although there is nothing wrong with well-finished heavier wool which is usually more durable and hard-working for everyday suiting).


Another advancement along the way has been a decrease in the diameter of wool hairs in Australian Merino sheep. In decades gone by you would hear the reference to nothing under 24 micron wool. Today, many wool merchants trade in nothing less than 18.5 - 19 micron wool, with high end bunches going to as low as 13 micron wool. To note, the measurement does not mean that every fibre is exactly this micron. It is tested a laboratory to work out the average micron fibre within a batch. The standards therefore mean that in a Super 100 - all wool is an average of 18.5 microns or less. If you are buying wool, you could never check this. That is why you rely on a reputable brand of wool that isn't 'pulling the wool over your eyes' so to speak - brands that have their wools tested and certified. 


One of the observed requirements of extracting finer wool is that the animals are exposed to harsh climate conditions. For this reason, some of the most sought after light wool (13-15 microns - Super 180 - Super 220) is found where animals roam in small herds in places as remote as the Arctic circle where animals such as Muskoxen produce a very fine wool called qiviut. Extracting such a wool has extremely high labour and processing costs which is why so many of the rarer wools are so expensive to produce and the reason why Australian Merino sheep have been so successful in comparison. Australia offers a naturally harsh environment coupled with excellent farming capabilities.


Apart from the diameter (micron) of the wool, wool manufacturers also consider the length of the hairs, the crimp in each hair, the tensile strength of each hair and the number of times a sheep is shorn. Of the Merino flock which we are referring to there are four main breeds: Peppin, Saxon, Spanish and South Australian Merino. When we refer to wool that is of a low micron value (higher $$$ value) we are generally referring to Spanish and Saxon Merino. 


When you buy a very fine wool, you are most likely buying a wool which comes from Saxon sheep farmed in the wet parts of New England, New South Wales or else the cold and wet parts of Tasmania. Of each fleece that is shorn off a sheep, only 50 per cent can be used for wool production and of that remaining fleece you will extract about two suits worth of wool.


A Merino Sheep

Opening Up The Fleece - Here you can see the fineness of the wool and the natural 'crimping' of the fibres.

Horses For Courses - There Is Not One Horse For All Courses

We discussed earlier that there are three main ways of weaving a fabric - plain, twill and satin. Under these weaves you then get various ways to change the constitution depending on colours of threads set up on the warp and or weft and  different weaving processes to get the following different cloths which I will post images of. They are in no particular order: Herringbones, Birdseyes, Fil A Fil, Checks, Pin Stripes, Chalk Stripes and Houndstooth.

NB: Disclaimer, some of the information may not be 100% correct, so please, if you notice any incorrect statements, please leave a comment below the blog entry so that I can clean up the information to make it more accurate.

Satin weave cloth - right - which is generally used for lapels on jackets. 
On the right, satin weave can be mixed with plain weave in the same cloth. This is an example of a dinner suiting cloth which is a hybrid of weaves.
Check left, a houndstooth right, click to enlarge
Herringbone on the left, fil a fil on the right. 
Chalk Stripes, Cable Stripes and Pin Stripes are very popular with businessmen and lawyers.

Twill Versus Plain Weave, Up Close And Personal


You should be able to expand this image and see the difference more clearly. According to Laurent of Dormeuil Australia, these are the exact same two cloths woven in a different weave, the left being plain weave, the right being twill. You will notice that the plain has less sheen. Further, it is more likely that the twill on the right will drape better and hold it's shape longer through the working day.

Wool Ruminations Continued - Different Weaves

What Are The Main Types Of Weaves I Will Find In Cloths? The most common forms of cloth weaves are plain, twill and satin. Each cloth has a different characteristic.

Plain weaves, which are very common, are a simple combination of going under and then over in the weaving process. That is, as the warp (imagine a cylinder of many strands of thread laid out which then passes through a machine set up to look like a series of columns in a grid) is fed through the machine, the shuttle (the thing which carries the thread across the columns of thread) passes back and forth going under and over each thread (creating rows in the grid).

Taking the plain weave as a base, now conceive the idea that instead of going over and under each thread with the shuttle, you decide instead to go over two threads before you go under for two. This is a basic twill.

Cloths made of a plain weave may not drape as well as a twill. The reason is that the action of going over two and then under, creates an imbalance in weight which dictates that because it is heavier on the 45, it tends to fall towards the ground when it is worn. This is the reason twill, or what the French call 'serge' is preferred for its draping effect.

Satin, by contrast, is the opposite. With satin, you expose more of the warp (the columns on the grid) by sending the shuttle (which creates the weft or 'rows' of the grid) further along underneath the warp before exposing them again on the top side. Satin, which is derived originally from silk weaving, is a way to show more of the warp of the cloth and usually the end result is a shiny top side with a dull underside on the cloth.

Below is an illustration I found on google images.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Wool and Other Fabrics - A Series Of Ruminations With The Intent To Inform

Over the coming days I am going to post some content on wool and everything I have learnt from going around to popular wool merchants and asking questions. My intention is to inform you, but as this is a blog and I am not a journalist, I do not wish to be held accountable to any of the information which I offer. It is my analysis and also in part it is my opinion and must be put into context. So, here it is without delay...

Wool was the main reason I started to look around for information on cloth. It is hard, when you begin hunting down fabric merchants, to actually work out what is what when it comes to grading and marketing of wool - so I had in mind the idea that I needed to clear the air of marketing jargon and work out what constituted a good wool. I will tell you now the answer. There isn't one. It is preference only. But I will tell you about what I learned as I went along for my amateur investigation.

Worsted Wool: You hear this term all the time. It is a super 100's worsted wool, it is a super 200 worsted lamb's wool.... bla bla bla. What does Worsted mean? In it's traditional sense, it is derived from the fact that wool was combed so that the long hairs separated from the shorter hairs. Worsted wool therefore refers to the filtration process of drawing out the longer hairs from the shorter hairs to select the best wool.

The reason why we worst wool is that the longer hairs tend to be more durable and have a lower chance of breaking apart when they are twisted together. This also means you will have a decreased chance of the wool pilling.

How Do We Measure The Length Of The Wool Hairs? The answer is that we usually don't. It is assumed that if you were to buy a super 180 over a super 100 that you would expect the wool hairs to be longer. However, this is not necessarily the case. The fineness of the hair is measured in mircons and this is what changes the category of a wool from Super 100 (18.5 micron average)  to Super 150 (16 microns average). However, there is no standard measurement to work out the length of the individual hairs - so you need to ask the question. Generally speaking, hairs range from 2-7cm in length.

How Can You Tell The Hairs Are Longer? Generally speaking, if the individual wool hairs that are then binded together to form thread are longer, the end product is a thread which has less knots and kinks in it. Less knots and kinks in the individual threads are likely to create a smooth fabric when the threads are woven together in the jacquard loom. If the fabric is smoother then it will refract more light. This is why when you look at fine wool cloth, it has a more generous lustre and play in the light than coarser wool. Coarser wool tends to have more 'matt' qualities as less light is refracted by the porous nature of the physical imperfections in the wool.

Why Do We Blend?  Blending types of wools and blending wools with silks and other natural or non-natural fibres is done to create effects or to increase characteristics of wool. Silk, for example, is an unbroken thread of extremely long filaments. Each filament of silk can be hundreds of metres long when it is unwound from the cocoon of the bombyx mori. Therefore, when you weave silk into the wool you create a smoother fabric which adds a distinct colour difference because silk takes pigmentation differently to wool and refracts light in a different manner because of the triangular prism like shape of each individual silk filament. There are hundreds of reasons why different blends exist - suffice to say that in some cases it is to improve the quality of wool or end fabric, in others, sadly, it is also to lower the cost of production.

How Does Super Translate To Microns?

Super 100 - 18.5 microns
Super 110 - 18 microns
Super 120 - 17.5 microns
Super 130 - 17 microns
Super 140 - 16.5 microns
Super 150 - 16 microns
Super 160 - 15.5 microns
Super 170 - 15 microns
Super 180 - 14.5 microns
Super 190 - 14 microns
Super 200 - 13.5 microns

More to come tomorrow!

Melbourne - What A Surprise!


\







You hear it all the time - 'we went to Melbourne on the weekend, what a surprise... So many laneways, so many cafes, the streets were buzzing, there's so much less attitude, the service was great' - and you tend to hold your chin in your hand, elbow nestled into the table and you respond to this positive barrage with 'I really should get down there more often you know... I've been meaning to go lately... but with work and her work....".

So I decided to do it. I used up some frequent flyer points and I headed down and I met some great people and I shopped my bow ties around. It was great to finally meet Shandor from Leopold's Empire and put a face to the interesting name. It was nice to meet the Poulakis' from Harrolds and it was nice to meet Laurent from Dormeuil. And the people were nice, and the laneways were so pretty, the cafes were ornate, and the streets had more buzz and there was less attitude..... all those things that Melbourne gets a great wrap for that singes the nostril hairs of Sydneysiders. But I embraced it. It is a wonderful city and Melbournians? have every right to be proud of their city.

To note to international readers: People from Sydney are always in a continuous rivalry with people from Melbourne over the battle for which city rules the roost of Australia. The following are massive commonly accepted generalisations:

1. Sydneysiders are overstated-, Melbournians are understated.
2. There is less attitude in Melbourne.
3. Melbournians have a twang, Sydneysiders have a nasality to their speech (although all still say G'day)
4. Melbourne people tend to travel to New York a lot and write independent films and wear grungier clothes.
5. The rest of Melbourne, that isn't wearing urban cool flannel, is very well dressed. Better than Sydney. Whereas Sydney is board shorts, sunglasses on top of your head and douche bag t-shirts, Melbourne is more refined.
6. Sydneysiders are more pretentious, less open and more narcissistic.
7. Everyone in Melbourne knows what good coffee is.
8. Sydneysiders think they are on top because of the natural beauty of Sydney - the harbour and the beaches.... and the Opera House.

If you want to add some massive generalisations, please feel free to list some below as a comment. As for me, I loved Melbourne and I think they might be right about Sydneysiders. We have a certain take on the world which is unjustified - given the beautiful laneways and ornate cafes I stumbled upon yesterday.

A New Limited Edition - Byrnes

If one day I design a cloth as beautiful as a fabric in a Sandro Boticelli painting then I will hang up my gloves and walk away. This is my first step on the way. Available today on www.lenoeudpapillon.com .

Introducing The James A. - Welcome To The 'Club'.

Hello there, we have just released this bow today. It is out latest design in our limited edition collection. It is light red in colour with a black club motif. It will be available shortly on www.lenoeudpapillon.com .

Courtesy Of A Suitable Wardrobe


How dapper Mr. Grant... We should all take a page out of your book. 

Please Be Patient...

We ran low on silks and we are awaiting a new delivery. We are currently cutting new bows this week of remaining silks we had on hand plus three new designs. We apologise for any inconvenience and we will update the stock levels next week. You may also try www.tiedeals.com to see if they have the model you want in stock.

You've Made It When James Andrew Picks Your Product Up




"It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude." – Ralph Waldo Emerson


Very much an individualist, it doesn’t surprise us that our own beloved WIJW photographer, Gabriel Everett, holds so dear these words by Emerson. And just as Emerson and his fellow Transcendentalists professed freedom from social convention in the pursuit of greater truths, our Everett is quite passionate about utilizing his creative talent to make some rather provocative social commentary:
“I think there is a real opportunity to have a message other than lust, elitism and addiction,” observes Everett. “I want to create consciousness to the realities of our world through my work, not just showing fantasy lands. I think truth is the most beautiful of all, it turns me on thinking about spreading truth rather than only fantasy. We live in a world where it’s cool to be stupid, companies and brands market this message to the sheep and those who don’t think for themselves. I love when standards are risen higher. I think it’s much sexier and cool to have substance, be original, think for yourself and be sexy in our own skin. Yet the gods of our world are the people lacking the most substance. We live in a culture that idolizes fame for its sake. We praise Kim K who is famous for a sex tape, Jersey Shore, Twilight and the housewives of New Jersey. I think this needs to change.”
Needless to say, Everett has us waiting with bated breath to see more of the body of work that perhaps will ease some of the great deluge of pop culture he speaks of! In the meantime we look forward to bringing you more photos and video by this very gifted artist.
This being a post dedicated to Gabriel Everett, I thought it fitting to let him handle art and creative direction, and it was his desire to reference French and Italian film styles of the 60′s and 70′s. Everett wears a Tom Ford era Gucci black linen denim jacket, white cotton shirt with black piping, black and white silk polka dot bow tie, python belt with silver double horse head buckle and sunglasses by Lanvin his fragrance is Lorenzo Villoresi Garafano. I’m wearing a white and black silk cotton window pane plaid jacket, black and white silk hounds tooth pant and black patent belt all by Gucci, Richard James black and white cotton shirt with contrast white collar, Seaman Schepps shell with coral bead cuff links, Tom Ford black and white silk pocket square and black and tan leather loafers, Tom Ford era Gucci sunglasses, white and black silk mini polka dot ascot by Le Noeud Papillion and my fragrance is Creed Imperial Mellisime.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

I Found This On Gentl8 Blog....


....And I quite like it. Socks were so daggy with loafers for so long that perhaps this is exactly what was intended for them - to make a come back in a bright pastel with shorts - like some daggy American tourist that then decided to get kitted up in Italy on a summer vacation... To be honest, these days, because I used to smoke cigarettes, I have circulation issues, which I blame on those nasty gaspers, and I figure that if socks are back in, that will be good for me to keep my tootsies warm and the blood circulating. So maybe, contrary to every bone in my old body, I will embrace them as a practical trend.

Just please, whoever is making the future fashion forward decisions, please, please, don't bring these back:

Tom Ford Creates A Beautiful Bow Tie Worth Noting & So Does Christian Lacroix

I think this is an excellent bow tie for formal wear. Especially if you have an interesting grain or texture to the wool on your jacket or the silk on your lapel. You can buy Tom Ford bow ties on www.tiedeals.com which is also selling Christian Lacroix, Le Noeud Papillon (moi) , Viktor & Rolfe, Gucci, Givenchy, Leonard etc etc. It's a nice mix of bows in one spot. http://www.tiedeals.com/bowties/bowties.htm

Below is a Christian Lacroix bow which recently arrived and which I think, judging by the photograph alone, is very nicely made.

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Two New Bows Are Coming

There are two new bows on their way and I am very excited. Stay tuned.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Gout, What A Bitch!


If ever you have gotten a dose of this disease you will never forget it. Not ever. Never. It's the greatest bitch I have ever come up against. It's a disease that strikes when you are most comfortable, rarely giving you a heads up that you are in for a night of crying and swearing to the heavens that you will never drink alcohol or touch greasy food again. The unfortunate nature of this bitch is that just when you are on the mend and get active again, just when you have forgotten that night of pain, that hot antagonistic swollen bitch of an ankle, just when you feel carefree and light and easy and you pick up that glass of champagne and clink it with your companion - she will strike again. The price of liberty is eternal vigilance they say - and so it must be with gout - the Al Qaeda of diseases.

Smoking Jackets Made To Order





If you are interested in any of these jackets - please email me on bow@lenoeudpapillon.com . Fabrication time is 4-5 weeks.