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.

To see the latest products we are working on, visit our online store on www.lenoeudpapillon.com

Want to search the blog for something or someone you've heard about? Use the search bar below to search for all related content.

Google Le Noeud Papillon's Blog

Translate This Blog

Monday, April 30, 2012

The Surrealist's Sole - The Finished Pair Of Ivan Crivellaro Shoes Hand Made In Italy

As you know, we were waiting on the finished pair of Ivan Crivellaro shoes, which are now ready. Ivan made these shoes for Le Noeud Papillon of Sydney, with complete freedom to choose whatever canvas he wished for the sole. He has chosen to include some butterflies, which we love, and the moustache of Dali. We are very proud of his work.






Friday, April 27, 2012

Heel The World - Shoes From An African Start Up Company

After sending out a blog entry asking if anyone had anything interesting that they were working on, I received an email from Jeffrey Manu who is running what seems to be a company which helps Ghanaian start up companies get traction with co-founders Fred Mawuli Deegbe and Vijay Manu. Jeffrey says that when you buy this brand you are helping Ghanaian companies strive for better production quality, a better skill set and a better future. Their aim it to empower start up companies with the necessary skills to make their businesses  international and they have started this journey with their first start up company, Heel The World.

Personally, if the freight is reasonable, I am going to pick up a pair myself to test them out. I think it's fantastic that this project is getting traction and I wish them the best of luck.

So far the two companies they have been working on is a shoe company and a beads company. I don't have much more to offer you at this stage, but it is worth taking a look at their tumblr page : http://heeltheworld.tumblr.com/ and below are some images of some of the shoes they have developed.







Thursday, April 26, 2012

Tailors Of Sydney - Notes From Our ABC 702 Radio Talk Last Night On Tailors Of Sydney

In case you missed that quote, here it is again:
“Many a man has fallen in love with a girl in a light so dim he would not have chosen a suit by it.”
Maurice Chevalier



Sydney tailors usually can’t afford high street stores, so they are often stuck in nooks and crannies across the city. There is also the need for discretion, as often a good tailor’s clients do not want everyone to know where they are getting their suits made. So where do you find a good tailor in Sydney? I thought I would open up my book and tell you of the ones I know of and what they specialise in.

JH Cutler – The Old Flame Of O’Connell Street Still Burns

John Cutler is the doyen of Old World bespoke and made to measure suiting in Australia. In fact, John seldom uses the word bespoke out of respect for the old world Savile Row tradition that is applied to the term. Apart from shirts and suits, John is an overcoat specialist. He is located at 12 O’Connell Street Sydney on level 6. John caters for the elder gentleman and offers a traditional British cut suit. He is also famed for his swiss cotton shirts which are made in Sydney.

Patrick Johnson – The Young Turk Of Paddington

Located at 46 Liverpool Street, Paddington, Patrick Johnson is the most sought after tailors of the younger generation. Patrick’s work is made mostly offshore in the Netherlands but some of his work is also done here in Sydney. Patrick’s slim cut style, his penchant for the peaked lapel in both single and double breasted has earned him a great deal of praise with the ‘in’ crowd of Sydney. Patrick also manages to veer clients away from traditional wools and often uses muted colours in cotton and denim in his suiting. His suits are also, generally, a lot cheaper than some of the more established city tailors.

Zimma Tailors

Located inside the Ivy complex on George Street, Zimma tailors is the brainchild of Roger Shamoun who is growing his business by a mixture of altered off the rack, made to measure and full bespoke suiting. He is a younger generation tailor, one of the bright sparks that we hope to see on the rise as some of the older generation begin to retire.

Salvatore Finocchiaro

Located at 140 Bathurst Street on Level 5, Salvatore works alone. He must be 70 odd now. He works very hard on some very prestigious clientele but he is shy and very old world stubborn Italian. His clients are more senior gentlemen and any younger buck would appreciate Salvatore’s skills but not his cut.

Bijan Bespoke

Bijan is of Persian descent. He is one of the few tailors in Sydney who is capable of doing light weight construction suiting. This is a style of suiting where the inner workings of the jacket are exposed and no lining, or a semi lining is present. Bijan  is not cheap, with suits starting from $4000 dollars, but he is thorough and you pay for his experience.

Matthew Lawrence

Located on William Street in Paddington, Matthew is one of the most manic tailors in the business. Making a suit with Matthew is being taken on a roller coaster journey – but the most enjoyable part is that you will, almost always, be grateful for the end product. Matthew is one of the younger set of tailors working in Sydney at the moment.

Zink and Sons

Located on Oxford Street, this art deco facade building is still going strong despite a closure of their O’Connell Street store. I am told that whilst they make very good suits, they make a boxy, hard shoulder rather than the softer Neapolitan style which is more popular at the moment.

Rochefort

Located in the St James Trust building, Rochefort is a tailor and also a specialist in hand-made ties. Rochefort don’t always work to your time frame but they do get the work done and the suits are made in Sydney by a workroom not far from the city.

And as a final note, that quote was in reference to making sure you try to use natural light when choosing the wool/cotton/silk in your next suit. Often we are stuck under halogens or some other wall lighting trying to make sense of a fabric. It's best to take a fabric book out onto the street or next to the window to scrutinise the colour and texture.

Signing off,

N_.


The cream flannel Fox Bros cloth sourced from A Suitable Wardrobe in a wide shawl double breasted jacket with a Charvet pocket square and a Le Noeud Papillon red satin silk bow tie. The buttons, although you can hardly see them, are corozo from Corozo Buttons. The trousers are navy - so it was my RED WHITE BLUE combination as a tribute to Anzac Day. This photo was taken at the ABC Studios just before we did our segment.

Found By My Informant Carlos Oppenheimer - How To Pack Clothes When Travelling

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

I Need Help Locating A Song

Years ago I went to a concert at the Sydney Opera House with a late Uncle who was a jazz enthusiast. It was Wynton Marsalis and his band and some very fine jazz was played that evening. I bought a CD at the end of the concert and it resided in my car for a long time until it was lost. One song remained my absolute favourite and for years I have remembered the lyrics but I have never been able to locate the song despite email contact with the Lincoln Centre who looked through their catalogue to see if they have it. The song lyrics went:

Yellow, the daffodils,
Violet, the morning light,
Red for roses,
Purple the night,
Brown, the autumn leaves,
Blue, so blue, my heart...

If anyone out there knows what the name of this song is, please please email me on bow_at_ lenoeudpapillon.com and I will gladly pay whatever DRM's are attached to the song. I have a longing to hear the deep molasses tones of that song again and I will gladly throw in a free bow tie if anyone can find it.

Many thanks,
N_.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Large Oversize Custom Made Velvet Bow Ties In Mayfair Shape - Private Customer Sydney

Just off the press - two oversized or jumbo Mayfair bow ties for a private customer in Sydney - these can be ordered through www.lenoeudpapillon.com

Finally Someone Else Is Wearing One!


I was starting to think I was the only one wearing my neckerchiefs. Here is Paul Bertelle, and I think he looks a helluva lot better in them than me. Nice work Paul. 

Friday, April 20, 2012

I Don't Know What You Mean Miss Elsa....

Any of you that read this blog regularly will know I have been itching to do a dinner jacket like Sam's in Casablanca. His was in silk - or perhaps a polyester given it was Hollywood and they were on a low budget - but I opted instead to use flannel from Fox Brothers after an offering came my way from Will Boehlke of 'A Suitable Wardrobe'. Will had commissioned a roll of this cream flannel to be produced. The jacket came together with a great lining from Hunt and Winterbotham's agent in Sydney, Imperial Textiles and finally, the buttons, made of corozo, were gifted as samples by Raul Caulderon of Corozo Buttons. I picked up the jacket today and I could not wait to share it with you. I think it's probably going to get very little use, but it is the culmination of a great deal of time and effort. The cloth had to be commissioned by Will Boehlke, the lining had to be sourced, the buttons had to come from Panama and then the Italians had to work their magic to bring my idea to life. 

Here's looking at you kid....






In Case You Didn't Work Out Who I Was Quotinig

I Can't Give It To You Without Being Sure.... That You Spend It Wisely.... On Beauty And Culture

Lawrence: I can't give it to you without being sure... ...that you spend it wisely, on beauty and culture.
Freddy: I've got culture coming out of my ass.
Lawrence: Spending money is a responsibility.
Freddy: All right, how am I supposed to spend my money?
Lawrence: Now, all these wines are very old.
I bought them to make sure they were cared for properly.
Freddy: You got a lot of wine to drink.
Lawrence: They're too valuable to drink.
Freddy: So you sell them?
Lawrence: Never, they mean too much to me.


The passage above, between the characters Lawrence Jameson and Freddy Benson in 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' is how I feel about my jacket collection. This new jacket was inspired by my love for Count Von Trapp's outfits in 'The Sound Of Music'. The jacket is very 'high on a hill was a lonely goatherd'.... The wool is a Harris Tweed from Holland And Sherry - one of the few remaining things I was able to keep from a failed engagement that ended a number of months back. 

I went to work on this jacket keeping you readers in mind. The hope was to bring back the mandarin collar and make a contrast in suede which was indicative of autumn, falling leaves and muted colours. So here it is, I feel I ought to give it a name, but let it be what it is - a Harris Tweed jacket. PS: All credit to the Italians. Without them this would not have been possible (Thank you Nick / Frank / Vito!)

Click to enlarge. Oh and by the way, that's one of our new neck kerchiefs which will be up on the website in a few days.








Tying Your Bow Before We Send



There is a lot to smile about here. The groom looks particularly good in his white dinner jacket and the bow has been tied perfectly. I say that because I tied it myself before sending! If you are in a rush, we are happy to tie your bow tie. Just let us know when you check out. PS: the premium black mogador silk is just about the best silk around to make a bow tie. 

Thursday, April 19, 2012

An Update On What We Are Working On

Gentlemen,

I thought I might update you on what we are working on at the moment. We are currently in the process of having our new silk designs made on the looms in Como, Italy. There will be various new designs in black, new motifs and new colourways that we will experiment with. At the same time we are currently working on a new range of hand-roll hemmed silk scarves for men - which are being screen printed as we speak. We are also working on a new range of screen printed pocket squares in crepe satin, habotai and silk twill. These will be slowly released over the next 6 weeks. Also in the pipeline are new angora and lambs wool scarves from Scotland and at the same time a range of cashmere scarves, also made in Scotland.

Our new silk and cotton neckerchiefs are finished and over the coming weeks many of the designs will be loaded up onto the website. It is an exciting time for us at the moment. Previously we have concentrated on our silk designs being woven in Italy and turned into bow ties in Australia. However, as we have experimented with new products, some of the manufacturing will not be in Australia. Our scarves will be coming from Scotland, our screen printing will be done in Indonesia and our new velvets will be sourced from Italy.

We are looking forward to surprising you with new products every week, so stay tuned to the blog and website over the coming weeks to see what's new.

Regards,
LNP.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Something Different From The Chalk Horse

Julian Meagher was a doctor who decided to turn his hand to art full time. He is one of the young guns of the Chalk Horse line up of artists. Here is some of his work. What struck me when I first saw his work is his use of colour, specifically rich blues and pinks, with which he creates some very tongue in cheek visuals.





We've Decided To Make A Traditional Marcella Bow Tie

These traditional white marcella cotton bow ties are made using Canclini marcella. We are running two shapes, both diamond point and modified butterfly. Buy them on www.lnpties.com




Tuesday, April 10, 2012

The Other Side Of Paradise

Most of us think that Bali is pure bliss - sweltering heat, five and six star resorts, day clubs, beach clubs, sun beds, day beds, mojitos, pina coladas, long tubing waves, reef, sand, sarongs, bikinis and board shorts. There is however, another side to Bali, one which is hard at work whilst you are hard at play. Part of those hard at work are in the rag trade, and of those, a proportion are working at turning you out your shirts and suits within the time frame of which you sojourn in Bali.

The brightest shining star of the Bali custom-made / bespoke tailoring business is 'Alta Moda' which is located in Kuta on the outer part of the Galeria Istana. Inside you will find three floors of custom-made heaven. On the ground floor there is silk, rayon and polyester, mostly geared towards the female clientele, then on the second floor it is 'men's business' with wool and cotton shirting, then the third floor is purely for a variety of silks geared towards the wedding and formal markets with additional sections for polyester satins.

It is an exciting place to be. When I arrived I spotted some other guests attending the same wedding. Two days later I took another group of guests there - taking them on a 'guided tour'. Such is the nature of a short trip away; that the person who went there the day before you becomes the 'expert' for the day. Adorable. So there we were all choosing our wools and cottons and in the process I had a few rayon sarongs made for myself and some members of my family. I sat with my driver, A_., he sipped on coffee and smoked cigarettes whilst we all waited to be measured. At the end of the day we all whispered to one another what we'd paid for our clothes and it put everyone in good spirits. Yes, we came, we saw, we pillaged..... Yes, yes, whilst the dollar still soars then it is time to make hay whilst the sun shines.... The hardest thing to do is to not go overboard and take home things you don't need.

Back to Alta Moda, take a look for yourself:











Monday, April 9, 2012

Watch This Space!

I have just been in Bali for a wedding but I managed to get some wonderful information for you readers, especially men in Bali with a week up their sleeve.