Van Heusen › Shirts, ties and cufflinks news

How to tie a tie

Place the tie around your neck, the nape of your neck being roughly in the middle of the length of tie.

Hold the thin end still and out straight in your left hand, whilst wrapping, with your right hand, the broader main front of the tie around the thin piece of tie twice.

Pull the broad part of the tie under and through the 'V' shape you will now have just below your neck and feed the broad part of the tie through the top of the 'knot' you created by wrapping it around the thin piece.

Make sure the pattern is facing outwards whilst you do this. Pull the short end to tighten.

Which shirts are great with which ties

This is ultimately down to your own personal taste but we can offer a few pointers as to what we know looks good.

Some patterns need not be thought of as patterns, but can be used almost as a solid. In a shirt, very fine line stripes can appear as a solid. Therefore a strong patterned tie will not conflict.

Treat patterns which appear to be solid from the distance as though they are solid in both ties and shirts.

A crested tie with a wide repeat - a pattern with a wide setting - can be used as a solid against a busy striped or checked shirting.

What does your shirt say about you

A good quality shirt says just that; that you've put time and effort into looking as good as you do and you radiate confidence. On the contrary a bad shirt can make you look older and tired.

A simple crisp white shirt is flawless and says you mean business, whereas a pink shirt indicates your out for fun and maybe the odd polo match.

Patterned shirts show quirks in your character, subject to the pattern of course but on the whole look cool and collected, the professional well balanced man.