Bakla’s Practical Fashion Tips is a series of mini-blog posts giving out advice on fashion for the gay man. This ambitious project is, well, very ambitious as I do not really have the authority when it comes to fashion. What I have though is a wide experience in dressing up — be it to the nines or to the dumps (yes, you still have to look good even if you’re just going to the dumps!). The most important feature of this series though is practicality, because we have to admit that even if you don’t have a lot of money to buy clothes, fashion still has no mercy!
Practical Fashion Tip #4: Necktie
The corporate world may require you to wear a tie. But have you ever felt like wearing one made you look like an ElectroLux man or a department store salesperson (not that there’s anything wrong with these jobs)?
DO NOT WEAR A CARTOON CHARACTER TIE! (See Bidarlah’s comment about it). Ever! Unless of course you’re in a children’s party or the event is a Cartoon Character Tie Party! How do you expect your superiors or your subordinates to respect you if what they see when they’re talking to you is Tweety Bird?
Also, it is a general rule (but you can break this if you can carry it and no one notices) not to wear a checkered tie with a striped dress shirt, and vice-versa.
Oh and please, if you don’t know how to knot a tie, never resort to those clip-ons! Oh and yeah, the type of knot depends on what kind of collar you have. And there also are different kinds of ties. This is a bit complicated so we will tell you how to knot a tie and which knot goes with which type of collar in the next edition of Bakla’s Practical Fashion Tips.
Talking about practicality, your necktie does not really have to be that expensive. There are ties that cost as low as P99.00 which are good enough. Then again, there are those silk ties and branded ties which cost more than one month’s salary. So my advice is to get as many affordable ties as you can! Trust me, people will notice that you’re not wearing the same set of ties every week, or worse, the same tie everyday! I think I have about 40 or so neckties in my closet.
Where to buy:
Landmark, SM Department Stores, Robinson’s Department Stores - Price ranges from P149.00 to P300.00
Onessimus: P300.00 up
Bench: P300.00 up
Tieline: P400.00 up
