A Tie for Mr. Tighe by Linnea

One of the things Charleston, South Carolina is arguably well known for is its prime example of Southern fashion. Bow ties, seersucker suits, navy blazers over button down shirts in lime green gingham or pink plaid are considered everyday wear. In any other town you might see a row of shops with mostly women’s boutiques, trinket stores, and home furnishings with maybe one men’s store selling mostly sports’ team apparel, but not in Charleston. A walk down King Street immediately makes you feel as if you were in a European city with its cobblestone paths, specialty stores, and unique cafes. Every other store includes fine menswear, women’s apparel and hats, and the very tempting chocolate stores that waft their baking scents out at passer-byes. It’s obvious from the layout that in Charleston the men value presenting themselves as best as possible just as much as us womenfolk do!
On each excursion Evan and I have been able to take out to Seabrooke Island we try to make a point to stop in Charleston on the way in or out. We drive down East Bay Street and pick out our favorite ancient houses and how we would remodel the fixer uppers or landscape the different yards. Mostly we just window shop the stores and grab a delicious bite to eat at one of the many famous eateries. Last Tuesday we were repeating this tradition and poking our heads in some of the shops when a small, narrow shop with a beige seersucker suit in the window caught my eye. It was the epitome of southern gentleman clothing! Immediately at the front of the store was a rack of beautiful ties - no two alike and each tie had its own pocket square attached to it. Instantly I was drawn to one tie that was a cool mint green with a pale blue and ivory floral print on it with small specks of pink. It was just too perfect!
The store must have been short staffed that day because the over-excited owner was there dressed in a black suit with a black and white striped shirt with a bold white collar and large white cuffs. In his pocket was a bright yellow silk waving out at us. It reminded me of the suit Jim Carey wore as “The Mask”. He was unpacking boxes that contained mens skimmer straw hats and remarking how each was so exquisite. His hair was slicked back and groomed perfectly, although the color of it seemed a bit unnatural as if he had touched up some roots with brown shoe polish. On each hand he had two huge gold rings that made his chubby fingers bulge and on the cuffs of his shirt he wore giant gold cuff links that must have weighed his arms down. Although we had never noticed the store before (since we’re usually not eyeing the mens’ stores) I asked him how long he had been there and he proudly told me 22 years.
Evan and I took the tie we liked and held it up to a beige colored suit with a light pink button down. It looked fantastic and Evan proceeded to purchase it from the now exuberant store owner. My perception that the store was short staffed mostly came from the owner’s fumbling at the cash register. It seemed like it may have been his third time charging someone’s purchase...ever. Evan’s card was not swiping, but having worked with charge cards regularly myself, I know one can easily punch in the card numbers and charge the card just as efficiently. However, the gentleman proceeded to swipe Evan’s card about twenty times - each time getting an error beep. Up, down, up, down - he would not give up! He then tried to put it in a plastic bag since he thought that was a trick that might work. Up, down, up, down in the plastic - still beeps. I finally suggested politely that he could punch the card number in. He replied that he would then have to ask many private security questions from Evan to successfully charge the card. Up, down, up, down, up, down - nothing. He finally gave up and punched the numbers. The private security questions he was prompted to ask by the machine was: what was Evan’s zipcode?
An assistant had steamed the pocket square for Evan and brought it up to be packaged with the tie. The gentlemen then decided to give Evan a tutorial on the many different methods of folding a pocket square. The once lineless square of silk quickly turned into a square of numerous wrinkles. Although the gentlemen was so careful and earnest with his folding, I am afraid his vision might have been off because no matter what he did he could not get any ends to align! After many different folding options were shown to us, we readily thanked him so we could be on our way!
The colors of the tie are perfect and we feel that it is even more meaningful and perfect that we found it in Charleston! And don’t worry; we will be pressing the pocket square out again before the big day!