Ties,regimental,university,college, club.

[Sir William]

I don't know if I should be pitching in here as I think it is aimed across the water, but why not?
Regimental, club etc. ties all denote membership of a fairly exclusive group, i.e. you either joined and served in them or simply joined and paid the annual fee. As a result, they are quite entitled to claim exclusivity for their particular pattern of tie and anyone infringing that exclusivity would be regarded as anything from simply impolite to downright fraudulent (yes - it has happened, people worming their way into jobs etc. wearing a regimental/university tie to which they are not entitled). I think we can all agree on this whereas claiming a similar exclusivity for tartans is a different matter altogether.

Phil,

I stand accused and unapologetic. I have a number of British regimental ties that I wear. I wear them because I admire a particular regiment though I have no official connection to them. I wear them to work but I never wear them when I'm in the UK - for obvious reasons. I'd say 99.9% of the Americans I meet don't even know they are regimental ties.

Twice when wearing the RM tie in Washington, DC I've met up with an RM. I explained that I was an American Marine and had served with RMs (and even almost enlisted in the RM when much younger) but that I'd never been an RM. I wore it because I greatly admired and respected the RM - but I did stress that I would never wear it in the UK and I had no reason to pose as an RM because I was an American Marine. Neither RM had any problem and actually expressed their appreciation that I thought so highly of their Corps.

[O'Callaghan]

Jock, I read your post and realised I didn't have a university tie, and have never had one, more than a quarter of a century after graduating, so I got online to the student's union shop at my old alma mater (although that's really only what an American would call it, even if it is latin) and bought one immediately! Now I just have to wait for it to come.

The photo online was so bad that I am still not sure what it looks like. I don't think I can ever recall seeing anyone wear one before either, so that doesn't help. However, the colours of the Loughborough University scarf are purple, yellow and grey, so those are the colours I would expect to see in the tie, if only the picture had been good enough to tell what the colours were!

Our founder, in 1915, was himself a graduate of Imperial College, London, and they added a narrower grey stripe into the centre of the Imperial College colours of purple with two yellow stripes to create the Loughborough scarf. I need a new scarf too, but they are out of stock until October. I am not even sure where my old one is.

Assuming the background colour of the university tie to be purple, I certainly don't have a kilt in a tartan with a purple background, or even any purple anywhere. There aren't even very many tartans with purple in them atall. Isle of Skye, I suppose, but I've never even been there. Now, if there was a tartan for the university ...

[Jock Scot]

Jock, I read your post and realised I didn't have a university tie, and have never had one, more than a quarter of a century after graduating, so I got online to the student's union shop at my old alma mater (although that's really only what an American would call it, even if it is latin) and bought one immediately! Now I just have to wait for it to come.

The photo online was so bad that I am still not sure what it looks like. I don't think I can ever recall seeing anyone wear one before either, so that doesn't help. However, the colours of the Loughborough University scarf are purple, yellow and grey, so those are the colours I would expect to see in the tie, if only the picture had been good enough to tell what the colours were!

Our founder, in 1915, was himself a graduate of Imperial College, London, and they added a narrower grey stripe into the centre of the Imperial College colours of purple with two yellow stripes to create the Loughborough scarf. I need a new scarf too, but they are out of stock until October. I am not even sure where my old one is.

Assuming the background colour of the university tie to be purple, I certainly don't have a kilt in a tartan with a purple background, or even any purple anywhere. There aren't even very many tartans with purple in them atall. Isle of Skye, I suppose, but I've never even been there. Now, if there was a tartan for the university ...

At first sight many university/club/school/regimental ties look as though they go with little. In fact, forget all this matching up nonsense and just wear the tie with everthing you have and you will find that you end up wearing it without a thought-------with everything!