Anyone who knows me will tell you that I have two sides to me. The wholly serious one and the completely frivolous one. I am at constant war with myself when       it comes to matters elegant. For elegance, we have learned, is practiced restraint.

Which makes it doubly hard these first few days of spring to not succumb to the temptation to wear bright colors — like this Façonnable tie — which will leap out of the DB navy blazer that will seek to restrain its enthusiasm. It is, however, a wasted effort to control the unbridled jubilance of my lime green socks.

… and nowhere to go. Luncheon cancelled, grandparents in charge of the kids, short morning meeting and that’s it.

Notice the tie? It’s a cotton number by Countess Mara, reversible, too. The other side is a wide navy and white stripe. Very useful for travel when you’d rather pack one tie than two or pop one into an inside pocket, “just in case.”  Cotton is strictly warm weather wear and the bow keeps that extra layer of material off of your chest. Of course, you can’t loosen your collar as you could with a four-in-hand, so that may be a wash.