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Forget the wider-or-narrower pendulum. A Minneapolis doctor has thrown men's fashion a curve with his scalloped ties.
Kim Ode, Star Tribune
The dream: Stephen Zuckerman was window-shopping in downtown Minneapolis on a cold winter night when he paused before a display of men's neckties. The dim light of the street lamps through the glass made the ties appear to waver, as if their edges were scalloped. "Beautiful," he thought. Then he rolled over.
The wake-up call: The dream stayed with him, and his sister Bernice made a tie with scalloped edges that he could shop around. But it's tough to find someone willing to sew a scalloped seam. Even if they're willing, they may not do it so well, or at least not every time. The scallops grew, shrunk, puckered. This was in 1988. Who knew the nightmares ahead?
The dreamer: Zuckerman, 65, practices internal medicine with the Aspen Medical Group, but he still thinks of himself as the hippie who hated wearing ties as a young doctor in San Francisco's Haight Ashbury neighborhood. Over the years, he's started hospital cooperative and medical outreach programs in rural Minnesota, was a venture capitalist, wrote two books and spent two years on tiny Truk Island in the Pacific. "My brain, basically, if it's not dealing with something different, won't wake up in the morning."
The thumbnail history: Ties have their roots in an elegant scarf worn by Croatian soldiers visiting Paris in 1635. The French, smitten, began dressing "a la Croate," which led to the cravat. The English, smitten, made theirs of imported lace, which led to lace-smuggling rings. Amid bandanas, bolos and plantation ties (think Colonel Sanders), the modern-day necktie emerged from France when Jean Patou fashioned one from women's fabrics to appeal to the main purchasers, smitten wives. Thus was born the Father's Day gift.
The breakthrough: Last year, Zuckerman found a manufacturer through a doctor friend from Hong Kong who knew of a Chinese factory that could make the scalloped silhouette in quantity and with quality. Then, wonder of wonders, the woman who does his dry cleaning and who's grown intrigued with this innovation sews like a dream and made him a reversible model, so now he can offer one-of-a-kind ties as well.
The price: Ranging from $29.95 to $89.99 in 100 percent silk.
The spiel: "The delightfully unique scalloped necktie turns heads wherever it is worn. It's elegantly sensual, disturbingly provocative, like forbidden fruit. Not since 1898, when the bow tie was introduced, has there been such a unique new shape in men's neckties, bringing new invigorating sensuality and style to men's society -- neckties that give new meaning to the 'ritual' of wearing a tie."
The bottom line: "Dreams don't lie."
Kim Ode • 612-673-7185
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