HE PROMISED ME A PAISLEY WITH FEET

PETER ELLIOT'S PAISLEY TIES, SOME KITON FROM ITALY, SOME NEW-YORK MADE.

I once encountered a man with a special tie, the paisleys all had feet.  Not so far fetched a design idea when you think that the Victorian explorer William Moorcroft thought that paisleys were rather humanoid designs. I thought I would see that tie again but never did.

Visiting the Peter Elliot Men Madison Avenue store in late summer, photographer and web designer Isabelle took photos of Elliot's wonderful Italian-and-New-York-made paisley ties for this blog.  I consider the owner, Elliot Rabin, one of the Princes of Paisley and so asked him about the paisley-with-feet concept.  Always enthusiastic, he said he had a paisley-with-feet-fabric somewhere in his office and would find it for me!  Forgiveably, Mr. Rabin appeared to have more pressing issues that month than paisley with feet.  In September came his letter to customers explaining that the upper Madison Avenue store was closing but that Peter Elliot Women and Peter Elliot Blue for Men and Boys would remain open.  He hasn't said why he is closing the one store but I tend to believe that it must be that the New York store-lords are continuing their efforts to stamp out all smart small businesses.  (One wonders how many Sephoras, H&Ms, Bananas and Gaps the upper eastside can profitably hold.)

In any event, I have faith that when all the changes are completed, Mr. Rabin will find that paisley with feet!  JP

PAISLEY IN AN HBO SPECIAL

Last week's New Yorker Magazine cartoon reminded us that the paisley motif is always very alive, always up to some kind of trick to get our attention.  Whether it is a one-celled creature, a paramecium as the much-loved New York designer Charles Nolan called it, when I asked for his definition.  Or a magical repeat motif in scarf or blouse that wants to make every woman look much more feminine and attractive.  Or a preppy tie design to please the American male, an empire reference for his Brit counterpart. Most of us love the paisley, even when he is being bad.  When you come to think of it, he has had more seasons than Tony Soprano. JP