Celebrity ties

Unless you are one of the lucky few that commission bespoke clothes from a Savile Row tailor, the typical off the peg suit can be lacking in personality.

So how can a man liven up his wardrobe without breaking the bank or entering the realms of the gimmicky or wacky? DJCAD's Jane Keith has come up with a solution.

Jane, who lectures in printed textiles, designs a range of ties, that have been spotted being worn by everyone from Jon Snow, to Chandler from Friends, Lenny Henry and David Dimbleby.

Working from her Fife studio, where she creates her designs and then sends them to a tie manufacturer, Jane is pleased with the success of her creations. She says, "The vast majority of British males wear either something undemanding from the High Street, or, heaven forbid, something from the novelty tie department. I am pleased people like Jon Snow are demonstrating that a tie can be worth putting some effort into."

The designs themselves are drawn from mainly natural influences. The horizon lines, fields, fences, rocks, and the sea are some of the main recurring influences used to create simple patterns, stripes and seasonal colour schemes. All the ties are 100% silk and are coloured using mainly acid dyes. These are then overprinted and layered up using a variety of printing techniques giving each design group a distinctive feel.

Jane's designs can be viewed at www.janekeith.com

top: Jane in her studio in Fife; right: a collection of some of Jane's handmade ties.