There comes a point as you grow older when you begin to understand your father differently.
As children, we see fathers as fixed figures — providers, drivers, gardeners, sportsmen, problem-solvers. Men who simply continue forward no matter the weather, recession, long days, or aching backs. It is only later that you begin to appreciate the quiet dignity in that consistency.
This Father’s Day at Redhouse & Bellew, we wanted to dedicate a small collection of ties to the kind of man who wears one not for fashion alone, but because it represents something deeper: pride, tradition, effort, and self-respect.
For me, that man is my father.
Born in Hong Kong in 1972, he attended Stowe School as a prep school student and played cricket for the England Senior Bs at just sixteen years old. Sport always followed him closely — cricket first, then tennis and golf later in life — though he would likely admit golf tests his patience more than cricket ever did.
After pursuing a career in horticulture, he raised four children through the difficult years that followed the property recession. Like many fathers of his generation, there were setbacks that would have broken other men. Yet somehow, he carried on with quiet determination, never allowing hardship to define him.
Today, he still works two days a week. Not because he necessarily has to, but because men like him rarely stop moving.
Outside of work, he can usually be found in a garden, on a tennis court, discussing the day over dinner with my mother, or planning tomorrow’s engagements. While they both enjoy tennis and golf, it should be said they are very much of different standards altogether — and wisely choose not to play together too often.
There is something reassuring about fathers like this.
Gentlemen who may never ask for much, but who quietly shape the standards you carry into your own life.
And perhaps that is why a tie still matters.
Not because it is formal. Not because it is fashionable. But because wearing a good tie says something about how a man carries himself. A mark of respect for an occasion, for the people around him, and for himself.
This Father’s Day, we are running a small sale on a selection of ties my father particularly liked from our collection — silk ties designed in Ireland and crafted in Como, Italy.
Ties for race days, summer weddings, lunches, long evenings, and the occasions that deserve just a little more effort.
Because as we grow older, we realise that style is not really about appearance alone.
It is about character.
And often, the first gentleman we ever learn that from is our father.
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