The dreaded tie-in-soup disaster

Flickr: BuyAlex

You're at a dinner, you're somewhere formal, and you lean forward to enjoy your soup. And everybody's staring at you - because your tie is now in the bowl with the spoon.
Most of us can avoid this sort of embarrassment, but how to stop a tie flapping about in the wind is no simple matter. I've always avoided tie clips like the one on the right, I like to leave my ties unfettered - but recently I've given up and worn one, first because it looks pretty good but second because it does hold the tie in place.

A tie pin can be as good, not as effective on patterned ties as plain ones because they tend to get a bit lost. My big preference - and I've only just discovered these - is the invisible version. It's a little bit of material that matches your shirt and has a buttonhole in each end. You put one end on a shirt button, thread the other through the tie bar (the loop of material at the back) and do the other button up and unless someone's looking really carefully they won't see you're wearing it, they'll just see a tie held mysteriously in place.

Tailors often do them with shirts - my regular supplier, A Suit That Fits (sponsored link which as always costs you nothing) issues them as standard with every shirt.

If only I'd realised what they were earlier I wouldn't have thrown so many of the blasted things away...