Klimt Turquoise & Pink Silk Tie

DESIGNER'S NOTES

A unique Fox & Chave printed silk tie with a stylised leaf pattern in shades of turquoise and blue with pink highlights after an element from the work Porträt von Johanna Staude (1917-18) by Gustav Klimt (1862-1918).

The portrait of Johanna Staude was one of Klimt's final works and remains incomplete with areas of the sitter's face, particularly round the mouth, as well as parts of the distinct garment from where the pattern for this tie is derived, being unfinished.

Staude was an Austrian socialite and divorcee who was a friend and model of both Klimt and Egon Schiele. Some suggest that the unknown woman featured in another of Klimt's final works, Lady with a Fan, (1917) to date the most expensive of his works sold at auction, selling for $108.4 million (£85.3 million) at a Sotheby's auction in London in 2023, may have been Staude, though this is not verified.

In her portrait, where she is definitively the subject, the symbolism of leaves to indicate change and decay, her slightly cold austere gaze, and the unfinished aspect perhaps all hint at the artist's decline and soon to be end.

COLOURS

STYLING

A Fox & Chave silk tie looks best tied in a classic Windsor or half-Windsor knot and worn with a collar style of your choosing. Cutaway or spread collars offer the greatest opportunity to display the detail of your unique silk tie design.