Late last Thursday night, my husband and I decided he needed a pale, pale pink tie to wear to the wedding we were looking forward to on Saturday. He wouldn’t necessarily wear pink on an average Tuesday; it’s just not his thing, but as short, sweet note in an overall look, it works really well with his olive-y skin and dark coloring. Plus, we felt like a soft hit of pink with his black suit would be just the thing with the so-vintage-it’s-antique black and cream, drop-waist sheer and lace dress that I was planning to wear. (I told him we were going for Grapes of Wrath-meets-Busby Berkeley.)

By Friday afternoon I realized that this pink tie was unlikely to show up on its own. Do you know I called just about every single independent men’s clothier in this city and no one had what I needed? Well, a few had a pink tie or two — but my husband was planning to wear a 60s slim-fitting suit with narrow lapels and the whole business, so a regular 2 3/4 inch tie wouldn’t do.

Point being: Try not to need a skinny pale pink tie on short order in this city.

I did finally find one at Nordstrom, and a sale for one Z Zegna tie and a Nordstrom house brand pocket square was tendered. All’s well that ends well, especially when you’re still intent on taking stimulus plans into your own hands. Neither of my purchases was made by American hands – and geez, do we still consider Nordstrom a local company?? Still, a Seattle-area retail salesperson benefited from the purchase, and I refuse to feel too badly about supporting a fourth-generation family-owned Italian men’s fashion house (it’s a line I am familiar with due to Butch Blum and Mario’s championing their look).

I also refuse to feel too badly about breaking Gian DeCaro’s matchy-poo rule. Sometimes simplicity is best.

But honestly, I still don’t know how I feel about the whole Grapes of Wrath-meets-Busby Berkeley thing. It still feels really super important to buy and buy intelligently, but it still feels weird too. For now I have the luxury of seeing it that way.