Any idea where to buy knock off Aldens?

Tassels sometimes. Yeah!

Ties are whimsical enough since I never really need to wear one.  So not that type of guy.  Not into novelty ties.  I enjoy them on others.

Polka Dot is the politically correct whimsy tie. Outré degree proportional to diameter.

James Laver wrote that he thought tie color vibrancy and pattern whimsy was a sign of male vigor with the brighter, stronger colors and more openly set, whimsical patterns betraying a more youthful and virile man. Not dissimilar to the way blonde women are preferred because it is thought the skin associated with blondes is more vascular and thus more accurately portrays the subcutaneous  health of the female.

Tight patterns and closed patterns are more controlled and it is interesting when after selling his Duchamp label Mitchel Jacobs new Penrose ties were differentiated by making the designs more ordered and serious. Thus they were more in step with the Germanic sense of style  than with the UK one.

We had the black cordo discussion here, initiated by me. I had been in the same situation as you, and I decided not to do it.

Low vamps are very informal, and look odd with a suit, so do chunky Aldens in general. C&Js Sydney is a much better choice when wanting to bridge that gap between uptight formal and relaxed formal.

/\  that's alright with me, some people also think pink shirts are feminine, but I wear them too, on occasion .... 

but back to the low vamps, it really is about the air flow and the comfort though I admit I like the fetching way they show off my toe cleavage when I get on the good foot.

Re the King of Prussia, that's just a town near Philadelphia that I've never been to but which apparently has a Brooks Brothers.

Which is the source of the infamous Alden-made tassel loafer, in the classic cordovan, which is what I have and now want to wear even more since this discussion has got me looking forward to hunting through my archives in search of ancient plunder.

In fact, a pink lightweight J. Press end-on-end buttondown in pima (in the '80s J. Press pink), a Brooks poplin olive wash and wear 3/2 patch sack, a Press emblematic tie with a random motif, and the Alden tassel loafers, is just my speed, it's my summer style and it would be well-known to any East Coast prep lawyer of a certain age.  Summer it up because you know you're starting your weekend early kind of thing.  From back in the days when every good firm had a killer law library in the office and a full-time librarian, none of this electronic stuff ...

back in the days of Shepard's Citations, getting the latest supplement so you could check to make sure key cases you were relying on hadn't been reversed .....