Information about Necktie

The necktie (or tie) is a long piece of cloth, either woven or knitted, worn around the neck, under the shirt collar, and knotted at the throat, with its blades resting on the shirt front, covering the buttons. The modern necktie, ascot, and bow tie, descend from the cravat.

Men wear neckties as regular office attire, formal wear, or uniform. Neckties are also worn by women as part of a uniform (e.g. military, school, waitstaff), and are now being rolled out by offices to create a unified dress code.

Variants include the bow tie, ascot tie, bola tie, and the clip-on tie.

Origin

The Necktie Origin or neck tie history dates back a mere hundred years or so, for they came into existence as the direct result of a war. In 1660, in celebration of its hard fought victory over Turkey, a crack regiment from Croatia (then part of the Austro Hungarian Empire) visited Paris. There, the soldiers were presented as glorious heroes to Louis XIV, a monarch well known for his eye toward personal adornment. It so happened that the officers of this regiment were wearing brightly colored handkerchiefs fashioned of silk around their necks. These neck cloths, which probably descended from the Roman fascalia worn by orators to warm the vocal chords, struck the fancy of the king, and he soon made them an insignia of royalty as he created a regiment of Royal Cravattes. The word "cravat," incidentally, is derived from the word "Croats."

Four-in-hand

The four-in-hand necktie (as distinct from the four-in-hand knot) was fashionable in Great Britain in the 1850s. Early neckties were simple, rectangular cloth strips cut on the square, with square ends. The term "four-in-hand" originally described a carriage with four horses and a driver; later, it also was the name of a London gentlemen's club. Some etymologic reports are that carriage drivers knotted their reins with a four-in-hand knot (see below), whilst others claim the carriage drivers wore their scarves knotted 'four-in-hand', but, most likely, members of the club began wearing their neckties so knotted, thus making it fashionable. In the latter half of the 19th century, the four-in-hand knot and the four-in-hand necktie were synonymous. As fashion changed from stiff shirt collars to soft, turned-down collars, the four-in-hand necktie knot gained popularity; its sartorial dominance rendered the term "four-in-hand" redundant usage, shortened "long tie" and "tie".

In 1926, Jesse Langsdorf from New York introduced ties cut on the bias (US) or cross-grain (UK), allowing the tie to evenly fall from the knot without twisting; this also caused any woven pattern such as stripes to appear diagonally across the tie.

Today, four-in-hand ties are part of men's formal clothing in both Western and non-Western societies, particularly for business.

Four-in-hand ties are generally made from silk, cotton, polyester or, common before World War II but not as popular nowadays, wool. They appear in a very wide variety of colours and patterns, notably striped (often diagonally), club ties (often with a small motif repeated regularly all over the tie) and solids. "Novelty ties" featuring icons from popular culture (such as cartoons, actors, holiday images), sometimes with flashing lights, have been quite prevalent since the 1990s, as have paisley ties.

Six- and seven-fold tie

The sevenfold tie is a construction variant of the four-in-hand necktie revived after the austerity of the Great Depression. A square yard of silk (usually two or more pieces sewn together) is folded to seven sections of silk between the folds. Its weight and body derive exclusively from the layering of silk. It can require an hour or more to construct.

There are newly designed spinoffs to sevenfold ties, often referred to as four folds, or lined seven folds. These imposters frequently have the folds of the silk ending halfway through the middle of the inside of the tie. These ties, while very thick, are essentially the same as regular lined ties, with the exception of the decorative origami like folds at the ends of the tie. They are most easily identified by the bottom square, the part of the back of the tie that hangs in front of the belt, which is not one single sheet of silk-normally the introverted pattern is exposed-but is two pieces of the silk with the liner in between. In contrast to authentic sevenfolds, these ties' heft and body are derived by a standard lining, not folds of silk.

Types of knots

See also

There are four main knots used to knot neckties. The simplest, the four-in-hand knot, may be the most common. The others (in order of difficulty) are the Pratt knot (the Shelby knot), the half-Windsor knot, and the Windsor knot (also erroneously called the "double-Windsor"). The Windsor knot is the thickest knot of the four, since its tying has the most steps.

The Windsor knot is named after the Duke of Windsor, although he neither invented nor used it. The Duke did favour a voluminous knot; however, he achieved such by having neckties specially made of thicker cloths.

In the late 1990s, two researchers, Thomas Fink and Yong Mao of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory, used mathematical modeling to discover that eighty-five (85) knots are possible with a conventional tie (limiting the number of moves to nine).^[1]

Clip-on tie

Main article: Clip-on tie

The clip-on necktie is permanently knotted bow tie or four-in-hand style affixed with a metal clip to the front of the shirt collar. This 20th-century innovation is considered by some to be stylistically inferior, but may be considered by some for wear in occupations (e.g., law enforcement, service clerks, Engineers etc.) where a proper necktie could pose a choking risk in the course of doing his or her job.

Ties as signs of membership

The use of coloured and patterned neckties indicating the wearer's membership in a club, military regiment, school, et cetera, dates only from late-nineteenth century England. The first definite occurrence was in 1880, when Exeter College, Oxford rowers took the College-colour ribbons from their straw boaters and wore them as neckties (knotted four-in-hand), and then went on to order a proper set of ties in the same colours, thus creating the first example of a college necktie.

Soon other colleges followed suit, as well as schools, universities, and clubs. At about the same time, the British military moved from dressing in brightly and distinctively coloured uniforms to subdued and discreet uniforms, and they used neckties to retain regimental colours.

Almost all secondary schools in the United Kingdom maintain the wearing of a tie as part of their school uniforms, with its design being specified. Some primary schools also permit pupils to wear ties.

The most common pattern for such ties in the UK and most of Europe consists of diagonal stripes of alternating colours running down the tie from the wearer's left. Note that neckties are cut on the bias (diagonally), so the stripes on the source cloth are parallel or perpendicular to the selvage, not diagonal.

The colours themselves may be particularly significant. The dark blue and red regimental tie of the Household Cavalry is said to represent the blue blood of the Royal Family, and the red blood of the Guards.

In the United States, diagonally striped ties are commonly worn with no connotation of group membership. Typically, American striped ties have the stripes running downward from the wearer's right (the opposite of the European style). However, when Americans wear striped ties as a sign of membership, the European stripe style may be used.

An alternative membership tie pattern to diagonal stripes is either a single emblem or a crest centred and placed where a tie pin normally would be, or a repeated pattern of such motifs. Sometimes, both types are used by an organisation, either simply to offer a choice or to indicate a distinction among and levels of membership. Occasionally, a hybrid design is used, in which alternating stripes of colour are overlaid with repeated motif pattern.

Many British schools use variations on their basic necktie to indicate the wearer's age, house, status (e.g. prefect), or participation in competition (especially sports). Usually, the Old Boys and Girls (alumni) wear a different design.

Opposition to and problems with neckties

The debate between proponents and opponents of the wearing of neckties generally centre on issues of conformity, expectation, and expression. Frank Lloyd Wright said of great architecture (himself quoting another great architect, Louis Sullivan, who was also his mentor), "Form follows function". Applied to fashion, the tie's function as decoration stands criticised by the same principle. Arizona State University recently passed a resolution (2005) to have no discrimination based upon gender preferences, including cross-gender choices. However, as it takes some time to change policies and sentiments, they retained a rule requiring all men to wear ties and all women to wear hose and heels in the Office of the President for any ambassadorship visits or official meetings. Some men have been turned down for employment and even fired with or without explanation after appearing without the "expected" tie.

Health issues

Opponents of necktie wearing have cited risks associated with the wearing of neckties as an argument for discontinuing the practice. These risks have primarily involved entanglement, infection, and vascular constriction. The risk of entanglement is generally well understood by people working around machinery or in situations where person-to-person confrontation may occur (e.g., police and prison personnel, and in certain medical fields).^[2] The answer is generally to avoid wearing ties, or use the clip-on variety which detach from the wearer when grabbed.

The risk of vascular constriction, in cases where ties are worn with over-tight collars, has been noted. Studies have shown an increase in intraocular pressure in these cases which can worsen the condition of people with already weakened retinas.^[3] People with glaucoma should exercise special care. In all cases sensible precautions can mitigate these risks; the danger lies in lack of awareness of the risks. Paramedics performing basic life support remove the tie from a victim as one of the very first steps when a victim is unconscious or has difficulty breathing to ensure it does not compromise the airway.

Ties can also be a health risk for persons other than the wearer. Ties worn by people working in medical professions are known as major vectors in the transmission of disease within hospitals. Notwithstanding this problem, doctors and dentists traditionally wear ties to project a professional image. The risk of cross-infection of patients by doctors wearing ties is being treated seriously by hospitals,^[4] it being noted that ties are cleaned less often than most items of clothing and can carry bacteria. In fact, on September 17, 2007, new rules were published for British hospitals to ban neckties.^[5] Doctors routinely lean across patients and ties frequently come into contact with patients — although this can be countered somewhat by a tie bar. As a result, bow ties have traditionally been popular with doctors. Medical professionals can mitigate this problem by changing into a newly washed tie each day.

Anti-necktie sentiment

Removing the necktie as a social and sartorial business requirement (and sometimes forbidding it) is a modern trend often attributed to the rise of popular culture; although it was common as everyday wear as late as 1966, over the years 1967–69, the necktie fell out the window of fashion almost everywhere, except where required. Following a resurgence in the 1980s, in the 1990s, Internet-based (i.e. dot-com) companies mostly had workers who did not wear them when dealing with clients, since the public image was more that of the website than personal meetings.

Large teams of telephone-salespeople also were increasing as pools of workers. Many such men and women were required to wear neckties, because it was perceived as improving work attitudes, morale, and sales. Casual Fridays became a very popular tradition in that time, in which employees were not required to wear ties on Fridays, and then — increasingly — on other, announced, special days. Some businesses extended casual-dress days to Thursday, and even Wednesday; others required neckties only on Monday (to start the work week). Eric Crown, CEO of Insight Direct, which was beginning to affect substantial on-line sales via website, along with more than $1 billion dollars yearly telephone sales, announced one morning in 1995 that none of its 800 telephone salesmen would any longer be required to wear a necktie. After studying casual-dress day sales patterns, management announced the decision by having each salesman's necktie cut in half with scissors, by the receptionist, as they entered the workplace lobby. Another well-known example is IKEA, where neckties are not allowed.

An extreme example of anti-necktie sentiment is found in Iran, whose theocratic rulers have denounced the accessory as a decadent, un-Islamic symbol of Western oppression. In the late 1970s (at the time of the Islamic Revolution) members of the US press even metonymized Iran's hardliners as turbans and its moderates as neckties. To date, most Iranian men have retained the Western-style long-sleeved collared shirt and three-piece suit, while excluding the necktie.

Designers of neckties

Most designer labels release a collection of neckwear each season, however some popular UK designers are renowned for their neckties. These include; Turnbull & Asser, Paul Smith, Duchamp, Ted Baker, Drake's of London, and Thomas Pink. Specialist tie designers include KJ Beckett who offer unique silk knitted ties; and Carlo Franco, who offer sevenfold silk ties, which, unlike most silk neck ties, use only silk and no separate inner lining (see above).

Within the US many of the designers mentioned above are available from Neiman Marcus. Within the UK silk neck ties are available from John Lewis Partnership, House of Fraser, Selfridges, Liberty of London, Harrods and many other menswear stores.

Many clubs, associations, schools, churches and businesses will have custom woven and printed ties manufactured in specific colors, patterns and designs to signify membership. They are available internationally from companies like Bowler & Blake and American fashion designer Marisol Deluna in addition to their own signature collections.

See also

• Bolo tie
• Tie bar
• Paisley design found on ties
• Claus von Amsberg and the "Declaration of the Tie"
• Tie press - A device used to combat creasing in ties without heat-related damage.
• History of Western fashion

References

External links

• History
• The history of ties
• The Straight Dope: What is, or was, the purpose of men's neckties?
• Croat Cavalry origin of the Necktie
• Article covering etymology of the word cravatte and connection to Croats
• Tie care
• How to Clean a Tie, etc.
• Caring for a necktie, etc.
• Tying
• Fink, Thomas, Encyclopedia of Tie Knots
• Theory
• Tie knots and random walks: (85 ways to tie a tie)
• Making a Tie
• Seven Fold Tie