Fashionable...: Tie one on!

I dedicate this column to my good friend Dr. Russ Rogers. While shopping at Macy’s, the sales clerk behind the tie counter quite bluntly told him he had old-fashioned taste in ties and to step it up a notch. She was 90.

The necktie. It’s a source of unfounded hatred in most men. One could say its origins go back to 210 BC in China. But this early precursor does not look anything like the hangman’s noose of today. The early versions look more/less like a neck scarf that we could wear in winter or what we could think of as a cravat. Chinese emperor Shih Huang Ti was buried with an 7,500 life-size terracotta replicas of his famed fighting force ment to guide him to the afterlife. Each of the 7,500 figure are different except in one respect: all wear neck cloths. It is thought that this necktie was symbol or gift to the soldiers from the leader for bravery.

In 113 A.D., Roman Emperor Trajan erected a marble column to commemorate a triumphant victory over the Dacians. This tower-like column contains 2,500 realistic figures with three different styles of neckwear. Again, the necktie seemed to have been a symbol for bravery and symbolizes the warrior. While Roman soldiers did not cover their necks (Horace and Seneca wrote only effeminate men covered their necks), legionnaires or truly great fighters that were skilled in battle and therefore immune to perceptions of appearing feminine… or in our world “gay”.

Louis XIV of France liked the colorful silk kerchiefs worn around the necks of Croatian mercenaries. The King thanked the fighters in 1660 for assisting in a victory against the Hapsburg Empire. Some experts believe the French word for tie, cravat, is a corruption of “Croat.” Other suggest cravat is derived from the Turkish word kyrabacs, or the Hungarian, korbacs, both meaning “whip” or “long, slender object.” Regardless, the elegant French courtiers, and the military immediately began copying the Croatians.

Also in 1660, King Charles II returned to England and reclaimed the throne that had been lost during the Puritan revolution and "Old Ironsides" Oliver Cromwell. The exiled aristocrats returned to England and with them brought a passion for the European court trappings. The stylish cravat was popular for those who could afford it. King Charles II is said to have once spent 20 pounds and 12 shillings on a single cravat. This was as much as five times an annual middle class salary. Bet he didn't spill gravy on that one.

Art museums throughout the U.S. and Europe are full of paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries showing generals, politicians, and aristocrats resplendent in their lace, ribbon, and embroidered cravats. Around 1800, prizefighter Jem Belcher took to a colorful bandanna or neck scarf. Working class Englishmen by thousands were wearing colored bandannas as lace was expensive and the colorful scarf was seen as a more practical approach to fashion.

Derived from the Sanskrit word, bandhna, or bandhana, meaning "tying", bandannas were first imported from India around 1700. The original bandannas were silk and came in an array of colors. Howdy Doody lost something in the translation,

Someone I have written of before, George Bryan "Beau" Brummell before. He advocated well-cut, tailored clothes that were void of frills. Brummell rejected lace and preferred somber black suiting with a crisp white cravats. Anal to a fault, Brummell would change his cravat as often as three times a day so they were perfect. The simplicity of Brummell's uniform was adopted by nearly everyone from the working class to the upper echelons of royalty.

Designed by Teenagers… eeeeeeewww.

The I Zingari Cricket Club, founded by a group of Cambridge University students in 1845 is believed to have created the first sporting colors. In 1880, the rowing club at Oxford University's Exeter College One men's club, invented the first school tie. It was essentially a hat band from a bowler. Later in the semester, when guys ordered their hats, they ordered an extra band to use as a necktie. As they matured into gentlemen, such ties had enormous appeal to the vast Victorian middle class. In the industrialized society, men wanted to stand out, assert social superiority, or proclaim allegiance to a group. The necktie became a symbol of associations.

A COUPLE OF SIDE NOTES

The bow tie gets is name from the French, jabot, (pronounced ja-bow), a type of 17th century lace cravat. In the 18th and 19th centuries, bow ties came in various materials and styles. White bow ties were considered formal, but casual wear was multicolored. The black bow tie (or black tie as we know it today) dates to 1886, when Pierre Lorillard V (or his son, Griswald Lorillard known for creating a stir by wearing unorthodox and outrageous clothing) invented the tuxedo as an alternative to the tailcoats worn with white bow ties. History is a bit fuzzy here. Somehow or in someway, one of the two gentlemen showed up to the1886 Tuxedo Club's Autumn Ball and made a stir. Pierre Lorillard V was the man who brought yacht racing to New Port, RI and was highly respected in Victorian Society. He was the man who sold the Breakers property to Cornelius Vanderbilt II. My money is on the kid.

When is a tie not a tie?

In 1940s, Victor Cedarstaff went riding outside Wickenburg, Arizona. When the wind blew his hat off, Cedarstaff removed the hatband. The hat band had a silver buckle that he did not want to lose. He put it around his neck. Friends liked his new tie. Cedarstaff returned home and later patented the new neckwear, which was called the bolo because it resembled the lengths of rope used by Argentine gauchos to catch cattle. In 1971, the Arizona legislature named the bolo the official state neckwear… there is just no accounting for taste. Sorry folks, it is just too ugly to post on my blog.

In the American south to wear lace or silk cravats was just too messy and hot. However in the early 1800s, plantation owners displayed their social superiority by wearing wide ribbons tied in bows. These became know as Plantation Ties. River gamblers, Mark Twain and Colonel Sanders adopted this look… anything to sell a bucket of chicken.

Finally Paris fashion designer Jean Patou invented the designer tie in 1920. A smart marketer, Patou targeted the women purchasers. Today women buy 80 percent of ties sold in the US. That is why ties are often displayed near the perfume or women’s cosmetics. Statistics show that the tie is an impulse purchase.

In 1924, American tailor named Jesse Langsdorf created--and patented--the tie's modern look, with its bias cut and three-piece construction. Regular four-in-hand ties run the gamut in length from 55” to 58”. Big and tall ties are longer.

Prior to designing clothing, Ralph Lauren was a tie salesman. He launched the heinously ugly 4-in.-wide (10 cm) trend in the 1970s.

The tie of today

A quality tie has a good outer shell fabric of silk and proper interlinings. Finer ties are lined with 100% wool. Most other quality ties use a wool mixture. The finer ties have a higher percent of wool content in the lining and a 100% silk outer. Cheaper ties are polyester or a poly silk. Finer ties are also hand made, not unlike a bespoke suit. The highest quality ties are those that are called “seven-fold” ties. These is made from a square yard of silk folded seven times, and do not require any lining.

The proper width of a tie, and one that will never be out of style, is 3 1/4 inches (2 3/4 to 3 1/2 inches are also acceptable). As long as the proportions of men's clothing remain true to a man's body shape, this width will set the proper balance. Thus fat men can wear wide ties, however it is not ment to be a bib. Standard neckties come in lengths anywhere from 52 to 58 inches long. Taller men, or those who use a Windsor knot, may require a longer tie. After being tied, the tips of the necktie should be long enough to reach the waistband of the trousers. FYI, a necktie is really easy to make. I encourage people to try sewing one as it is a great first sewing project.

Auf Wiedersehen to the necktie?

The turtleneck could be called the anti-tie. British writer Noel Coward started wearing colored turtlenecks in the 1920's and created a new fad. French intellectuals and their counterparts in the United States popularized black turtlenecks in the 1950s.

Later in the 1970’s, Photographer Victor Screbneski popularized this again by photographing celebrities in black turtlenecks.

U.S. market share for American-made ties has fallen to about 40% today, from a high of 75% in 1995. U.S. sales of ties have plummeted to $677.7 million in the 12 months ending March 31, from their peak of $1.3 billion in 1995. This trend of the dying necktie was evident when some members of the Men’s Dress Furnishings Association attended the group’s annual luncheon in New York. A number of people turned up sans tie.

OK..... A Major Peeve.

I really don’t mind wearing a tie. When society pressures force me to wear one like working at conservative office environment or black tie function, I usually go out on a limb and wear something truly outrageous. I have a transparent sequin encrusted tank top that I sport with my tux. My philosophy is simple: more is more and subtle is boring. But in a general sense, a tie can make a guy look pretty cleaned up, presentable and, in some cases, even smart. Most experts agree that one should not send a necktie out to be dry-cleaned, they will completely #$%^&* it up. While dry cleaners may be able to remove spots, once they press the tie, the idiots compress the lining and dull the luster of the silk. I hate it when drycleaners press a tie. I have two suggestion should you take your tie to the cleaners. First off, tell them “You press it, you bought it.” When that fails, take the lead of dancer Fred Astaire and use it as a very expensive belt.

A special thanks to: