Skinny Neckties: History Repeats Itself

As the age old adage goes ‘history repeats itself’, history is truly repeating itself in the case of neckties. Vintage is the way to go this year, with skinny neckties coming back into fashion.

Why Skinny Neckties?

Many might question the re-emergence of skinny neckties despite their popularity. The best part about these neckties is that they can be worn casually and still look classy or can also be sported formally. What is so special about these skinny neckties is that, for a casual look, you can wear them with an open top collar of your dress shirt and in fact, even without a formal suit. Many male models in fashion shows have been seen sporting skinny ties, ending just above the waistline, with an open collar and a pair of denim pants. In fact, not just men, even women have been seen to wear skinny neckties as part of their fashion statement. Ellen Page was seen sporting a cool casual look with a black skinny necktie at the Independent Spirit Awards.

Apart from casual, you can never go wrong with skinny neckties and formal suits. Brad Pitt and Jonathan Rhys Myers were seen wearing skinny neckties at the Golden Globe Awards. They looked classy, handsome and absolutely stylish. These neckties give you an edgy look with your traditional formals. The most commonly worn color in skinny neckties is black. Black is an ever-green color when it comes to formal wear and is something you can blindly pick and wear for any occasion.

The Length and Width of Your Skinny Necktie

The length of your skinny necktie depends upon the kind of look you are aiming for. Either ways, the length ideally should not be below your belt line. A shorter length gives you a sporty, younger look. Shorter lengths are usually not for formal but for casual wear. Most people will tell you that 1.5 inches to 3 inches is a good width for skinny neckties. In fact 1.5 inches is ultra-skinny but it looks dashing nonetheless. However, if you go any thinner than 1.5 inches, it is as good as wearing your shoelaces! Hence, the best advice would be to avoid this at all costs. Stick to 1.5 inches to 3 inches.

For a wide selection of skinny neckties and silk neckties, for both formal and informal wear, visit TheDapperTie.com. Once you see the catalogue they have to offer, along with other men’s accessories, you will never have to look elsewhere!

Ever Wonder About the Origin of Neckties?

So, you are dressing up for work and you casually pull out a pair of trousers, a shirt and a necktie from your wardrobe. Then, among other things, you go to work, have lunch, get some more work done, come back, have dinner and go off to sleep. The next day, you repeat the same cycle all over again. In all this activity, do you ever wonder why you wear a necktie to work? Exactly when did the idea of a necktie come into being so much so that it has in fact become an integral part of our daily ritual?

Let me use this blog post to tell you about the origins of neckties, which nobody really talks about, despite neckties being such an important part of the formal, even casual, dress code.

Where Do I Begin?

The concept of neckwear began perhaps as early as 210 BC, when China’s first emperor, Shih Huang Ti’s, mausoleum revealed neckties around each of his militia member-replicas. After that, in 113 AD, early Roman orators were known to tie neckerchiefs. This practice allowed their vocal chords to remain warm. At this time, soldiers were not known to wear neckties as part of their military uniform. In fact, according to Horace and Seneca, men with feminine traits were known to sport such cloths around their neck.

However, the Roman emperor Trajan’s militia was said to have worn neck cloths as part of their military apparel. According to historians, Trajan’s column is the only one to have worn neck cloths in Roman history. It was not considered feminine, this was their way of honoring great warriors.   

In 1650, this Roman style was adopted by France as fashion. These neckties were called ‘la cravate’ by King Louis XIV’s court. Forty years later, another fashion came into existence. It is believed that this sprouted from the fact that many French soldiers, when caught by surprise by attacking enemies, did not have the time to tie their neck scarves properly and hence, simply tucked them in their buttonholes. Hence, the battle of Steinkirke gave rise to The Steinkirke, a neck cloth worn in a disheveled manner, with two long lace ends.

Finally, it was in 1784, that neckties started being associated with a person’s individuality, personality and self expression. This concept was given birth by Beau Brummel, who was an authority on men’s fashion in Regency England. From then on, neckties became popular and the 1800s saw the emergence of neckties as a personal style statement.

For a variety of silk neckties in different sizes and styles, modern or traditional, TheDapperTie.com is the place for you. Here you will find a wide range of the latest neckwear, along with accessories such as cufflinks and handkerchiefs.

To Tie a Necktie

So you have a party coming up and have selected the perfect necktie to go with your suit. But have you ever given any thought to what knot would suit you best? Here are two different ways in which you can tie a necktie and what they look best with.

Four-in-hand Knot

Out of the four most commonly used methods of tying a necktie, this one is probably the easiest. Keep the wide end on your right and the narrow end on your left. Begin by bringing the wider end of the necktie over the narrower end. Take it all the way back to the right from behind the narrow end and then loop it once more by swinging it over the front of the narrow end. Pull it up from behind the knot of the necktie and end by passing it through the loop at the front. Pull down to tighten and you’re done!

This style does not work with wide collar shirts as it is asymmetrical and gives a more casual look. Shirts with a narrow collar opening would work best with this knot.

Half Windsor

This is a more formal knot as compared to the four-in-hand and slightly harder to learn.

Again, keep the wide end on your right and the narrow end on your left and begin by bringing the wider end of the necktie over the narrower end. Take it all the way back to the right from behind the narrow end but instead of looping it around the front, pull the wider end up and pass it through the middle of the knot. The next step would be to swing the wide end over the front and pull it up through the back just like in the four-in-hand knot. This also would create a loop at the front. The final step would be to pull the wide end through this loop and pull it down to tighten.

It is a large knot and looks brilliant with wide collar shirts. It is not as hard to tie as the Windsor knot but gives almost the same look. Works well at business meetings and is suitable for almost all formal occasions.

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Match Your Dress Shirt with Your Necktie

Coordinating a necktie with a dress shirt is quite an easy task for men who like sporting neckties often, if not everyday. However, there are still some who find this task quite tedious and often end up confused. Also, if you are not in the habit of wearing neckties on a daily basis, you might want to read this post because here you we will find exactly how to match your shirt with your necktie with utmost ease.

Plain Whites

Plain white dress shirts are perhaps the easiest to coordinating with. White goes well with any shade or pattern you can think of! Solids, stripes, dots, checks and paisleys, all patters will look good with a plain white shirt. Also, soft shades like pale green, tan, soft pink and beige or bright colors like red, navy blue and burgundy, all go really well with white. So, this is the easiest choice you can make.

Solid Colors

With your solid colored dress shirt, you have two options; you either opt for a necktie of the same color or else pick a color that either coordinates well or contrasts well with the color of your shirt. Contrasting or coordinating colors add a dash of vibrancy and edginess to your ensemble. About patterns, since your shirt is plain, you can pick any pattern in neckties to match your shirt.

Striped Shirts

Shirts with patterns can be slightly tricky. With a striped dress shirt you can select a necktie with diagonal stripes, dots, boxes and paisley patterns. However, keep in mind that if you match a striped shirt with a striped necktie, the size of the stripes should not be the same. The diagonal stripes on your necktie should be about double in size as compared to those on your dress shirt. For color, keep your striped shirt at a distance and see which color stands out according to you and simply match or coordinate the color of your necktie with that color.

Checkered Shirts

For your checkered shirts, decide on a color of your necktie the same way you would for a striped shirt. The patterns that go with checkered are diagonal stripes, dots or boxes. Again, make sure that the pattern on your necktie is larger in size as compared to the checks on your shirt.

To choose from a vast collection of all kinds of neckties, visit TheDapperTie.com. It is one place where you will find all patterns, colors and materials that you are looking for. 

The Recent History of Neckties

Around the 1800s, a ‘necktie’ was still called a ‘cravat’ and touching someone else’s cravat was considered a serious offence. The first reference to the word ‘necktie’ was made in a book titled Neckclothitania which explained fourteen ways in which a necktie could be tied. It was around the 1840s that the word cravat was replaced by the word necktie. In the late 1800s, the brightly colored uniforms that the British military wore till now were discarded for more subdued hues in an effort to camouflage but the neckties still sported the original colors and over a period of time, these neckties became an indispensable part of their uniform.

In the early 20^th century, Cubism and Art Deco movements inspired the first ever ‘designer neckties’ which were invented by French fashion designers and made using expensive materials. Freedom of expression was further symbolized by the widening of neckties and the use of bold and unique patterns. Just about a decade later neckties again became thinner and the decoration on them also reduced. The trend of wearing white neckties was brought into being by Warren Beatty, who wore white neckties over darker shades in the film Bonnie and Clyde. Another interesting trend was introduced by none other than Elvis Presley who gave a whole new dimension to fancy neckties when he replaced his black colored necktie with the kipper.

The very next year, the bolo necktie was made the official necktie of Arizona. It was made of braided leather and had very decorative metal tips. Around ten years later came the fad of wearing skinny leather neckties over striped shirts. By this time, experimentation with the shape and design of neckties had become a common practice and Ralph Marlin, a clothing company, even produced a necktie shaped like a fish!

Neckties today come in a vast range of colors and designs and are slightly wider than the ones worn back in the 60s but there is no set style of wearing a necktie. It’s the era of experimentation and the necktie is no exception. For a wide variety of neckties including silk neckties, do visit TheDapperTie.com. You will find all types of patterns and colors at TheDapperTie.com.