Tie History

Soldiers have been wearing fabric around their necks for over two thousand years. In the days of peasant armies, this was the simplest way to identify which side you were on.

It seems appropriate that the history of the modern tie also has military origins. Croatians fighting for in the French army during the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) wore small knotted neckerchiefs. Parisians, even then followers of fashion, began a craze by copying the foreign style. By the late 17th century both men and women were wearing extravagant lace cravats.

In 1692 some noblemen rushing to prepare for the Battle of Steenkerque in 1692 simply wound their cravats around their necks, twisted the ends of fabric together, and passed the twisted ends through a buttonhole. In their haste they didn't realize that they were creating a street fashion! Further refinement took place with the emergence of stocks and solitaires in the early 18th century. Stocks were small pieces of muslin, folded into a band and tied behind the neck. Solitaires brought the knot to the front of the neck, with the knot tied into a more extravagant bow.

Cravats returned to fashion in later in the 18th century thanks to the macaronis, the outrageous precursors to the dandies. British officers were thus mocking the dishevelled 'Yankee Doodles' when they sang how one 'stuck a feather in his hat, And called it macaroni.' The British, who saw themselves are more refined and mild-mannered gentlemen, began to wear simple black stocks and neckerchiefs held in place by scarf rings rather in a reaction to these extravagant fashions.

The modern necktie emerged from the industrial revolution - neckwear worn by men working long days on the new machinery needed to be practical and comfortable. Workers started to wear thin pieces of cloth that were easy to knot, normally with the four-in-hand, still the most popular knot today. Fashions among the upper classes were less encumbered by practical issues, and more complex knots were popular, as were the bow ties and the Ascot tie, both of which evolved from the cravat.

Changes in the early-twentieth century were confined to production methods - stitching and cutting methods were developed to strengthen the tie and make it more elastic. The fashion explosion during the roaring twenties popularized loud, flamboyant, and very wide ties, but these were much shorter than today's, as trousers were worn much higher until the Second World War. Returning GIs used their ties to break with wartime austerity - ties widened to 5 inches. Tropical prints, animals, and girlie prints were popular. Ties lengthened, but only slightly, to 48 cm.

Thankfully, some sense returned to men's fashions in the 1950s, with ties starting to resemble those we wear today. Thinner and longer ties accompanied slimmer lapels and smaller hat brims. By the 1960s ties became almost austere - dark solid colours dominated and ties became as thin as 1 inch.

Since this time widths and fashioned have waxed and waned. By the early 1970s they had grown to 4.5 inches, by the early 1980s they had slimmed back to 1.5, but ties of twice this width were the norm. Widths grew slowly until a couple of years ago, when narrow ties became popular again. The standard length is now 57 inches.