After I wrote the blog entry about aprons, an adjunct piece of woman’s clothing that serves so many purposes, I started thinking about men’s ties…another accessory, but one which seems to serve no purpose.
Why do men wear neckties, which almost all of them hate? Ties are generally uncomfortable, can be dangerous in some professions and unhealthy in others (ever think how many germs are cross-spread by doctors and dentists who seldom clean their ties? Some hospitals forbid doctors to wear ties for just that reason.)
So I decided to do some research, and what I found out is how closely neckties are linked to male ego. Throughout history men’s neckwear has been used to proclaim status, occupation and even identity.
Why men began wearing neckties can only be explained as a whim of fashion. Sometime during the 1630s or 1640s, Croatian mercenaries involved in the Thirty Years War visited the court of King Louis XIV. The king was very impressed by the soldiers’ traditional uniforms, which featured soft scarves tied around their necks. By 1650, Louis and his court were wearing Croatian-style neck scarves instead of the full lace ruffs that had previously been fashionable.
It made some sense because a thick scarf protected the neck during sword fights and kept it warm in the days of no central heating.
Soon the style crossed the channel to England. The necktie (known then as a cravat) was influenced by a group of fashionable men called” dandies,” and one of their trademarks was—you guessed it!—the necktie. In those days it was most likely a long linen scarf that wrapped several times around the neck. The way a man tied his cravat said a lot about his personality and status. In fact, knotting and tying styles were so important a part of cravat fashion that the thing itself was soon simply known as a “tie.”
Over the next couple of centuries men wore neck gear to signal class and affiliation. School, club and athletic ties appeared in abundance. In the 1880s the British military finally decided to abandon the array of brightly colored uniforms that had always made such good targets. But the traditional military colors were retained on the stripes on the neckties of each regiment. These ties not only preserved tradition, but provided a splash of color for the otherwise drab new uniforms.
English rules about who could wear regimental and club ties were so strict that customers had to prove to store clerks they had the right to wear a particular tie.
The industrial revolution created a need for neckwear that was easy to put on, comfortable and would last for an entire workday. The modern necktie was born: long, thin, easy to knot and it didn’t come undone.
Variations on that design have come and gone ever since.
In the early 20th century, the number of office workers and store clerks began increasing. Most were required to wear neckties because it was perceived as improving attitudes, morals and sales. I’m not sure why they thought a necktie was going to improve morals, but that’s what they thought.
Also during that period, women began to demand more freedom. For the confirmed feminist, wearing a necktie was not so much an accessory or a decoration as a symbol of equality.
It’s probably a good indication of how men feel about neckties that many firms now have Casual Friday…as a reward for working hard the rest of the week, men are allowed to come to work without their neckties on Fridays. Technology-based companies were among the first to do away with the necktie requirement entirely. Companies on the west coast are less likely to require ties than those in the east—so there’s a regional aspect to who wears ties these days.
Another indication is that 80 percent are purchased by women. Men don’t care enough about them to go out and buy their own. (But women generally buy clothes for men—that’s why the men’s department is often located next to perfume or women’s clothing.)
So now we know why men started wearing neckties, and why they continued to wear them over the centuries, but I still don’t get why they go on wearing them today. A tie serves no useful purpose. It constricts the neck, and if you watch men the first thing they do when they get a chance is loosen the knot.
The only thing I can come up with is that men’s dress clothing is generally so boring that wearing a tie is the only way to add a little style and personality.
Am I right, guys?
Why do men wear neckties, which almost all of them hate? Ties are generally uncomfortable, can be dangerous in some professions and unhealthy in others (ever think how many germs are cross-spread by doctors and dentists who seldom clean their ties? Some hospitals forbid doctors to wear ties for just that reason.)
So I decided to do some research, and what I found out is how closely neckties are linked to male ego. Throughout history men’s neckwear has been used to proclaim status, occupation and even identity.
Why men began wearing neckties can only be explained as a whim of fashion. Sometime during the 1630s or 1640s, Croatian mercenaries involved in the Thirty Years War visited the court of King Louis XIV. The king was very impressed by the soldiers’ traditional uniforms, which featured soft scarves tied around their necks. By 1650, Louis and his court were wearing Croatian-style neck scarves instead of the full lace ruffs that had previously been fashionable.
It made some sense because a thick scarf protected the neck during sword fights and kept it warm in the days of no central heating.
Soon the style crossed the channel to England. The necktie (known then as a cravat) was influenced by a group of fashionable men called” dandies,” and one of their trademarks was—you guessed it!—the necktie. In those days it was most likely a long linen scarf that wrapped several times around the neck. The way a man tied his cravat said a lot about his personality and status. In fact, knotting and tying styles were so important a part of cravat fashion that the thing itself was soon simply known as a “tie.”
Over the next couple of centuries men wore neck gear to signal class and affiliation. School, club and athletic ties appeared in abundance. In the 1880s the British military finally decided to abandon the array of brightly colored uniforms that had always made such good targets. But the traditional military colors were retained on the stripes on the neckties of each regiment. These ties not only preserved tradition, but provided a splash of color for the otherwise drab new uniforms.
English rules about who could wear regimental and club ties were so strict that customers had to prove to store clerks they had the right to wear a particular tie.
The industrial revolution created a need for neckwear that was easy to put on, comfortable and would last for an entire workday. The modern necktie was born: long, thin, easy to knot and it didn’t come undone.
Variations on that design have come and gone ever since.
In the early 20th century, the number of office workers and store clerks began increasing. Most were required to wear neckties because it was perceived as improving attitudes, morals and sales. I’m not sure why they thought a necktie was going to improve morals, but that’s what they thought.
Also during that period, women began to demand more freedom. For the confirmed feminist, wearing a necktie was not so much an accessory or a decoration as a symbol of equality.
It’s probably a good indication of how men feel about neckties that many firms now have Casual Friday…as a reward for working hard the rest of the week, men are allowed to come to work without their neckties on Fridays. Technology-based companies were among the first to do away with the necktie requirement entirely. Companies on the west coast are less likely to require ties than those in the east—so there’s a regional aspect to who wears ties these days.
Another indication is that 80 percent are purchased by women. Men don’t care enough about them to go out and buy their own. (But women generally buy clothes for men—that’s why the men’s department is often located next to perfume or women’s clothing.)
So now we know why men started wearing neckties, and why they continued to wear them over the centuries, but I still don’t get why they go on wearing them today. A tie serves no useful purpose. It constricts the neck, and if you watch men the first thing they do when they get a chance is loosen the knot.
The only thing I can come up with is that men’s dress clothing is generally so boring that wearing a tie is the only way to add a little style and personality.
Am I right, guys?