History of Necktie

Neckties have long been one of the most popular Father's Day gifts. Americans spend more than $1 billion each year to buy a staggering 100 million ties. That's roughly one tie for every male over the age of 20 in the United States. Ties have been used to proclaim status, occupation, and even identity, as well as allegiance to a group or cause, often military. Neckwear has also had utilitarian purposes to protect the neck or hide buttons on a shirt.



The earliest known version of the necktie was worn by and has been found in the massive mausoleum of China's first emperor, Shih Huang Ti, who was buried in 210 B.C. Desperately afraid of death, the emperor wanted to slaughter an entire army to accompany him into the next world. His advisers ultimately persuaded him to take life-size replicas of the soldiers instead. Each figure was different - except in one respect, all wearing neck cloths. In 113 A.D., one of Rome's greatest Emperors, the military genius Trajan, erected a marble column to commemorate a triumphant victory over the Dacians, who lived in what is now Romania. The 2,500 realistic figures on the column sport no less than three different styles of neckwear. These include shorter versions of the modern necktie; cloth wound around the neck and tucked into armor; and knotted kerchiefs reminiscent of cowboy bandannas. While Roman orators often wore cloths to keep their throats warm, soldiers did not cover their necks. Many experts believe the French word for tie, cravat, is a corruption of "Croat." In fact, French kings maintained an elite regiment, the Cravate Royale, until the French Revolution of 1789. One thing is certain: the elegant French courtiers, and the military immediately began copying the Croatians. Ordinary soldiers began adorning their necks with lace, while officers sported muslin or silk, possibly trimmed with embroidery. Even poor people wore cotton cravats, sometimes of pleated black taffeta. 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 cravats.



George Bryan "Beau" Brummell invented what has come to be known as the "British look." Brummell rejected 18th century frills. His mandate, a dark blue coat, buff-colored pantaloons and waistcoat, black boots and a clean white neck cloth, survives today as the dark business suit and white shirt, and as crisp white sportswear. The simplicity of Brummell's uniform was adopted by everyone from many working men to his friend, the Prince Regent, later King George IV. In 1880, the rowing club at Oxford University's Exeter College One men's club, invented the first school tie by removing their ribbon hat bands from their boater hats and tying them, four-in-hand. When they ordered a set of ties, with the colors from their hatbands, they had created the modern school tie. Such ties had enormous appeal to the vast Victorian middle class. As industrialization allowed for mass consumption of material goods, men wanted to stand out, to assert their social superiority, or to proclaim their allegiance to a group. Today four-in-hand refers to both the standard necktie and the most common knot used to tie it. The bow tie gets is name from the French, jabot, (pronounced ja-bow), a type of readymade 17th century lace cravat. In the 18th and 19th centuries, bow ties came in various materials and styles. White bow ties were formal, but others were colored. For example, 19th century Irish immigrants to America favored brown, green, or red bow ties. The enduring popularity of the black bow tie dates to 1886, when Pierre Lorillard V invented the tuxedo as an alternative to the tailcoats worn with white bow ties. The new dinner jacket got its name from the resort of Tuxedo Park, New York, where it was first worn. But bow ties have lost favor for business because they are complicated to tie and must be made in the correct collar size. In the early 1800s plantation owners displayed their social superiority by wearing wide ribbons tied in bows. Worn with a low-collared shirt, the plantation tie was the first American neckwear. The tie went west, becoming part of Mississippi River boat culture. Country music singers and square dancers occasionally sport plantation ties as well. Designer ties made quite a splash in the 1960s, when designers from London's Carnaby Street devised the Peacock Look and churned out wide, colorful ties in a variety of flowered, abstract and psychedelic patterns. With the advent of mass media, celebrities such as sports heroes, movie actors, and popular singers would create a variety of neckwear trends.



The bolo, or bola, tie is so common in the west today that many people are surprised to find that it is relatively new. In the late 1940s, a silversmith named Victor Cedarstaff went riding with friends in the Bradshaw Mountains outside Wickenburg, Arizona. When the wind blew his hat off, Cedarstaff removed the hatband, which had a silver buckle he did not want to lose, and put it around his neck. When his friends complemented him on the new apparel, Cedarstaff returned home, and wove a leather string. He added silver balls to the ends and ran it through a turquoise buckle. Cedarstaff later patented the new neckwear, which was called the bolo because it resembled the lengths of rope used by Argentine gauchos to catch game or cattle. Now mass-produced, and bolos are usually made of leather cord, with a silver or turquoise buckle. They are common throughout the west and are often worn for business. In 1971 Arizona legislature named the bolo the official state neckwear. Although contemporary ties come in all sorts of styles, there are relatively few knots in common use today. This is a far cry from Beau Brummell's day, when fashion manuals illustrated 32 ways to tie a cravat. In addition, gentlemen would often improvise their own knots. The four-in-hand knot is the virtually standard in the United States. The more complex windsor (invented by the Duke of Windsor), and the half Windsor, are more popular in Europe and South America. The knot should not be so large as to spread out the collar, nor should it be so tiny that it can hardly be seen. Ties today are commonly worn without clasps, pins, or tacks.