Fear and Clothing

The neck tie has always been in fashion, but celebrities are a positive sales tool. E Online asks the question: Guys in ties: Hot or Knot?  It seems that every It guy from Twilight’s Robert Pattinson to Zac Efron are into wearing neck ties. Sometimes I wonder if they’re given free attire to wear for free. In that case, I’d wear them too.

I don’t mind neckties, but if I buy any, I am quite fussy. It’s all in the craftmanship. For example, I prefer Louis Vuitton neck ties over, say, Ralph Lauren. The quality of the former over the latter is obvious. But it’s quite expensive to pay for, especially when you think that it’s a scrap of fabric.

Necktie Trivia:

• The necktie is traced back to the 1600’s during the Thirty Years war and the word cravat originated during this period as well, and it wasn’t exclusively male attire. Both genders wore fabrics around their necks. Croatian mercenaries wore handkerchiefs around their neck during this time.
• The word cravat is due to the slight variation (in the French language) for the word for Croatian (Hrvati) and the French word Croates. Hence Cravat.
• There are four types of tie knots, with the four-in-hand knot being the most common. The other three are: half Windsor, Pratt and Windsor.
• In the 1990’s two mathematicians, using mathematical modeling concluded that there are 85 possible knots with a conventional tie.
• If you’re stuck on tying a tie, fret not. There is a website for you. How to Tie a Tie has everything you need to know about tying a tie.

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