When Did Men Start Wearing Ties?
The history of ties is one of the most interesting in the history of men’s fashion and apparel. It also seems like ties have been around forever. But that’s not true, of course. One hardly sees Ancient Roman or Greek statues of emperors and warriors wearing ties!
No, the history of ties is a little more recent than that.
Or is it?
When exactly did men start wearing ties?
An Ancient Accessory
Ties as we know them may not go back more than a thousand years, but neck scarves surely do. And they could definitely be considered the precursors to ties. As early as the third century BCE, warriors would wrap fabric around their necks. Not only could these cloths be used to wipe sweat off one’s brow in the heat of battle, but used to clean or staunch wounds, as well as keep the neck warm too.
In their book, ““The 85 Ways To Tie a Tie,” Thomas Fink and Yong Mao note that knotted neck cloths were used in Ancient China. In fact, many of the famous life-size terracotta warriors entombed with Emperor Quin Shih-huang-di clearly show that they are wearing cloths around their necks. They almost look like loose-fitting cravats.
The almost exact same is true of the Column of Trajan, which was erected in 113 ACE by the Roman Emperor Traianus, and which depicts Roman soldiers with cloth neckties. They were called ‘focalium’, from the Latin word ‘fauces’ or throat.
But it was many centuries later that the first men would wear cravat-like accessories considered the first neckties. The men were mercenaries from Croatia and, unsurprisingly, there’s a French connection too.
Croatians & Cravats
It was 1636 and France was ruled by King Louis XIII. The Thirty Years War was still raging against England the king decided to hire Croatian cavalry mercenaries to fight on his behalf. These foreign cavalrymen kept their jackets fastened with colourful pieces of cloth tied at the neck. King Louis XIII loved the comfortable and stylish attire. He was sick of the busy and ruffled collars worn at the time in the French court, which could be uncomfortable and bothersome.
He named the Croatian neck cloth the ‘cravate,’ a derivation of the French word for Croatian, or ‘croate’. He was the king of the land so this new fashion caught on very quickly and soon crossed the Channel into England. Charles II immediately fell in love with the cravats. Styles varied from very plain to elaborate, but all of them were typically a long piece of cloth worn around the neck and tied at the front. They were often made from finer fabrics, such as silk or intricate lace.
By 1820, King George IV of Britain was wearing what was referred to as a ‘Stock’. It was fairly simple in construction, being folded into shape and wrapped around the neck. It was finally pinned behind to keep it in place.
The famed 19th century English social dandy and superb dresser, George Bryan Brummell, who was nicknamed Beau Brummell, used a cravat as part of his attire nearly every day. Other fashionable men of London followed suit and soon there was an array of books and pamphlets instructing men on the scores of way they could tie their cravats!
The Modern Necktie
Cravats continued to be the fashion for men well into the 19th century. The modern necktie was yet to make its real entry. That changed with the Victorian era. Men’s fashion changed, becoming less fussy and more tailored. Jackets and collars shrank and, as such, cravats were becoming too large for them.
And so men started wearing their single piece of cloth extended to either side of their collar rather than down their chest. Even so, these 19th century ties tended to be ‘floppy’ and resemble large bow ties rather than the ties of today. One just has to look at photographs of men such as Abraham Lincoln and Oscar Wilde to get an idea of the oversized bow ties that were used in the later 1800s.
However, it was only in 1926 that Jesse Langsdorf, a New York tiemaker, decided to made silk ties that were made of diagonally-shaped cloth that were cut with the weave of the cloth on the diagonal . This was known as an ‘on the bias’ cut, which made the ties far stiffer and able to hold shape. Very soon, the Langsdorf tie conquered the world and is the tie that we still know and love today.
Once neckties became the norm, it was the type of knot used that became all the rage. One such knot was the so-called ‘Four-in-Hand’ knot, which is fairly easy to do and a reliable knot. Even more famous would be the Windsor knot, so named after the Duke of Windsor, who invented the iconic knot in 1936.
Since then, trends in ties have varied between thicker and thinner, and from very simple to elaborate in pattern and design. Yet the necktie has remained resilient and used by men all over the world in any season and for just about any occasion.
Yet when we look back the history of the tie, it seems incredible to realize that the tie we use today is not even a hundred years old as a design. For that, we must thank Jesse Langsdorf, not to mention those Croatian mercenaries.