The Declining Popularity of the Necktie

[avedwards]

And I loathe the look of a sports jacket, blazer or (worst of all) suit worn with an open-necked shirt instead of a tie.

What about a sports jacket or blazer (maybe not a suit) worn with a cravat? Personally I wear a tie nearly every day (even if I'm not wearing a suit jacket), but occasionally I wear a tweed jacket or blazer without a tie, usually only when it's late at night and I've had a long day and am just going downtown for a takeaway and therefore want to feel a bit more relaxed.

 

[Hal]

What about a sports jacket or blazer (maybe not a suit) worn with a cravat?

Not what I would wear, but much better than an open-necked shirt without a cravat.

...occasionally I wear a tweed jacket or blazer without a tie...

A tweed jacket looks great with a roll-neck jumper in cold weather; I find it passable with (a) a wool polo-shirt buttoned up or (b) when a crew-necked jumper is worn over an open-necked shirt.
On the whole my view is - if you don't want to wear a tie, don't wear a jacket. I simply do not understand the current prejudice against the tie.

 

[avedwards]

A tweed jacket looks great with a roll-neck jumper in cold weather; I find it passable with (a) a wool polo-shirt buttoned up or (b) when a crew-necked jumper is worn over an open-necked shirt.
On the whole my view is - if you don't want to wear a tie, don't wear a jacket. I simply do not understand the current prejudice against the tie.

I don't understand the prejudice either. However I sometimes wear a jacket without a tie simply because the majority of my wardrobe is made up of jackets and suits, so if I don't want to wear a tie I have little choice but to wear a jacket (though as stated in my previous post this is usually only for going to the supermarket or a takeaway after a day where I've been wearing a tie for over 12 hours).

 

[Warden]

I work in a hospital and we are not allowed to wear neck ties for infection control reasons, to be honest for work I was pleased to be able to drop the tie, but when I am dressed to go out always have the tie but maybe that is because I am usually dressed 'vintage'.

 

[Hal]

...I sometimes wear a jacket without a tie simply because the majority of my wardrobe is made up of jackets and suits, so if I don't want to wear a tie I have little choice but to wear a jacket...

I work in a hospital and we are not allowed to wear neck ties for infection control reasons...

Both these points are entirely understandable.

...but when I am dressed to go out always have the tie but maybe that is because I am usually dressed 'vintage'.

Great! But I firmly believe that ties belong in contemporary dress as well.

 

[Twit]

Its horses for courses really!

I appreciate good suits, shirts and shoes and wouldnt like to think how much I spent on them... But ties... No! I own a couple for when they are needed, but that is it; I'd never wear one out of choice. My job means I can't easily wear one, I too am in and out of hospitals all the time, but I don't see that ties have any functional point. All they are really are bit of fabric to flap around! I nicely cut shirt with a good collar looks just as smart with or without a tie, and no more or less vintage.

I understand why people wear them but have no issue with people who don't. I'm pretty sure across all ages there have been plenty of people who havent worn ties!

 

[John in Covina]

What is in decline is the sense that a person would show respect or honor the others around him or that an occasion might call for dressing up in order to do so. As I have written elsewhere, i have been to a funeral where not one male person wore a tie and there were people in shorts. Others were wearing day laborer work wear. (Play the Dueling Banjos song here.)

 

[Betz]

What is in decline is the sense that a person would show respect or honor the others around him or that an occasion might call for dressing up in order to do so. As I have written elsewhere, i have been to a funeral where not one male person wore a tie and there were people in shorts. Others were wearing day laborer work wear. (Play the Dueling Banjos song here.)

I absolutely agree. It's a shame. I am a lawyer in the San Francisco Bay Area. It always shocks me when I see lawyers inappropriately dressed or not following basic men's fashion rules. I have been in court with public defenders wearing jeans (I'm not kidding). Not only is it disrespectful to the judge, but it shows how much you care about your client when you are waltzing into court without a darn suit on.

In my own law firm, I am one of the few lawyers that always meets clients in the office with my suit jacket on. Most of the other men just wear their shirt sleeves. Once I am partner that will change.

 

[martinsantos]

Fully agree with John.

Betz, I'm a lawyer too, here in São Paulo, Brazil. And I see exactly the same.

Until few years ago there was a dressing code in Courts for lawyers. Men in suits with ties, women with dresses or skirts; now is more common to find lawyers with jeans and t-shirts than suits walking around.

I'm one of the very few I know that uses a suit to talk with all clients - ever those still in jail (work with criminal procedings). Or when I go to police departments (here the police chief is a juridic career too), places that usually lawyers consider of less importance anf then not asking any "dress code".

 

[Betz]

Fully agree with John.

Betz, I'm a lawyer too, here in São Paulo, Brazil. And I see exactly the same.

Until few years ago there was a dressing code in Courts for lawyers. Men in suits with ties, women with dresses or skirts; now is more common to find lawyers with jeans and t-shirts than suits walking around.

I'm one of the very few I know that uses a suit to talk with all clients - ever those still in jail (work with criminal procedings). Or when I go to police departments (here the police chief is a juridic career too), places that usually lawyers consider of less importance anf then not asking any "dress code".

Well, I'm actually glad to hear that it's not just us Yanks that are getting sloppy. Guys like us have to bring back the glamor to our profession!

What kind of law do you practice?

 

[Quigley Brown]

Sorry, but I'm unconvinced; in any case, the period I look to is not the Golden Age (heresy on FL, no doubt!) but the latter half of the 1950s. The open-necked shirt with a jacket was certainly around in the UK in the post-WW2period, but very much frowned on from about 1955 until the early 1970s; I didn't like it then, and don't like it now, I'm afraid.

Sometime you just have to be casual. Men did it in the 40s and 50s with sport coats and shirts designed for that purpose (unfortunatley, that look died a horrible death in the 70s with the leisure suit). When at summer cocktail parties I'd say a necktie is over-dressed, but vintage leisure is sharp.

 

[martinsantos]

Well, I was feeling myself alone, too! :eusa_doh: At least we are two, now.

I practice criminal law, only. And you?

Well, I'm actually glad to hear that it's not just us Yanks that are getting sloppy. Guys like us have to bring back the glamor to our profession!

What kind of law do you practice?

 

[Hal]

Men did it in the 40s and 50s with sport coats and shirts designed for that purpos .

They certainly didn't in the UK except perhaps when on holiday at the seaside.

When at summer cocktail parties I'd say a necktie is over-dressed

Then, please leave the jacket off!

I appreciate good suits, shirts and shoes and wouldnt like to think how much I spent on them... But ties... No! I own a couple for when they are needed, but that is it; I'd never wear one out of choice...I don't see that ties have any functional point.

Their function is decoration and finish.

A nicely cut shirt with a good collar looks just as smart with or without a tie, and no more or less vintage.

Not when a jacket is worn; it looks unfinished and, with a suit, incongruous.
Though I am retired and could wear casual clothing the vast majority of the time, in the colder seasons I wear jacket and tie, partly because the closed collar of the shirt helps in retaining body-heat. The tie is an expression of my aesthetic taste and makes my clothing more individual and less uniform. Much casual clothing, though it may sometimes be smart, is simply nondescript.

 

[Betz]

Well, I was feeling myself alone, too! :eusa_doh: At least we are two, now.

I practice criminal law, only. And you?

I practice labor and administrative law generally. My practice represents police officers in administrative, civil, and criminal matters. It's a fun gig.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I love wearing a tie, it brings everything together, I don't do it often, however. I rarely have an occasion that calls for nice clothes and the only downside to the tie, for me, is that I always feel strangled.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Different yearbook photo, but dinna forget our Chancellor (1).

They are members of a private dining club at Oxford University known for their hell-raising and general oafishness.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullingdon_Club

This group photograph contains our current Prime Minister and the Mayor of London. I say this with no pride...

 

[Baron Kurtz]

This, I think, sums up why most people don't like wearing a tie. You get used to it, but it is inherently a constraining article.

As Hal says, the tie is about expression and aesthetic display. The cynic in me has decided that the reason more businesses are drifting over to "business casual" is in order to stamp on this self expression. Businesses, in general, want automata; they want people who will follow rules and orders to the letter. They do not want thinkers, they want drones. By suppressing what is essentially the only means of male aesthetic expression of individuality in business dress, they have finally cottoned on to how to control men more effectively in the workplace. The only surprising thing is that they took so long to work it out …

the only downside to the tie, for me, is that I always feel strangled.

 

[dnjan]

I'll admit I quit wearing ties to work years ago - I teach mostly lab classes and I kept on getting my tie into stuff.

But one of the times I always wear a tie is when I fly. Always.
Yes, it often comes off after I check in to my hotel room, but for flying the tie is on and snugged up correctly.

 

[dnjan]

and concerning having the tie snugged up correctly ...

I think this look is as bad as un-tucked shirt tails.
Sorry if that offends people, but I really don't like the loose tie look.

 

[Atticus Finch]

I wear a tie Monday through Friday beause the North Carolina State Bar says that I must wear a tie (and a jacket) when I address any court in our state. But I hate ties. I mainly hate them because summers in eastern North Carolina are very hot and humid. Our July and August highs often top 100 degrees and our humidity is usually two clicks past saturation. Trust me, wearing a piece of cloth knotted around one's neck in that kind of weather can be uncomfortabe to the point of distraction.

Oddly enough, I think that folks in the "golden era" may have been more comfortabe in ties during the summer because they didn't have air conditioning. They slowly climatized to the weather as it warmed and, by August, they could tolorate the claustrophobic feeling of wearing a tie in our snot boiling heat and humidity.

So maybe air conditioning is killing the neck tie? I can only hope.

AF