The Declining Popularity of the Necktie

[My Pop's Closet]

http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/33766

Cutting the old world ties

Submitted by SHNS on Wed, 06/04/2008 - 18:18.

By DALE McFEATTERS, Scripps Howard News Service editorials and opinion

WASHINGTON -- There's alarming news on the cultural front. After 60 years, the Men's Dress Furnishing Association, its membership down from 120 to 25, is disbanding. The association is the trade group of American necktie makers.

This could leave us naked to the looming menace of foreign neckwear, but that doesn't seem to matter much anymore because a key reason for the group's demise is that men no longer seem to be wearing neckties.

All of this was front-page news in The Wall Street Journal, whose readers constitute perhaps the last great bastion of tie-wearers in the United States. But, according to a Gallup poll cited in the story, only 6 percent of American males wear ties to work, down from 10 percent in 2002.

That seems low to me but maybe not. On MSNBC's "Morning Joe," host Joe Scarborough doesn't wear a tie nor do any of the other males on the show except conservative voice Pat Buchanan, very much a traditionalist and maybe the exception that proves the rule. When a conservative Republican ex-congressman eschews a tie it means this trend has struck deep into the body politic.

I've worn a shirt and tie to work ever since I started in the newspaper business. We wore the tie loosened, the shirt unbuttoned and the sleeves rolled up to convey the impression -- in my case, the thoroughly misleading impression -- of a harried, hardworking reporter. But when our corporate execs came to town recently for a dog-and-pony show none of them wore a tie.

At one time, a necktie was a status symbol. You got promoted off the shop floor and got to wear a white shirt and tie to work. Indeed, Sarah Gibbings' history of neckwear, "The Tie," has a chapter titled, "Your Most Important Status Symbol: The Tie Today." Apparently that no longer holds. The Journal says, "In fact, it can be a symbol of subservience and trying too hard." There's a fashion death sentence for you.

The story says the zenith of the American necktie was the 1980s when every alpha executive had to have a blue pinstriped suit and a yellow tie -- the power tie! Under the new rules, instead of power and authority that kind of tie would convey servility and desperation.

Judging from the photos of the baseball crowds of the day, I would say the zenith of the necktie was in the '20s. '30s and '40s when every male in the park wore a shirt, tie and a hat, a straw boater if it was summer. The hats are long gone; now the ties are going; and in some of the rowdier reaches of the bleachers, so are the shirts.

Poking around the Internet for news of the necktie world, I came across a fashion Web site where a writer with the intriguing name Nokio January wrote, the way fashion writers do, with no supporting evidence, that while men were no longer wearing ties women were. She recommended a skin-tight, button-down shirt, so as not to look too mannish "you can leave it a bit loose, one or two buttons undone, and show some skin, particularly if you have small breasts." We only report.

But perhaps the tie isn't completely dead. One apparel company executive told the Journal that he thinks "the current economic downturn is actually good for his company's tie business. His reasoning: Laid-off workers will need new ties for job interviews."

There's another reason ties will surely make a comeback: They always have.

Gibbings traces the tie from the relatively simple neck cloths of the Romans to the frilly cascades of the late 18th century European courts to our more modest paisley and rep ties of today.

She traces the very first necktie to 211 B.C. and the appropriately named Chinese emperor Shih Huang Ti. His tomb is where they found the 7,500 terracotta sculptures of his soldiers. Each one had a carefully folded and knotted tie, silk according to the records. They looked kind of natty actually.

 

[Oscar Tong]

"Servility and desperation" my bum! I'll never stop wearing ties, no matter how many glares I get or job interviews I lose!

Recently, I've switched to wearing bow ties. Today's ties are, in my opinion, too long. (Moreover, the colors are too fruity. They're ties, fer cryin' out loud, not Fruit by the Foot fruit snacks!) Bow ties don't have this problem. I even picked up a self-tie bow tie in Hong Kong for $200 HKD.

 

[DrSpeed]

I must admit that I don't wear a tie most of the time, out of practical reasons, a lame excuse, I know.
But the demise of the tie can be an excellent chance to distinguish oneself. Be different, wear a tie!
Things that used to be commonplace can get you noticed now, like being able to calculate your change without a calculator, finding your way about without a fancy GPS system, cooking with fresh ingredients, reading a book instead of listening to an iPod, holding the door for a lady, the list is probably endless... but wearing a tie is certainly on it!

 

[univibe88]

I am glad to know that I'm part of the 6% of folks required to wear a tie to work.

 

[miss_elise]

my husband always wears a tie... i like to joke that he has more ties than i have pairs of shoes....

 

[Tango Yankee]

The necktie, knot what it used to be, still hangs on

Another article on the impending demise of the tie.

I found this bit rather astonishing:

A Gallup poll last year found just 6 percent of men wearing neckties to work each day, down from 10 percent in 2002. More than two-thirds of the men surveyed said they never wear a tie to work, up from 59 percent five years earlier.

It seems rather low to me, but since I live in an area where if you are wearing a tie it's assumed you're going to a funeral and much of the US is rural I suppose that it could be accurate. Still, I don't think the tie is going away any time soon, and I beg to differ with the consultant who claimed "...nobody willingly goes back to wearing a tie five days a week." I would in a heartbeat--but first I need to find a job where I can do so!


Regards,
Tom

 

[Brian Sheridan]

Ben Stein's Necktie Editorial from CBS THIS MORNING

(CBS) Bad news for one Father's Day gift-giving tradition: The Men's Dress Furnishings Association, a trade group of necktie manufacturers, says it's shutting down, due to slumping demand. Obviously these hapless haberdashers didn't consult with our Contributor Ben Stein:

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You see this lovely silken thing around my neck? It's called a necktie.

When I was a lad and a younger man, men wore these to show they did not work with picks and shovels and pitchforks.

Ties were a symbol of white collar status, although even some workmen wore them under their leather aprons.

If you had on a necktie, it showed you had some sense of organization, some sense of dignity about yourself.

Even schoolboys wore them. At fabulous boarding schools like Cardigan Mountain in New Hampshire, where my handsome son went, boys still wear them. It showed, to use a word that you rarely hear, class.

Now, I read in The Wall Street Journal, on the front page, if you please, that men don't wear neckties any longer unless they are in subservient posts.

This will probably come as a bit of a surprise to Senators McCain and Obama, as well as to President Bush. They generally wear neckties, at least on TV.

It will probably come as a shock to all of the network newscasters and the late night talk show hosts. They're the coolest guys on the planet, and they wear neckties.

But never mind. The Journal says only 6% of men wear neckties to work, and the necktie is being run down by history.

I hereby quote my late great friend Bill Buckley and say, I am going to stand in front of the train of sartorial history and shout, "STOP!"

The necktie is a sign of a man who is there to work, not to play. It's what a man who takes his responsibilities seriously wears. Men who want to look and act like small children dress like small children, or surfers, or hoboes, or something.

Plus, the necktie covers over a little part of one's paunchy stomach. And it just generally makes a man look better, smarter.

My fellow men: stop dressing like children. Start dressing like grownups and acting like grownups. The necktie is a start.

Kids, it's the perfect time of year to get your dads a necktie. Get with the program, before we become a nation of open-collared slackers.

I mean it. Right now. And then straighten up your room.

 

[LocktownDog]

Sad, but true. I wear ties to work a couple times a week. The job doesn't really call for it, as I rarely speak with clients face to face. On those days when I am wearing them, I tend to get teased by any men that I speak with ... including my boss. The women that see me on those days are very appreciative and comment quite complimentarily. I suppose its become an out-of-date unmanly thing to wear. Perhaps fashion has passed me by? I honestly couldn't care less. In another 37 years or so, the circle of fashion will come back around and at 76 years old I'll finally be en vogue.

Richard

 

[Feraud]

On those days when I am wearing them, I tend to get teased by any men that I speak with ... including my boss. The women that see me on those days are very appreciative and comment quite complimentarily.

Male co-workers teasing you? Hmmm there may be something about the "Man-boy" phenomena after all..

If the gals dig it that is all that matter.

 

[Fletch]

Now, I read in The Wall Street Journal, on the front page, if you please, that men don't wear neckties any longer unless they are in subservient posts.

20+ years ago PJ O'Rourke presaged the trend in a report from L.A. He wrote that the shops were full of expensive elegant clothes, but no man above the level of pool cleaner wore a suit.

The necktie is a sign of a man who is there to work, not to play. It's what a man who takes his responsibilities seriously wears.

There I part with Mr. Stein. It's true as far as it goes, but this ought to be about style, not about reinforcing the role structure of market capitalism.

Besides, he's defending the reason ties have such a bad rap. They're seen as too rigid, serious, and uptight. They can also be playful, classic, and elegant. But first you have to free them from their current role, and Stein is all about reinforcing the role.

On those days when I am wearing [a tie], I tend to get teased by any men that I speak with ... including my boss. The women that see me on those days are very appreciative and comment quite complimentarily. I suppose its become an out-of-date unmanly thing to wear.

Yes, anachronism is frivolous, and frivolity is unmanly.

Then again, f*¢!! a lot of manliness these days. It's much more about roleplaying than it used to be.

 

[FedoraFan112390]

Ties Going out of Style?

Are neckties going out of style? I hope I don't get in trouble for posting this but: http://blog.villagehatshop.com/2007/03/obama_jfk_neckt.html

 

[Edward]

Hmmn. A qualified yes from me. I do think ties are becoming a less frequently worn item, however I see this as part of a more general trend towards the rejection of "dress" wear, as opposed to the tie in particular being singled out- we're not seeing the rise of suits worn without ties so much as the demise of the suit. A majortiy of people I know, probably, only wear a suit if required for work - otherwise it's something they have in the wardrobe for weddings and funerals only. Still, there is no logic to the wheel of fashion, and it may turn around again. Here in the UK, I think a lot of folks' dislike of suits / collar and tie extend from associating such garments with schooldays and uniform; I wonder whether we might see less of that as school uniforms become increasingly less traditional (I don't recall the last time I saw a primary school aged child wearing much more than a logo'ed sweatshirt as a uniform, whereas I was in a collar and tie from the age of five).

 

[charlie farley]

Back to the caves?

It seems that one by one, all decent and respectable items of clothing like hats etc. and now ties are falling by the wayside.What is to be the future of every day attire? are we going to have to keep our pets indoors in case some numbskull converts it into his new hooded garment and grunts his way down to the pub leaving a trail of fido's blood? (He he I got carried away a little didn't I )

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Housekeeping

All of the recent posts concerning the various articles in the media on the declining popularity of the tie have been merged into this one thread. Please check to see if a thread exists on a subject before starting one.

 

[Fletch]

Here in the UK, I think a lot of folks' dislike of suits / collar and tie extend from associating such garments with schooldays and uniform

Uniform...hmmm. A lot of American men came back from military service, with its required "cover" for every uniform, and resolved never to wear a hat again if they could avoid it. Suppose the draft killed hat wearing?

 

[Edward]

Uniform...hmmm. A lot of American men came back from military service, with its required "cover" for every uniform, and resolved never to wear a hat again if they could avoid it. Suppose the draft killed hat wearing?

I've certainly heard that theory postulated a lot - I think there's something in it. I also look to the elaborate men's hairstyles in vogue in the fifties..... an oiled quiff isn't particularly conducive to hat wearing, and I suspect that contributed a lot too.

 

[funneman]

I wear a tie to work everyday...

...even though I don't have to. For one thing, I like to and for another I want the Sales Department to feel like I'm a part of their team, you know, "when in Rome."

One day last week I had a qausi-day off and showed up for work without a tie and the outcry, though good-natured, was overwhelming. I was very
surprised how vocal everyone was.

So now, even if I'm wearing a pair of blue jeans into work, I make sure I have a tie on. lol

 

[Widebrim]

Uniform...hmmm. A lot of American men came back from military service, with its required "cover" for every uniform, and resolved never to wear a hat again if they could avoid it. Suppose the draft killed hat wearing?

I've heard this oft-quoted theory quite a few times, Fletch, but I don't think it holds water. In modern times, men had always been required to wear a hat or cap while in uniform. The troops coming back from WWI didn't show an aversion to hats; quite the contrary, the golden age of hats continued right on into the 1920s and after. (I used to love wearing my dress caps when in the service.) As one other Lounger posted, men's hairstyles had something to do with men becoming bareheaded, starting (in my opinion) in the mid-50s, with an emphasis on the youth culture. In addition, automobiles got lower in the mid-50s, and this likely contributed to the hat's demise (although not death ). Just compare car ads from the early 50s, with graphics of men driving with hats on, and compare them with those from the end of the decade. I think also that the "Mr. T" look of narrower lapels and ties, tapered jackets and slacks, as well as skinnier brims, made hats both less functional and less attractive. At any rate, there were many factors involved.

 

[Widebrim]

Tie wearing

I wear ties almost every day as a teacher, and often get compliments (all of my ties are vintage). I alternate between late-40s and late-50s, and consider it part of my being a professional and a role model. Even though one teacher initially bothered me about my dress habits, he generally now keeps quiet, perhaps because of his often slovenly look.

 

[Feraud]

I've heard this oft-quoted theory quite a few times, Fletch, but I don't think it holds water. In modern times, men had always been required to wear a hat or cap while in uniform. The troops coming back from WWI didn't show an aversion to hats; quite the contrary, the golden age of hats continued right on into the 1920s and after. (I used to love wearing my dress caps when in the service.) As one other Lounger posted, men's hairstyles had something to do with men becoming bareheaded, starting (in my opinion) in the mid-50s, with an emphasis on the youth culture. In addition, automobiles got lower in the mid-50s, and this likely contributed to the hat's demise (although not death ). Just compare car ads from the early 50s, with graphics of men driving with hats on, and compare them with those from the end of the decade. I think also that the "Mr. T" look of narrower lapels and ties, tapered jackets and slacks, as well as skinnier brims, made hats both less functional and less attractive. At any rate, there were many factors involved.

The author of Hatless Jack notes a hat decline in the early teens/20s due to the "younger generation" (college students I believe) straying away from hatwear.

Mr. T wore skinny ties?