Ties

[TheOfficialBren]

Smashing! Excellent outfit, Richrail.

[Tobus]

Smashing! Excellent outfit, Richrail.

***! Nicely done. Looks nice and traditional. The shiny tie, waistplate, and black Argyll give it a dressy dimension.

[Richrail]

***! Nicely done. Looks nice and traditional. The shiny tie, waistplate, and black Argyll give it a dressy dimension.

Wow thank you so much, not bad for a rookie.

[O'Callaghan]

I've used a double Windsor knot all my life, and yet I have a long body and short legs. To have my tie not look too short with trousers I often retie it two or three times before I'm satisfied with it, and with some ties the short end is quite short indeed. Apparently the solution is staring me in the face - wear a kilt, LOL!

Actually, the only occasions where I go out in a kilt tend to be various outdoor celtic events in muddy fields, where the order of the day is usually T-shirts and heavy boots for those who are kilted and those in Saxon dress alike, so a tie wouldn't seem appropriate. Mind you, I've no doubt that some probably still wear ties anyway.

[xman]

I'm on the shorter side and I do fine with a regular length tie. I just use one more wrap on the Windsor knot, a kind of double windsor and I get a fine length.

[Truitt]

I found the following website very enlightening:

http://www.tcm.phy.cam.uk~tmf20/tieknots.shtml

[Tobus]

In my world, you would be shot------well, metaphorically speaking anyway------for wearing a tie loosely knotted with the top shirt button undone! We either wear the tie properly and with the top button done up, or we don't wear a tie and have the top button undone.

Back on this subject, I'm sure it doesn't help that the trend I spoke of is done even by the most visible and important people in the US. With examples like these, clearly this is considered sartorially "acceptable" here (though some of us would disapprove). This is not intended as a political commentary (and I'm showing both sides for fairness). I'm just illustrating that even our "leaders" wear this style in public when they want to be seen as casual. Both these gentlemen are usually pretty snappy dressers, but don't have any qualms about unbuttoning the top button and loosening the tie, even in front of an audience or photographers.

[Jock Scot]

I mean no insult to anyone least of all the good citizens of the USA, but why not take a couple of seconds and just take the tie off? To quote an old headmaster of mine: "I don't care who you are, but when you are in my school you wear the tie properly ,or not at all, in certain circumstances and to do otherwise is just sloppy and uncouth." I remember the words exactly as I had to write those words out probably hundreds of times during my stay at that particular school . However from then on in life, it was no surprise to me that others, many others, were of the same opinion-----and right.

[frank_a]

Politics aside, these dudes running for Presidential office in the states are (I'm sure) trying to convey a "rolled-up-sleeves" kinda "I'm-a-hard-workin-dude" sorta thing. My highly paid boss does the same thing - I have never in all my years working here seen him with his top button buttoned when he has a tie on. Then it seems another adopted practice is gee, if I wear a sport coat, I don't need a tie. Pshaw. Maybe I'm an old fuddy dud, but I come to work in a shirt with the top button buttoned, a tie pulled up to my fat neck, a sport jacket, blazer or suit. And I've been doing that for going on 4 decades. While I tend to be a bit more "mixed up" in dress nowadays (such as Tobus suggests for kilt dressing), I still cannot fathom a top button unbuttoned with a tie!

Frank

[Tobus]

Yup, as Frank said, I think it's a distinctly American attempt to look important and meaningful, while also looking like you're a "common man". It seems to fail on both accounts in my opinion, but there it is. I agree that it's sloppy and uncouth. But here in the US, believe it or not, that is sometimes seen as a good thing, even in politics. Many folks flat-out reject the wearing of ties to begin with, as it would make them feel like they belong to a social class which they despise. And with all the recent social division between different economic groups (not only in politics, but in life), this phenomenon of wearing a tie sloppily seems to give them some sort of common ground. Not to mention the obvious fact that it's more comfortable, and American society has started to value comfort over decorum. Or at least that's the way I see it. I could be wrong.