There’s a silly story on the cover of the Wall Street Journal that shows how insane all the fear over swine flu has gotten. Now doctors’ ties may be harboring the flu virus.
Believe it or not, the American Medical Association has been pondering banning the necktie for docs, in addition to getting rid of long sleeves and other types of clothing. Why don’t we just have our doctors stand naked before us. That would be an interesting twist, no?
Anyway, it got me thinking about men and ties in general.
I asked my hubby this morning when was the last time he wore a tie to work and he said it was ten years ago, when he worked for Computer Associates. And even back then, it was an occasional thing. “I just did it to wear clothes I had,” he said. “I had lots of ties I never wore.”
Makes sense, sort of.
I decided to figure out who the heck invented neckties anyway.
I found this historic background on a site called abcneckties.com:
Ties were an unusual thought as a fashion accessory in China in 221 B.C., the first known existence of fabric wrapping a man’s neck. In the Neckwear industry this is an interestingly known fact, as a result of the excavation in China of the “Terracotta Army of the first Emperor of China” in 1970 - Among the 7000 terracotta soldiers un-earthed dressed in armor, many of which had a necktie wrapping their necks.
My sister went to China with her husband many years ago and brought me back a small replica of one of those soldiers and I ran to get it after I read this.
Sure enough, it’s got a tie on:
How cute!
Anyway, why are doctors and bankers the only ones who wear ties these days. I like ties. There’s something sexy about a man with a tie. And they just seem to class up almost any workplace, especially if you’re looking for a gig, any gig.
I was in my favorite Malaysian restaurant yesterday, and while I was picking up my takeout at the counter a guy walked in with a baseball cap on backwards, saggy pants and a t-shirt and over-sized, zippered sweat shirt. He asked the manager if there were any job openings while I was standing right there. We both looked at him for what seemed like five minutes. The manager said, “no, no openings.”
The dude ran out of the place and I tried to catch up to him to tell him he was an idiot for showing up to ask for a job dressed like that, but he disappeared into the endless see of shops in the strip mall I was in.
Guys, wear a tie when you go to an employer to ask for work, any work.
Is it that much to ask? Maybe.
I started doing some research this morning on neckties and I couldn’t believe how complicated the process of picking a necktie to wear can be.
This blog post offers advice on tie colors and when to wear certain hues:
Multicolored ties is the distinctive feature of those men who want and dare to stand out from the crowd, and are usually attributed to young professionals. These ties accentuate your individuality, mood and good (hopefully) taste. Make sure though not to stray too far from business classics in order not to run the risk of being everybody’s clown.
And don’t get me started on what I found regarding tying a tie and tie knots. Here’s a website with diagrams:
OK, so wearing a tie isn’t all that easy. But maybe it’s time to put a bit more work into your looks guys.
Given that ties are considered deadly now, maybe that will provide the allure ties need to make a come back.
Why not? Tell me, do you wear ties to work? If so, why? If not, why?
November 19th, 2009 at 10:30 am
I studied Russian under a Ukrainian lady believed that neckties (”galstuuk” as she pronounced them) were invented by a specific people group (unamed here) “to choke the life out of healthy young men.” I always crack up thinking about that.
I must admit, on those days when I’ve worn a suit and tie, I’ve been treated differently. Not just at the office (where everyone assumes you have a job interview somewhere else), but also at gas stations, convenience stores, and simply out-and-about. I believe that more formal modes of dress still move most people to be a little more considerate in their interactions.
Aside from that, I’ll venture a guess as to one factor why neckties declined: industrialization. Really! Hear me out. Once the manufacture of clothing was industrialized, sizes became much more standardized. Whether a man or woman, you know that not every garment that is technically “your size” fits the same in every area. With dress shirts, I’ve found this particularly true at the neck. Companies that specialize in selling business shirts still start out with neck, chest, and sleeve measurements, but mass-produced shirts are designed for a common denominator. Many times, I had shirts that fit me very well in the body and sleeves, but were like wearing a choke collar at the neck. In addition, do you know how hard it is to find a long (tall) tie these days? I have a long torso, so I need to wear tall shirts and long ties. Without going to a specialty store, however, it is almost impossible to find long ties anymore. If I use a regular tie around my large neck and then hang the front of the tie where it should be, there is either nothing left on the back strand or the front simply will not reach my belt buckle.
Okay. I’m stepping down from the soap box. How about we men go back to ascotts?
July 18th, 2010 at 1:12 pm
I like wearing a tie.
This may seemming a blasphemous statement in this age of ever increasing informality. It has admittedly been an aquired taste.
In my youth I scorned dress codes, and specifically the necktie, as an anachronistic contrivance intended to enforce submission to petty minds. I viewed a dress code from a victim’s perspective, as a set of rules requiring capitulation of free will. But there is another meaning to the “code,” in dress code. Not as a set of rules imposed upon oneself, but rather as a codex, a system of signals intended to convey meaning, something like a Morse code.
Picture a wedding, white gown, black tie, the provoctive music of Mendelson, the ceremonial lighting of candles, the exchanging of vows. As you look around at the other guests, the women will likely all be wearing skirts or dresses, the men jackets and ties. And yet, no one has imposed this dress code on them.
There is meaning embeded in the act of dressing-up, but it is implicit, operating at the non-conscious.
The best explanation I ever read for why men wear ties came from a book about “why things are” that I read in 9th grade in 1974, at the height of my anti-tie crusade. The explanation want something along the lines of necktie originating in the form of the bow tie with the rise of the merchant class in the 19th century, probably as a scarf to hold shirt colars up against the cold. But wealthier merchants could affort higher quality scarves, typically of silk, and so the the quality of the scarf indicated the status of the wearer, and so eventually the function of providing warmth was superceded by the function of class identification.
The role as indicator of status contiued into the 1960s, as for example the distinguisher between white and blue colar status. However, over time, the meaning conveyed by the necktie changed, from a symbol of social status, to an acknowledgement of something important.
We wear ties to weddings and graduations and the ballet because we want to radiate that we consider these events important. We want our doctors and financial advisors and lawers to wear ties because we want to know that they take our cases seriously, that we are important.
The demise of the necktie is, I think, the result of the loss of the implicit meaning contaied in the gesture. When we wear them because of a dress code imposed from on high rather than as a gesture freely given, they loose all value.
I don’t have the opportunity to wear a necktie often, but I take pleasure in those times when the context is appropriate to do so, because when I wear a necktie it evokes the same kind of response in others as a heartfelt complement. It makes them feel important.