To learn How to Tie a Windsor Knot (as well as a Half-Windsor and others) print out our easy-to-follow instructions, and tape them next to your mirror for practice. 

Why a Tie?

Of course, because it's a social necessity (a phrase with a horrible ring to it). But it goes much deeper than that.

You may be surprised to learn that the Tie isn't just some modern quirk. Or the result of a devious plot by mercenary clothiers. (Although the tie industry did lead the movement to establish Fathers' Day, for less than sentimental reasons.) It's the proud product of thousands of years of evolution. It's got credentials!

It may have begun as a neckcloth that soaked up the honest sweat of a primitive farmer as he bent over his crop. Something similar marched into recorded history with the Roman soldier, who wore it (and very little else) into battle. On the homefront Cicero and other statesmen were tying strips of wool around their necks to warm their vocal cords on chilly days.

So far, so good. Neckwear was functional, understandable. But in the seventeenth century, a period eggheads have perhaps mistakenly included in the Age of Reason, it veered into the realm of Fashion. As you might imagine, the French had a hand in it. (Next time you're dining in Paris, stiff your waiter on the tip.)

It happened this way. Boisterous Croatian cavalrymen turned up in the court of Louis XIV, celebrating a rout of the Turks. Around their necks they wore bright neck scarves, knotted in front. (Protection against the werewolves who supposedly prowled their native land.) Smitten French aristocrats copied the style, and called it the cravate. The rest of the world copied the French aristocrats. That's the way Fashion works Ñ you've probably noticed.

Cravatmania raged. Gaudy styles proliferated. Soon, nearly one hundred different knots were recognized. And seizing a man by his cravate came to be considered the grossest insult, just as slicing somebody's tie in half with a scissors is frowned upon today, unless you can prove a lineage to the Marx Brothers.

For some, the cravat acquired an almost supernatural significance. These people stubbornly maintained that Napoleon lost the Battle of Waterloo not through any strategic faux pas, but because he wore a flowing white cravat rather than his customary black neckerchief.

Eventually, in the no-nonsense atmosphere of the Industrial Revolution, the cravat was judged foppish, and faded away. The spartan string tie popularized by Abraham Lincoln enjoyed a brief heyday. But then, in the late 1860's, the long tie we wear today slithered forth, like the first reptile out of the primordial slime.

In 1897, the Sears catalog declared that "An untied man is an untidy man." The die was cast. And a world tugged somewhat uneasily at its collar.

If tailored clothing is part of your wardrobe, you may want to request a copy of our Lands' End for Men catalog for a look.