men and ties

(from left) Prince William, David Beckham & Prince Harry

when it comes to ties, there is a full range of information available online. for instance, if you are looking for the history of ties, you can hop over to wikipedia. if you have a little more time to spare, do read this article from gq too. it's almost a course of everything one should know about the art of ties. for the rest of us, this is just a quick post to four ways of knotting a tie.

1) the four-in-hand knot

the four-in-hand knot is also known as a simple knot or schoolboy knot, the four-in-hand is believed to be the most popular method of tying ties due to its simplicity and style. some reports state that carriage drivers tied their reins with a four-in-hand knot, while others claim that the carriage drivers wore their scarves in the manner of a four-in-hand, but the most likely etymology is that members of the four-in-hand club in london began to wear the neckwear, making it fashionable. the knot produced by this method is on the narrow side, slightly asymmetric and appropriate for most, but not all occasions.

the four-in-hand knot is tied by placing the tie around the neck and crossing the broad end of the tie in front of the narrow end. the broad end is folded behind the narrow end and brought forward on the opposite side, passed across the front horizontally, folded behind the narrow end again, brought over the top of the knot from behind, tucked behind the horizontal pass, and the knot pulled snug. the knot is slid up the narrow end of the tie until snug against the collar. 

2) the windsor knot

the windsor knot, also referred to as a full windsor or as a double windsor to distinguish it from the half-windsor, is a method of tying a necktie. the windsor knot, compared to other methods, produces a wide symmetrical triangular knot. the knot is often thought to be named after the duke of windsor (king edward viii after his abdication). it was, however, likely invented by his father george v. the windsor knot is especially suited for a spread or cutaway collar that can properly accommodate a larger knot. for correct wear the tie used for a windsor knot should be about 4 centimetres or 1.6 inches longer than a conventional tie. 

to tie the windsor, place the tie around your neck and cross the broad end of the tie in front of the narrow end. then fold the broad end behind the narrow end and push it up through the inside of the loop around your neck. the left and right sides of the narrow end and the inside of the loop, now form a triangle. the third and fourth folds should complete one rotation around the outside of the knot. the fifth fold brings the broad end over the top of the knot from the front to the back. the sixth and seventh folds again complete one rotation around the knot. the eighth fold should again bring the broad end up over the top of the knot from behind; push the end down through the loop in front of the knot that you made with the seventh fold, work out any wrinkles, and pull the knot tight. if the tie is unbalanced, untie the knot and try again giving yourself more or less length to work with.

3) the half-windsor knot

the half-windsor knot, also known as the single windsor knot, is a way of tying a necktie which produces a neat, triangular knot. it is larger than the four-in-hand knot and pratt knot, but smaller than the windsor knot. the half-windsor is derived from the windsor in that it is only brought up around the loop on one side rather than both. it works well with light and medium-weight fabrics.

to tie the half-windsor, start with the wide end of the tie on your right and extending a foot before the narrow end. cross wide end over narrow and turn back underneath. bring it up and turn it down through the loop. pass the wide in from the front, from the left and to the right. then, end up through the loop, and put it down through the knot in the front. tighten the knot carefully and draw it up to the collar.

4) the pratt knot

the pratt knot is a method of tying a tie around one's neck and collar. it is also known as the shelby knot and the pratt-shelby. the knot was invented by jerry pratt, an employee of the us chamber of commerce. he had been wearing his tie in the pratt knot for some twenty years before it became popular after tv personality don shelby wore it on air. the new york fashion press then promptly attributed the invention of the knot to shelby.

the pratt knot is unusual in that its starting position is 'reverse side out'. it uses less length than the half-windsor or windsor knots and so is well suited to shorter ties or taller men. unlike the four-in-hand knot, the pratt method produces a symmetrical knot. it is of medium thickness. in Italy, it is simply referred to as the 'nodo alla milanese' (milan style knot).

fash'on... BAM!