The tie was the first casualty of casual America. What started with suits in offices and on airplanes devolved into golf shirts on Fridays, then jeans everyday, then T-shirts and sneakers, and now fashionable sweats. We want to be comfortable, so a colorful noose is the last thing we’re willing to don. Patrick Grant, creative director at Norton & Sons on London’s Savile Row, once explained that everything about a dress shirt is engineered to hold a necktie. A look is “unfinished” without it, he said, and “knowing how to tie your tie knot that looks right is a practiced art that says something about who you are and how you like to dress.”
It’s time to bring the tie back. But for those who had a friend or father knot their tie before the last wedding they attended, here’s a knot you can learn in minutes.
The Half Windsor
The staple of stylish men.
Start: With the fat side of the tie on your right, dropping about eight inches lower than the skinner side on your left (adjusted for height).
Step 1: Cross the wide end over the skinny end, right to left.
Step 2: Pass the wide end back under the skinny end, left to right.
Step 3: Bring the wide end towards your face and drop it through the neck loop.
Step 4: From left to right, wrap the wide end around the knot leaving a small space.
Step 5: Bring the wide end up through the neck hole, up and over.
Step 6: Pull the wide end through the space you left in step four.
Step 7: Tighten and adjust. The tip of the tie should touch the top of your belt.
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