A number of people don't know what to do with neckties. There are a number
of things you can do with them, such as tying them, wearing them, and watching
them reproduce, all covered in The Necktie Repository. The site grows with your comments - so write on!
Here is information pertaining exclusively to neckties of one sort or another.
Knots
There are three knots that I know of for tying a necktie, and there's another
for the bow tie. Most of the instruction on the Web was designed for people
who have no trouble with knots and are basically familiar with tying ties.
The table here introduces you to the basic necktie knots. (Perhaps I'll
add pictures of each knot completed in the near future.)
The following table used to have plenty more informaiton in it, but with
the collapse of the dot-com bubble, the sites I linked to have vanished or
changed their focus. Why don't you look around and
get back to me with other directions you find? I'd appreciate the help!
Knot Name
Description
Advice
Beginners
Advanced
Four-in-Hand
This knot is simple to tie and has just a few twists. It's a
little bit lopsided, but you probably wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't
mentioned it.
Learn this knot first. It's undoubtedly the easiest, and it's an appropriate
knot for all occaisions. Use other knots if you need to be extra-fancy
or have some extra time to try tying.
The Half Windsor knot fixes the lopsided problem of the Four-in-Hand
with just a couple of extra turns.
This is a good second knot to learn. It's an excellent all-occaision
knot that isn't lopsided and is relatively easy to tie.
Full Windsor (a.k.a.
Double Windsor)
The Full Windsor is ideal for wide collar openings and extra-long neckties.
It may look crowded if you have a narrow collar opening.
The Full Windsor is the dressiest knot of the three. You can
use this knot without a wide collar opening or extra-long necktie if you
like. Use it to be very fancy, esepcially if you have a wide collar
opening and a few minutes to spare to get it right.
Bow Tie
Tie a bow tie with this one.
Don't try this one in a hurry. You might have to do it a few
times or play with it a bit to get the ends to come out the same length.
Want more knots? Check out Peter Suber's
Knots on the
Web and this Portuguese site
translated to pidgeon English by
Google.
Know about other knots? (I know how to tie a Shelby,
but haven't gotten around to putting the instructions on the web.) Let me
know if you find any other interesting necktie stuff...
Alan Flusser offers his instructions
on necktie care.
Tieman's
Tips, instructions on necktie care, cleaning, and travel. (Broken link - where'd it go?)
Tiecrafters of New York City will
clean your ties no matter where you live!
It's not very often that neckties make the news - that's
part of the appeal of the subject to me - they're generally
non-controversial. But just when you thought the
Clinton/Lewinski scandal had touched every last topic
it might possibly cover, they came up with
The Great Necktie Scandal!
Alan Flusser at Fashionmall.com has put together a history
of neckties.
Willy Spat wrote a humerous
and editorialized history of neckties Somebody (marko@homemail.com ?) wrote a brief
history of neckties and listed the word necktie in a great many languages
along with an etymology and a few other tidbits of information (Broken link - Can you find it?).
Oddly, there's not much information on the web about tie tacks (sometimes
called tie pins). There are some vendors out there, and there's some
information here, but I haven't been able to find much at all.
So why is this page here? I don't even wear a tie that much. Gosh. It's
handy to have around as a reference, I suppose, and friends of mine know
that I know how to tie a tie, so they ask me. I wanted to put up a page
so that they could get my help without taking my time -- and I did, then
I searched for a good place to list the page on Yahoo!. In finding a good
place, I also found several other good resources on neckties, and thought
it would be reasonable to gather everything in one place as I have done
here.