The Necktie
Tie is an irreplaceable companion: the only element with color notes able to offer an original touch to men’s clothing or confirm sobriety with grace and lightness. It crosses fashions to emphasize the elegance of our appearance, always present in the wardrobe of those who want a natty image of themselves.
Those who do not like to wear a tie because they feel suffocated can unhook the upper button of their shirt acquiring an air of distracted elegance; harder to remedy when we realize that the shoes, bought for the occasion we are participating in, get tighter and tighter as time goes by.
Some curiosities
In ties, the padding is normally made by coupling two shaped strips: one heavier, the other more elastic: together they give the right body to the tie and flexibility to the knot.
The 7-fold tie is that tie which, simulating the aforementioned Croatian soldiers of the 17th – 18th century, is made by folding the silk on itself (of course 7 times) so as to obtain a sufficient body so as not to need any internal padding support.
The tie has a small loop applied on it’s back: it is used to bring in the tail (or rear blade) so that it forms a single body with the front blade. In the absence of the loop this function is performed by the label.
The tie is sewn with a thread (called “clutch”) which, running along the length of the tie, prevents the fabric from curling when the knot is tightened.
A bit of history
We are unable to establish the exact origin of the tie. There are versions that trace it back to the Croatian mercenaries in the pay of Louis XIV of France: it seems they used to wrap a silk cloth on itself and then knotted around their neck giving a sign of greater distinction to their uniform.
In this sense, the Croatian parliament’s initiative which in 2008 decreed October 18 as “tie day”, seems to confirm this theory.
Likely, as often happens, origins are more uncertain: already in ancient times, among different peoples, nobles,priests and community’s prominent figures used to adorn their necks with colored drapes as a distinctive sign and , even then, cold winters advised,anyone who could afford it ,to repair the neck with warm and comfortable drapes. In any case, from the second half of the 19th century, the tie begins, with generally very sober colors, to take on a shape similar to the one we know. In the early decades of the twentieth century, the tie spreads very rapidly, subtracting the primacy of the main accessory from the bow tie. Gradually silk became the preferred fabric for making this extraordinary element of distinction and from the second post-world war period, the drawings, often inspired by abstract painting to elements of everyday life, they acquire increasingly imaginative shapes and bright colors. Today, with a trend already mentioned at the end of the twentieth century, we have gradually returned to more sober designs, smaller dimensions and less noisy colors and the packaging of the tie, which has become a cult object, increasingly entrusted to the care of skilled craftsmen.
