Ties That Bind

For the best part of half a century I wore a tie every day. At junior school it was admittedly elasticated with a pre-tied knot, but then at senior school it was a rather natty blue, gold and white affair that actually needed to be tied. Moving from the elasticated tie to the one that had to be tied was something of a rite of passage. This being the seventies, when ties were worn very, very wide and the school tie was somewhat narrow this led to many boys (and girls for that matter as they also had to wear the tie), constructing a knot the size of their fist, with the actual hanging part of the fabric about two inches long. This was however the widest part of the tie so it was vaguely fashionable, even if this style was frowned upon by the school establishment.

When I started work ties were obligatory in offices but workers in all sorts of occupations, including many blue collar jobs, habitually wore them. Many men wore them even when they were not working. My own father regularly wore a tie even after he retired when he wore a proper shirt. In fact his wardrobe consisted only of proper shirts; he was never a t-shirt or polo shirt wearer, thus he wore a tie most of the time when he went out.

Over recent years office wear has become less formal. It started (in my old offices at least) with dress down on special occasions, then informal wear (t-shirts and jeans) became a regular Friday occurrence, normally with a small donation to charity attached. Then it was decided that ties need not be worn even with a suit from Monday to Thursday, until ultimately dress down became the norm five days a week. I was not an adherent of wearing a work shirt and suit without a tie however. To me wearing a suit without a tie looks strange. If the top shirt button is not done up it looks scruffy; if it is done up it looks odd. The only way a shirt without a tie with a suit looks good is when the shirt is collarless, a look favoured by some Middle Eastern politicians. So while many people around me at work went tieless, I persisted when wearing a suit; somehow it felt more natural to me. Apart from anything else, after over forty years of tie wearing I actually felt more comfortable wearing one. There is a school of thought that suggests that more formal work wear is actually associated with greater professionalism and productivity and I’d subscribe to that to some degree. Even though my office went fully dress down, there were some buildings that did not so visiting them for meetings meant that we had to adopt their dress code; certainly in customer facing roles formal attire was still compulsory. It’s about image I guess and our culture still associates formal wear with efficiency and professionalism.

Recent research by online fashion retailer Very.co.uk has found that one in ten workers cite dress down Friday as the most stressful day of the week and 15 per cent become so stressed by what to wear they even call in sick. Somewhat extreme and exactly the opposite effect that their employers were aiming for, so perhaps it’s understandable that some organisations have actually bucked the dress down trend and reverted to the requirement for staff to wear formal dress, including ties for men.

Pushing the dress down boundaries are Virgin Atlantic. According to their website, “Virgin Atlantic sprung a surprise on Canadian breakfast television this week, as they presented CTV Breakfast anchor Aamer Haleem with a ‘Say Bye To The Tie’ t-shirt – following his cutting encounter with Richard Branson last year. Last May the Virgin Group Founder was a guest on the show when he decided Haleem would probably be slightly more comfortable without his tie, before taking matters into his own hands and producing a pair of scissors from his top pocket.”

The article goes on to say “if you’re a tie wearer then look out. You never know when Richard Branson will next be on the spot to cut your attire down to size.” Now I’ve never met Sir Richard, and frankly I don’t think that I’m likely to, but in the event that I did, and that I was wearing a tie and he took a pair of scissors to it, I would not be best pleased. Sure, if I worked for Virgin and was asked not to wear a tie I wouldn’t but otherwise I will wear one if I choose to; in some circumstances it would probably be disrespectful not to. I am sure that there are many clubs and restaurants that still insist on men wearing ties and why not? As to comfort, I can’t see why a tie should be uncomfortable unless the wearer feels that their neck is being constricted, in which case it is the tightness of their shirt collar that is the problem, not the tie.

Some people view the tie as superfluous, unnecessary, an outdated garment that may inconveniently immerse itself into a cup of tea or fly over the wearer’s shoulder on a windy day. To those people I’d point out that most useful of additions to a tie wearer’s wardrobe, the tie tack, of which I have several and which prevent such inconvenient dunkings and flyaway moments. I rather miss wearing a tie now that I don’t work and don’t have to; I’m sure that the next time an opportunity to wear one presents itself I will quite enjoy doing so.

If it’s true that the tie is a non-essential item of clothing then one day it may go the way of the cravat and the tie dye shirt, but men’s suits tend to be dull and drab without a tie. A tie gives the wearer the opportunity to add a touch of individuality and colour to their dress. It’s not too strong to say that a suit is incomplete without a tie.  The late fashion designer Alexander McQueen, opined that men should always wear a tie on formal occasions. He was asked why. "Because it looks better," he said and I concur.