When it comes to men’s fashion, men really get the short end of the stick. There are very few options for accessories for men and when everyone is wearing suits, how can a man stand out. Sure, there is the hair, but not every man is blessed with a wonderful head of hair. There is one accessory men can wear that allows them to stand out: the tie.Somewhere along the line ties picked up the reputation as being an ‘office noose’ instead of a bit of flair. I do think this image came from a combination of strict dress codes and poor fitting shirts. A comfortable tie is more about a comfortable shirt. Before delving into the world of neckties, I am first going to point out how to buy a proper shirt.
Dress Shirts
Most people I know don’t have a tailor, don’t know how to find a tailor, and if they did, wouldn’t be able to afford a tailor. I know at some point in my life I shall have custom made dress shirts, but until then, I only have department stores and catalogs.
The most important aspect of buying a shirt, the whole reason I am even devoting time writing about shirts, is to know your shirt size. Small, medium, large, and extra-large are inexact measurements and will lead to ill-fitting uncomfortable shirts. If a man is wearing uncomfortable clothes, he will project that discomfort to everyone around him. He will fidget and look nervous.
How do you measure up?
These are the things a man needs to know when buying a dress shirt. How long are his arms? What is the girth of his neck? If he doesn’t know what these numbers are, he will need a friend or pay a stranger to take his measurements. To get his sleeve length, he needs to measure from center back at neck base along shoulder and down the arm to the wrist while his elbow is slightly bent. This type of sleeve measurement is referred to as a retail measurement and is not the same as a tailor’s sleeve measurement which only measures the arm. When ordering online, it is important to know which kind of measurement is needed.
The neck is the measurement I really care about for tie buying purposes. To measure the neck, a man only needs to wrap the tape around the base and make sure it is comfortable. It shouldn’t be a skin tight measurement. There should be some slack, some say two finger widths of slack, some say one. I’m in the two finger category, but I happen to like breathing.
The final test of a proper fit is trying the shirt on. No one can know how he will look in a shirt unless he actually wears it. Since these directions are for off the rack retail dress shirts, trying them on is even more important.
With a proper fitting shirt, a necktie can’t strangle.
School of Hard Knots
Tying a tie seems to give many men fits of frustration. I’ve heard stories of men getting their ties tied and then never untying them, just loosening them up enough to slide over their heads. This method is slightly better than buying a clip on tie. Both of those options are uncalled for since tying a tie is a simple procedure. On this very particular issue, I’m not going to reinvent the wheel and instead will offer several links to websites where a man can learn how to tie his tie.
Tie Knot
Tie-a-tie
How To Tie a Tie | Classic Knots
To Tie A Tie
The man who wants to wear a tie only needs to find one or two knots he is comfortable with and practice them a few times. When I first started wearing ties I stood in front of the mirror and practiced over and over. Each tie I owned was slightly different and required different finesse to make the knot look right. The time was well spent because when I got my first job where I had to wear a tie daily, I could knot it quickly without much effort and sometimes without the help of a mirror.
A caveat, one that I failed to adhere to for a very long time, is do not tuck the thin part of tie into the lable of the tie. If the tie needs to be restrained the man should use a tie clip, tie tack, tie bar, or one of the many other accessories that will keep the tie from flopping into the soup bowl.
How’s it hanging?
One of my problems when I started wearing ties was trying to figure out how long it was supposed to be. I always knew that it shouldn’t be a short tie or else I’d look like Oliver Hardy. I also knew that if I sat down and the tie draped between my legs like some fancy fig leaf, that it must be too long. Finding the happy medium was the key. The rule of thumb I’ve gone by that has served me well was the tie had to touch my belt. That’s it. If it was above my belt, the tie was too short. If it was below my belt, the tie was too long.
Tie Selection
There are so many types of ties available that all that is truly important is to make sure the tie goes with the other clothes being worn and to make sure the tie expresses the man’s personality. I went through an ugly tie phase and I went through a knitted tie phase. Really wide to ultra-thin, yes, I even wore a bolo-tie a few times. I’ve never worn a bow tie but I’m not opposed to them. Whatever the case, a man can express himself through his tie.
So while dressed in the bland corporate uniform, a man can still demonstrate his creatvie passionate soul through his well chosen tie.
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