The male accessory

An expressive and seductive accessory.

The tie: a simple strip of cloth that can be made with different types of fabric; from silk to wool, from cotton to polyester, it gives that extra touch for a versatile outfit: elegant or casual.

An inevitable accessory that expresses vanity and mood in itself. From chromatic games in contrast with the bottom, to classicizing micro designs, from bright colors to soft ones, from traditional regimental to heraldic stripes, from amber to mogador and from that at ribbon to the titans and to the repp stripe tie. In addition to floral patterns to the minimal designs and miniatures, the tie completes a man's style giving him personality, while if it's worn by a woman, for a smart, chic or sexy look, charm and mystery give life to an explosive combination strongly intriguing and seductive.

The original evolution.

The oldest known ancestor of the tie we wear today, seems to date back to prehistory, when men loved to doll up by hanging around their necks the dried testicles of enemies killed in battle as externalization an of their strength and courage. While similarly, at the time of ancient Egypt, it was used during funeral rites, a mere strip of cloth tied around the neck with the knot of Isis, as a sign of protection for both the deceased and the women of the time, who considered it a very powerful amulet.

It is also seen around the necks of warriors of the Xian region, in China, where researchers would find terracotta statues depicting soldiers from a very distant era dating back to 210 a.C. of the army of the first Chinese emperor, Qin Shih Huang, who at the time wanted to be buried next to his soldiers so that they could be his guardians in the afterlife. In fact, each soldier was depicted wearing a piece of cloth wrapped around his neck.

He then reappeared with emperor Trajan from 98 to 117 d.C. to protect the respiratory tract from dust during the marches of the roman legionaries and later, after the poet and writer French Eustache Deschamps (1346-1406), who mentioned it in a ballad (“Faite restreindre sa cravate”), we find the word "tie" [citation needed] in the work "Degli habiti antichi et moderni" by Cesare Vecellio (Italian painter and designer). While the most widespread story about the origins of the tie dates back to the Thirty Years ' War (1618–1648), when under Louis XIII, croatian mercenaries (serving in France) wore small scarves knotted around their necks (they were donated by their wives to their husbands before a war and represented a man's loyalty to a woman), which aroused the interest of the French, which, due to a slight distortion between the Croatian word: "hrvati" (croatians) with the corresponding French: "croates", and above all defining that way of wearing the scarf around the neck "à la croate" (i.e. at the croatian), that particular scarf took the name of tie (“cravate" in french).

A french savoir-faire.

These foulards did not go unnoticed by the Sun King, always in step with the latest refinement of fashion, which already at the age of 7, inspired by the Croats, he began to wear this accessory by launching a real fashion and even establishing a new profession that of the "tie man" whose office was created in 1669 (Grand Maître de la Garde Robe du roi – Grand Masterof the King's Wardrobe) belonging to the services of the king's chamber with the status of squire, whose function was therefore to choose, knot and impeccably adjust the king's tie (with the help of valets), in addition to the "mouchoir" (handkerchief), the "gants" (gloves) and the "chapeau” (hat), to twins and diamonds. . Soon emulated by the French nobility, everyone competes for boldness and elegance by adding lace and silk ribbons.

The female eccentricity.

Even the lady courted by Louis XIV, then taken as his official mistress, Louise de La Vallière (mother of his children), who was given the title of Duchess of La Vallière (1667), in imitating the King, began to wear with extreme ease a vaporous bow-shaped tie that took its name (“lavallière tie” or “to the La Vallière”), then also worn by painters and sculptors, thus becoming one of the first women in history to wear a clothing accessory until then intended only to the man.

A durable fashion.

This ribbon or bandana, it became fashionable in Paris, then reappeared during the Battle of Steenkerque in the Netherlands (1692) around the neck of french officers (later called "Steinkirk"), and again in the glacial period that struck Europe (1645–1715) which, contributed to its spread, thanks also to Venice that took the opportunity by exporting a large number of these embroidered bandanes, obtaining a fortune out of it.

Soon the fashion spread throughout Europe, being adopted by royalty and heralds, also influencing the English king Charles II who, exiled and returned to England, brought back with him the pleasures and delicacies encountered in the various courts of Europe, wearing ties worth 20 pounds of the time, thus becoming the accessory that indicates that one is well dressed, in common use among the rich Burghers and a sign of recognition of the first dandies.

In the 1800s, touching another man's tie was apparently a reason for a duel. In that same period the British boxer James Belcher, also known as Jem Belcher (champion of England from 1800 to 1805), portrayed in many representations of the time with this particular accessory around his neck, made it popular. Then, in 1818, thanks to the publication of Neckclothitania (the first style manual to use the word tie that contained illustrated instructions on how to knot 14 different ties), he began the interest in the skill required to knot the tie in certain styles, quickly becoming a sign of a man's elegance and richness. The sometimes complicated range, of knots and styles, also left room for bow ties (a much smaller and more convenient version of the tie), and to another type of tie, the ascot, which was considered de rigueur for male guests at formal dinners and for male spectators at races. These ascots had wide crossed flaps and pinned together on their chests.

The identified symbology.

In 1880, in Oxford, England, collegiate members of Exter College took the ribbons from their straw hats and tied them around their necks with a simple knot, creating the first real tie that identified membership of a certain college or club according to its colours, a fashion that was enthusiastically welcomed by other English schools. Later, after the Macdesfield tie (one of the first ties with drawings) ties were created with particular designs (1900) intended for a group of people to demonstrate their social ascent and the "Regimental", so-called for the emblem received by the regiment to which they belong, because the colors of the oblique stripes represented the various departments of the army and the Royal Navy.

Before World War II, ties were shorter than they are today; this was due, in part, to men wearing natural-waisted trousers (more or less at navel level), and also to the popularity of waistcoats, where the length of the tie is not important as long as the tips are hidden.

The invention of an improved method.

Between 1923 and 1926 [citation needed], a New York tie maker, Jesse Langsdorf, invented a method of cutting the fabric on the bias (at one corner) and then sewing it into three segments (the "Langsdorf" tie). Technique still in use, which improved its elasticity by facilitating the return of the fabric to its original shape (Pdf. 1). Subsequently Valentine Naftali and Jesse Langsdorf patented the method for making ties (Pdf. 2), then followed by the patent of Rudolf Naftali who with the same Valentine Naftali and Henry Naftali registered the invention that concerned the improvements made to the machines used to sew the ties (Pdf. 3). And in that period another development was the method used to fix the lining and the interlining, a layer of canvas inserted precisely inside between the outer fabric and the lining (therefore not visible), once the tie had been folded in shape.

With the Voltiana Exposition in Como in 1927, fabrics destined for ties begin to appear alongside kilometers of fabrics for umbrellas which in the 1950s and 1960s, after the Second World War, made the fortune of Como itself, a moment in which the tie passed from black to the colors and with the insertion of decorative motifs, to the fantasy, finds a high aesthetic expression that is inspired by Italian art and history, such as the famous "Pompei" fabric which incorporates the colors of ancient frescoes, so much so that ties even end up at the Metropolitan in New York as true pieces of art. The role of the designers, real artists, was also fundamental, who in a few centimeters of fabric created minute drawings, made with the brush, returning meticulous details that highlighted their beauty.

Between stability and creative design.

In the 20th century, the design of the tie in its fundamental characteristics stabilized in a precise typology and only the fabrics, colors, cut and width changed many times, continuing to vary according to fashion. From the sixties to today, a large number of different shapes will be tested: in width, from 4 cm up to 15 or 16 cm (today the standard is between 8 and 10 cm), with models three folds, five folds, seven folds or nine folds, with straight cut, classic bottle or semi bottle, with the lining in the same color, in fabric or spoken and sometimes with the square end, and will also be made in all materials: in printed or jacquard fabric, knitted or in leather, up to the most original such as pearls or wood, but it will not be the only of the masculine fashion garment to change over the years, since even the collars of shirts, trousers and jackets will see their ends change. The passing trends will then determine, in addition to the styles, the sales trend based on the cultures: whether youthful, hippie, pop or punk rock; to the needs of the workplace: where it has been used frequently by politicians to executives and financial yuppies; and finally: from ceremonial necessities. We will also begin to see it around women's necks as a sexy fashion accessory, of the rock stars and pop icons, to the point that it is now worn by practically everyone in a relaxed and casual way and is used in any type of event or occasion.