I learned this today. The necktie that most men wear today came about because King Louis XIV of France liked the knotted neckerchiefs that the Croatian mercenaries in his army wore.
People have worn cloths around their necks for as long as people have had cloth. Roman soldiers were the first people to wear knotted kerchiefs around their necks. The neckerchief that the Croatian mercenaries wore was used to keep their jackets closed but was tied with a decorative knot. King Louis XIV was only 7 years old, but he liked the style and started to wear a lace one in 1646. He called it a “cravatte”, which is a corruption of the French word for Croat.
Everybody wanted to wear what the King wore and everybody in Europe wanted to wear what they were wearing in Paris. The cravat took off. They were usually made of lace and could take a long time to tie.
In 1692, at the Battle of Steenkerque in the Netherlands, the princes in charge of the battle didn’t have time to properly tie their cravats. They wound them once around their necks and then tucked them into a buttonhole inside their jacket. This was the next evolution of the tie and become known as a steinkirk, after the battle.
The steinkirk was tremendously popular through the 1700s. Then, from about 1770, a group of men calling themselves “maccaronis” started to experiment with fashion. They wore huge wigs, very extravagant clothes, and large cravats. The style of the knot on the cravat became an indicator of someone’s taste. There were books published on how to tie a cravat and it took a lot of skill. A proper cravat could take an hour to tie. Slowly the cravat became called a “tie”.
At the end of the 18th century, the Industrial Revolution caused an upheaval in people’s lives. People began to work in offices, and they wanted a version of the cravat that was easy to put on and would last the whole day without having to be retied. A long thin piece of cloth became the norm. It was easy to tie around the neck and didn’t slip undone. This is basically the tie that we wear today.
In 1922, a New York tie maker called Jesse Langsdorf came up with a way of sewing a tie in three pieces. This gave the tie a little more elasticity and helped it to keep its shape. And, a few changes in width notwithstanding, that is the tie we have now.
So, thanks to King Louis XIV of France liking the neckerchiefs that his Croatian mercenaries were wearing, men started to wear a lace cravat. This went through several versions until the new clerical workforce demanded a tie that was quick and easy to tie. And we ended up with the tie we have today. And that is what I learned today.
Sources
http://www.tie-a-tie.net/the-evolution-of-the-necktie/
https://www.britannica.com/topic/cravat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cravat_(early)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necktie
