The Bookless Club: The classic necktie a victim of post-pandemic cultural shift

There’s a generation that doesn’t know how to operate a rotary phone and no idea of a Windsor knot

Published Sep 21, 2024  •  Last updated 0 minutes ago  •  8 minute read

The tie, apparently, is dead. Photo by SasinParaksa /Getty Images/iStockphoto

As I got into the car, he glanced at me, saying,

“Gosh, look at you. How come you’re all dressed up?”

Ever quick on my feet, “Huh?” was my agile response.

“Why’d you get all dressed up?” he asked.

“Well,” I replied, my hand smoothing out the folds on my coat, “we are going out for dinner. I am dressed like an adult. You, on the other hand, are dressed like an adolescent.”

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Now, this guy and I, we’re pals so we can talk to each other like this.

“I look fantastic. Now, drive, or we’ll be late for our reservation”, I ordered.

Sure, I sounded confident and full of moxie, but a withering thought began to fester in my mind: Is there a chance that I’m overdressed?

Well, it turned out he was right and I was wrong.

And I just hate it when that happens.

Now, I wasn’t dressed like Mila Mulroney in the ’80s. Or even Nancy Reagan in her Hollywood years. I was wearing a simple black dress, black stockings, black suede boots and a classic coat. He, on the other hand, was wearing jeans, white running shoes, a loud shirt and a flashy jacket. When we got to the restaurant — a tablecloth kind of place — it appeared that central casting had supplied everyone with a uniform wardrobe, a wardrobe that insisted on ripped jeans, vintage rock T-shirts and novelty jackets. If collared shirts were worn at all, they were worn untucked. Socks were nowhere in evidence. And it was winter. As for ties? Well, just as there’s a generation that doesn’t know how to operate a rotary phone, there’s a generation coming up that has no idea of a Windsor knot or a four-in-hand.

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The tie, apparently, is dead.

Now, I’d heard this was the case but it wasn’t until I went to a corporate cocktail party earlier this month that I realized just how dead. Most men wore open collared shirts. The keynote speaker wore a collarless shirt. And not to worry: I’d learned my lesson and had come in Crocs and PJs. Nobody was going to out-casual me this time.

Earlier this year three U.S. presidents were photographed at a campaign fundraising event in New York. Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, each wearing a suit, but not one of them wearing a tie.

When present and former commanders-in-chief aren’t wearing the emblem of formality — the necktie — that’s evidence of a profound cultural shift.

But then ties started with a cultural shift so I suppose this is no surprise.

Though ties have been the cornerstone of men’s sartorial splendour for centuries now, this wasn’t always the case. In fact, ties are a byproduct of conflict and street fashion.

The tie’s origin story begins back in 1636, with Louis XIII’s Thirty Years War. The French king, Louis, had hired Croatian mercenaries to fight in his cause. Back in the 1600s, buttons weren’t prevalent and people secured their clothing with string like fasteners. The Croats tied short, colourful scarves around their necks, the better to close up their shirt collars. Louis thought these short scarves were a manly improvement over lace jabots and soon adopted them, giving them the name cravat, a derivation of the word Croates or Croatian. Once the neckwear trend was established, the tie as we know it, eventually became a standardized part of masculine apparel and a staple of many uniforms.

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The notion of the vaunted school tie dates from 1800 when a member of Oxford University’s boating team jauntily tied the ribbon from his boater hat around his neck. Legend has it that this was the birth of the four-in-hand tie.

I suppose the tie is yet another casualty of the pandemic, but I’m going to miss the snap they add to a man’s appearance.

This week’s question for readers:

Question: Has casual Friday gone too far? Will we ever dress up again?

Send your answers by email text, not an attachment, in 100 words or less, along with your full name to Jane at [email protected]. We will print some next week in this space.

Last week’s question for readers:

Question: Is there a fashion trend that makes you cringe? What trends did you succumb to in your youth?

• Miles above any other trend is my detestation of tattoos. No doubt a result of growing up in fifties England where tattoos singled men out as low class, or sailors, but even those tattoos were somewhat discreet. Today’s sleeves, legs or necks leave me cringing which, admittedly, makes me totally out of step with society.

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Alan Gray

• Tight jeans without stretch were the worst! You had to lay down on the floor or bed to put them on and it was miserable to sit in a car and drive, or even just being a passenger on the way to the disco, in my case, Clyde’s Disco in West Van. I would never go back to denim without a touch of spandex!

Mel Clancey-Dubienski

• Interesting history of eyelashes. Love the origins of Maybelline -I know I’ll remember that.
As for fashion trends, the big one I cringe over was ironing my naturally curly hair in the 60s. Ironing my bangs was tricky and would sometimes result in a burn line on my forehead! Talk about sacrifices for fashion!

Deni Loubert

• I have inherited three granddaughters, 11 through to 20, from my marriage and I am sure the fashions they will be subjecting us to, now and in the future, may leave us both muttering under our breath but in the meantime Thank you for nailing what appears to be one of the most unflattering, distracting and pointless fashion statements to come along in a while.

Jim Fryeskul

• One of my top fashion trend mishaps was the hair lightening spray, Sun-in. The bottle itself was so irresistibly adult — what young girl couldn’t be intrigued? And what could possibly go wrong? It started out beautifully until the pale, sunset orange result played out.

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Deborah Jean

• You must be a mind reader. For quite awhile I’ve been thinking of sending you a note about the proliferation of oversized lashes. I was even going to use the term tarantulas, but you did one better with synthetic palm fronds sweeping cheeks. My question to you would have been: Do women who put on these outrageously oversized lashes do it because they really believe that it adds to their beauty? I think that I’ve answered my own question. I think the answer must be no, that they’re just in the same category as multiple face piercings and large blotches of tattoos. Something to say, look at me. Cringe worthy? My generation thought we were cool wearing different styles of jeans or letting our hair grow long. Nothing that folks now would bat an eyelash at.

Ron Payne

• A fashion trend that’s cringeworthy to me is leopard print. God knows why it’s coming back. Many people don’t look good in brown or loud prints. I am reminded of a French teacher in Grade 11, circa late 1970s, who wore leopard dresses to class. Bleached blond hair, bright red lipstick, and matching dragon nails, too; the latter which are apparently also back in fashion. Youthful trends that I succumbed to included: blue eyeshadow, underwire bras, and stiletto heels. Now I prefer natural makeup, bralettes, and Hoka sneakers. Way more comfortable, and saves lots of time.

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Cameron

• The fashion fad which I admit I was keen on sporting was the Earth Shoe, from the 1970s — a fad that convinced all of us teenagers that somehow walking with our heels at an inverse incline from other heeled shoes was good for our backs, posture, and well-being. It was a marketing masterpiece because all vulnerable teenagers bought into them. Except my Earth Shoes were sent back to the store. Why? My Italian grandmother had come to visit — from Italy — the heart of the fashion world. One look at my Earth Shoes prompted my mother to immediately return them for I was not going to present myself in those atrocities. I thought Nonna was going to have a heart attack. Luckily she didn’t. She lived another 40 years to the ripe age of 104 — all due to my saving her heart by not keeping those shoes.

Alessandra Bortolazzo

• Back when I was in Grad 9 in 1974 I worked at the CNE in Toronto. After getting paid, I felt like I was rich, so I decided to go to Yonge Street to buy shoes to go back to school with following week. In a trendy store I spotted a pair of Rocker boots — something the Band KISS would wear on stage at one of their concerts. I decided to buy these boots even though I had never worn anything like them before. On the first day back to school I zipped the leather rocker boots on and proceeded to walk to school while trying not to break my neck. As I walked down the hallway at Wexford High, I could sense the other students staring at me as I strutted to my first class. Suddenly, I could hear students laughing and pointing in my direction and instantly could feel my face turning red with embarrassment. I continued to my first class and the staring and giggling continued to my dismay. As soon as the class ended I quickly stumbled back to my house to take off my rocker boots and never wore them again.

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Rick Doiron

• Do you remember the 70s when everyone was getting a perm, even the guys? Wanting to be a fashionable 20-something and hating my spaghetti-straight hair, I got what was called a stacked, or disco perm, where the hair on the crown of your head is straight and the hair all around it is permed so you have an explosion of frizzy hair framing your whole face. At the time I thought I looked pretty good, but looking back, well. Anyway, it’s no more perms for me.

Lori Breen

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