Since its origin, the tie has been one of the quintessential masculine garments, and although nowadays it seems to be used less, it is still an essential garment if you want to have what is called a good presence in the world of work and at the time of day to maintain social relations that require an aspect of seriousness and distinction.
The tie seems to be knotted and that’s it, it seems that everyone wears their tie knotted in the same way and what changes are the colors or the design that is drawn. And of course, what has been discussed the most over the years in fashion magazines and television and radio programs has been the width: medium and above the belt in the forties, elongating since then until covering the belt and narrow in the sixties, very wide in the seventies, reducing in the following decades until reaching the current moderate narrowness, although at the same time it coexists with wider ties.
Apart from the one turn knot, you will surely have heard of the Windsor knot, but you will surely be unaware that the list of tie knots is actually much longer, and that it is a whole world, from some very complex to others of striking elegance. So that you know how to tie more than one type of knot and you can even surprise your friends and co-workers, we show you how to tie a variety of tie knots without dying trying.
Overhand knot
Stand in front of a mirror where you can see your entire torso. Turn up your shirt collar, buttoned fully or with the collar button not buttoned. Put the tie around the collar of the shirt, which you will then fold over the tie. The widest part should rest on your chest on the side of the hand that you use the most: if you are right-handed, on the right side, and if you are left-handed, on the left. This widest part should be twice as long as the strip on your left.
Grasp the narrowest strip of the tie with your fingers – let’s assume the left one, because you’re right-handed – looking for a raised and diagonal seam. Cross the wide strip of the tie over the seam, from your right to the left, forming an X on the chest, leaving the narrower strip below the wide one.
Pass that wide part, which is on the narrow one, forming the X on the bib when crossing it, below it, the narrow one. Now take the wide part that is already on your right side and taking it to the left, you wrap the narrow side again and take the end inside the collar that now forms the tie around your neck, pulling it up. Introduce, -in a downward direction at this moment- the tip inside the knot that it has formed with itself, so that the front part of the tie is the one that is visible.
With one hand grab the end of that wide strap of the tie, pulling it towards your waist, while you hold the knot with the other hand, pulling it towards your neck gently, to tighten it and place it, in order to that the tie looks straight and with the length that you prefer in relation to the belt. This way it will be as elegant as possible.
The overhand knot tends to be somewhat asymmetrical, but this is something that is not visually disturbing. It is a knot that favors men with short necks, because it is a knot that does not seem very thick and gives the appearance of having a thin neck.
Full Windsor knot
The Windsor knot is known for being one of the most elegant and serious and was popularized by the British Duke of Windsor in the thirties of the last century, and it has variants, since you can do the half and full or traditional windsor. It is a slightly more difficult knot to make than the simple knot, and it works better with wide-necked shirts. For the latter, you have to do the following:
As with any other knot, place the tie around your raised shirt collar. The widest side on your right -if you are right-handed- and the narrowest on the left side of your chest. The right strip of the tie should be about three times longer than the left, since we are going to do several turns.
Now cross the wide strip over to the left, as with any beginning tie knot. You tuck it under the neck that forms the necktie, up, and then pass it down the outside of the neck, so that the wide side hangs again, but to the left of the narrow one. Take that wide side and pass it back over the left side of the tie and turning around behind the knot you raise it and insert it between the neck of the tie and your own neck, downwards. Then take that wide part and go around the knot of the tie, bringing the point to the left and up under the neck of the tie, towards your chin and tucking the point inside the knot, just behind the fabric part. front, pulling the tip down.
Squeeze the knot with your thumb, index and middle fingers, and then, while holding the knot, pull the narrow strip down so that it sits securely. You can loosen it a bit if you want to wear it in a more casual way, but the best thing to do is to wear this tight knot around the neck of the shirt, without showing the button closing the neck.
Other knots
There are other more or less showy and complex or simple knots, among which the Eldridge knot stands out, which shows the knot as a mosaic of strips from the tie itself and is quite a complicated knot to tie; or the Pratt knot, the Trinity, similar to the Eldridge, but forming only three bands in the knot; Prince Albert, Ellie, and dozens more, some of them very original, eye-catching or artistic, although they don’t look too much, but they show that the tie knot does have possibilities of being unconventional without ceasing to be that, a tie knot to accompany a suit.