1) I am not convinced of the quality of my first source, but here goes. There is a website devoted to the selling of neckwear that includes a section on the history of men's ties, which I have excerpted below. The relevant page can be accessed at:
http://www.ties.net/history.htm
2) as to the reasons for ties, I would love to include some of my anthro colleagues in this discussion, since it seems to me that personal adornment is such a common human passion and men in the industrialized west have so little opportunity to indulge in it.
But the evolutionary psych folks out there could probably contribute a lot, too. Did anyone mention display behavior and its relevance in attracting prospective mates?
I did locate one article [Townsend & Levy, 1990. Effects of potential partners' costume and physical attractivenesss on sexuality and partner selection. Journal of Psychology, 124, 371-389] which found that "costume status significantly influenced women's ratings of attractiveness. Costume status also had greater effects on female than on male Ss' willingness to enter.... relationships."
Anecdotally, I know several male friends from grad school who typically dressed as grad students do (jeans, sweatshirts) and were amazed to find that they were suddenly being "hit on" by women (and men) at conferences, or even at the mall, when they wore a suit and tie. Of course, in the case of suits and ties you have emblems of power and authority in addition to brightly colored display (and perhaps an increase in self-confidence due to comparison with the less gaudily arrayed males!)...
The Freudian explanations hardly bear going into (puns intended), but it seems to me that the advertising industry has bought the notion that ties are phallic symbols. This observation is based simply on the preponderance of images of scantily clad women in high heels (there's another topic for discussion!) pulling men by the tie into a passionate embrace... This might also be a partial explanation for the grievous insult supposedly inflicted by a man grabbing another man by the cravat! (info available on website mentioned above)
OK, way too much of a response to an innocent question, I know.
Esther
HISTORY OF NECKWEAR
by Alan Flusser
The history of neckties dates back a mere hundred years or so, for they came into existence as the direct result of a war. In 1660, in celebration of its hard-fought victory over Turkey, a crack regiment from Croatia (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire), visited Paris. There, the soldiers were presented as glorious heroes to Louis XIV, a monarch well known for his eye toward personal adornment. It so happened that the officers of this regiment were wearing brightly colored handkerchiefs fashioned of silk around their necks. These neck cloths, which probably descended from the Roman fascalia worn by orators to warm the vocal chords, struck the fancy of the king, and he soon made them an insignia of royalty as he created a regiment of Royal Cravattes. The word "cravat," incidentally, is derived from the word "Croat."
It wasn't long before this new style crossed the channel to England. Soon no gentleman would have considered himself well-dressed without sporting some sort of cloth around his neck--the more decorative, the better. At times, cravats were worn so high that a man could not move his head without turning his whole body. There were even reports of cravats worn so thick that they stopped sword thrusts. The various styles knew no bounds, as cravats of tasseled strings, plaid scarves, tufts and bows of ribbon, lace, and embroidered linen all had their staunch adherents. Nearly one hundred different knots were recognized, and as a certain M. Le Blanc, who instructed men in the fine and sometimes complex art of tying a tie, noted, "The grossest insult that can be offered to a man comme il faut is to seize him by the cravat; in this place blood only can wash out the stain upon the honor of either party."
In this country, ties were also an integral part of a man's wardrobe. However, until the time of the Civil War, most ties were imported from the Continent. Gradually, though, the industry gained ground, to the point that at the beginning of the twentieth century, American neckwear finally began to rival that of Europe, despite the fact that European fabrics were still being heavily imported.
In the 1960s, in the midst of the Peacock Revolution, there was a definite lapse in the inclination of men to wear ties, as a result of the rebellion against both tradition and the formality of dress. But by the mid-1970s, this trend had reversed itself to the point where now, in the 1990s, the sale of neckwear is probably as strong if not stronger than it has ever been.
How to account for the continued popularity of neckties? For years, fashion historians and sociologists predicted their demise--the one element of a man's attire with no obvious function. Perhaps they are merely part of an inherited tradition. As long as world and business leaders continue to wear ties, the young executives will follow suit and ties will remain a key to the boardroom. On the other hand, there does seem to be some aesthetic value in wearing a tie. In addition to covering the buttons of the shirt and giving emphasis to the verticality of a man's body (in much the same way that the buttons on a military uniform do), it adds a sense of luxury and richness, color and texture, to the austerity of the dress shirt and business suit.
At 08:00 AM 10/25/00 -0500, G. Marc Turner wrote:
At 11:11 PM 10/24/2000 -0400, Stephen Black wrote:
>Brief fashion observation: personally, I can't think of anything
>sillier than a male wearing a ribbon tightly around his neck
>which hangs down to his waist.
I have to agree with Stephen on this one. I've never fully understood the
whole tie thing. Does anyone know where the idea of wearing a noose around
your neck being considered a good idea came from? I've often wondered about
this and some of the implications that it might make, like "Males look
better when they have something tied tightly around their neck." To me
this is slightly disturbing...
Class exercise for someone: How would different schools of thought in
psychology (behaviorism, evolutionary, Freudian, etc.) explain tie wearing?
- Marc
G. Marc Turner, MEd
Lecturer & Head of Computer Operations
Department of Psychology
Southwest Texas State University
San Marcos, TX 78666
phone: (512)245-2526
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Esther Yoder Strahan, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Heidelberg College
310 East Market Street
Tiffin, OH 44883-2462
(419) 448-2238
fax (419) 448-2236
