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One of the most ubiquitous items of clothing in formal and business attire are neckties. Yet a cursory check of paintings from several centuries ago shows that neckties have not been around forever. They are in fact, a relatively recent invention. Over the last century, neckwear has both defined fashion and changed with the times. Learn more about neckties, how they developed, and why they exist in the first place on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Most of you are familiar with neckties. Most men listening to this own at least one. Some of you wear one every day, and some of you might only wear them for weddings and funerals. But neckties are very odd if you think about it. They serve no functional purpose. They don't hold anything up, and they don't close anything off. Unlike jewelry, which also mostly doesn't serve any practical purpose, it at least can serve as a display of wealth. A tie, however, is just a piece of cloth. Even if it's a nice piece of cloth, say silk, it's still just a piece of cloth. Yet neckwear, usually worn by men, is considered mandatory at certain events and in certain industries. A suit and tie are considered the uniform for professionals, and black tie events are considered the peak of formality. So how did we get to this point where putting something around our neck meant so much? Well, the idea of wearing something around your neck actually goes back a long way. The earliest known examples of neckwear appear on the terracotta soldiers of China's first emperor, dating to around 210 BC, making neckwear far older than most people assume. The Roman focala was a practical and surprisingly important piece of clothing in the daily life of Roman soldiers, and it stands as one of the clearest ancient ancestors of the modern necktie or scarf. The phokala was a long strip of cloth, usually wool or sometimes linen, worn around the neck by legionnaires to protect the skin from chafing caused by armor. It was basically a scarf. This was especially helpful when wearing the armor known as lorica segmentata, whose rigid metal plates and straps could rub painfully against the neck during marching or combat in cold climates. The phala also provided warmth, adding a layer of insulation beneath the armor. The fakala was not purely practical, however. Evidence from Roman art and literature indicates that it also held a modest symbolic or decorative function. Some depictions show soldiers with neatly tied ficalla in various colors, suggesting that the style and presentation played some sort of role, particularly for officers or parade ground appearances. Roman authors mention the focala in a way that implies that it could be a gift or a personal item, not merely a standard issue piece of equipment. Despite the phokala having some sort of ornamental value, it, like most neck coverings, was used pragmatically. The modern origins of the necktie can be traced to the 17th century. During the Thirty Years War, Croatian mercenaries serving in the French army wore distinctive knotted neckerchiefs as part of their traditional attire. These scarves caught the attention of Parisian society, particularly King Louis xiv, who was known for his extravagant fashion sense. The French called these accessories cravats, derived from Croat, the French word for Croatian. By the 1660s, the cravat had become an essential element of aristocratic dress in France and quickly spread throughout Europe. The original cravats were large pieces of linen or muslin, often edged with lace, that were wrapped around the neck and tied in various elaborate knots. Wearing a cravat became an art form among European nobility, with different styles signifying rank, regiment, or simply personal taste. Some men employed servants specifically trained in the complex task of tying these neckpieces. The cravat remained the dominant form of neckwear throughout the late 17th and 18th centuries, evolving in size and styling but maintaining its essential character as a wrapped and knotted cloth. The 19th century witnessed significant evolution in neckwear design and function. The Industrial Revolution brought new manufacturing techniques and materials, while changing social structures created new demands for men's fashion. The stock, a stiffened band of fabric that buckled at the back, became popular in the early 1800s, particularly among military officers and formal dressers. Stocks are still used today in the world of traditional equestrian attire, particularly in fox hunting and dressage. The rigid style of the stock gradually gave way to more flexible alternatives. Around the 1850s, the necktie began to assume forms that were more recognizable to modern eyes. The four in Hand tie emerged, named after the Four in Hand Carriage Company in London, whose drivers supposedly popularized this simpler knot. This style featured a long piece of fabric tied with a relatively straightforward knot, allowing for quicker dressing than elaborate cravats of previous generations. The ascot tie, a more formal variation with broad wings, also gained prominence during the Victorian era and was typically secured with a decorative pin. The late 19th century saw the popularization of the bow tie as a distinct category of neckwear. Although bow shaped arrangements of fabric had existed earlier, the bow tie offered a neat, symmetrical appearance that appealed to those seeking a more contained aesthetic. It became particularly associated with formal evening wear and certain professions, including academics and physicians. And just as an aside, every official presidential portrait, starting with George Washington, has some sort of neckwear, except Andrew Jackson, who was just wearing a very high collar. What the presidents are wearing differed greatly over time, with many of the early pre Civil War presidents wearing stock ties. The modern necktie as we know it today emerged in the early 20th century. In 1924, New York tie maker Jesse Langsdorff revolutionized tie construction by patenting a method of cutting fabric at a Ford 45 degree angle to the weave and sewing it in three segments. This technique allowed ties to hang properly without twisting, maintaining their shape better and allowing them to drape more naturally against the shirt. Langsdorff invention became the industry standard and remains the fundamental construction method for quality neckties today. The 1920s and 30s saw neckties become shorter and wider, reflecting the broader, more relaxed silhouettes of men's fashion. During this period, ties became increasingly important as markers of personality and style, with patterns, colors and materials offering men one of the few opportunities for self expression within the relatively conservative constraints of masculine dress codes. Art deco patterns, bold geometric shapes and vivid colors characterized the ties of this era, although you'd hardly know it if you only saw images of the period in black and white. During World War II, fabric rationing affected tie production, leading to narrower, shorter ties made from whatever materials were available. The post war period saw an explosion of variety in necktie design. The late 40s and 50s brought wider ties back into fashion, often featuring bold patterns, tropical scenes or abstract designs that reflected the optimistic, consumer driven culture of the era. The bold look promoted by the likes of Esquire magazine encouraged men to express themselves through colorful eye catching ties. Around this time, a new form of neckwear developed in the American Southwest, the bolo tie. Its exact origin is contested and several people have claimed to be the inventor. One popular claim comes from Victor Cedarstaff of Wickenburg, Arizona, who said that in the late 1940s the wind blew off his hat band and he caught it, slipped it around his neck and fashioned it with a decorative slide, inspiring him to patent a similar design in 1954. At the same time, Native American silversmiths in New Mexico and Arizona were producing new, nearly identical neck ornaments using braided leather cords and ornate silver slides, suggesting that the style rose organically within Southwestern culture rather than from a single inventor. In 1971, Arizona declared the bolo tie the state's official neckwear, followed by New Mexico in 1987 and Texas in 2007, giving the Bolo tie a formal status that no other region had ever granted to a neck accessory. The 1960s introduced the skinny tie, a narrow style that complemented the slim fitting suits favored by modernist designers and embraced by youth culture. The narrower silhouette reflected the era's emphasis on streamlined contemporary aesthetics. Meanwhile, the counterculture movement of the late 60s and early 70s began to question the necktie's dominance altogether, viewing it as a symbol of conformity and corporate constraint. It was something that you were made to wear by the man, the 1970s saw perhaps the most dramatic variation in necktie styles, with widths ranging from very narrow to extraordinarily wide, with some ties of this decade measuring 6 inches across at their widest point. Kipper ties, as these extremely wide varieties were often called, featured psychedelic patterns, bold stripes or oversized polka dots. The 1980s brought a return to more traditional styling, though with distinct characteristics of this era. Power dressing emphasized bold, confident appearances, and ties became wider again, often featuring strong diagonal stripes, geometric patterns or designer logos. The necktie during this period became explicitly associated with corporate success and professional ambition. Designer labels became prominently important, with ties from makers like Hermes, Armani and Ralph Lauren serving as status symbols. This was the era when the tie truly became associated with the power suit and corporate culture. Just think of the fashion from the movie American Psycho. Neckties, at least a proper one, can't just be worn. They need to be tied. And learning how to tie a tie is a rite of passage. And there isn't just a single way to tie a tie. There are several different knots, and which knot you use is a matter of preference. The four in hand is the simplest and most widely used, producing a slightly asymmetrical, compact knot that works with most collars and fabrics. Its ease of tying made it the everyday knot of the 19th and 20th centuries. The half Windsor developed as a compromise between simplicity and symmetry, forming a medium sized triangular knot that looks cleaner and more balanced than the four in hand while still being relatively quick to tie. The Full Windsor, which is often associated with formality and confidence, creates a large, perfectly symmetrical knot with a broad triangular shape, ideal for spread or cutaway collars. Although commonly linked to the Duke of Windsor, the knot actually predated him. The Prince Albert knot is a long, cylindrical necktie knot created by wrapping the wide end around the narrow end twice before pulling it through, producing a slightly elongated, layered look. And it's often favored for its distinctive vertical shape. These are the most common knots, but they're most certainly not the only ones. The Pratt knot, also known as the Shelby knot, appeared in the late 20th century and sits between the four in hand and the Half Windsor in size and symmetry. Symmetry. It starts with the tie inside out and produces a neat, medium sized, evenly balanced knot suited for most shirts in more formal or specialized settings. Other knots occasionally appear, such as the Kelvin, a slightly bulkier, more symmetrical variation of the four in hand in Prince Albert, which wraps the narrow end around the front twice before tucking, resulting in a long cylindrical knot favored by some for its distinctive vertical look. Surprisingly, there's really only one standard bow tie knot, often simply called the bow knot or shoelace knot because it's tied almost exactly like a shoelace. This knot can vary slightly in tightness, shape or proportion depending on the bowtie's style, but the fundamental knot remains the same. Neckties are so common and ubiquitous that you may never have even given them a second thought at any point in your life. Yet the reason that they're even a thing today is because a bunch of 17th century French aristocrats were trying to copy the style of Croatian mercenaries.