How do you knot your tie?

[Rushman2112]

I always used a Windsor knot as that was what my stepfather taught me. Then as I got older and gained a fat neck(!) I found it harder and harder to get a tie long enough to do it successfully, which was when I discovered the Pratt knot.

I exclusively have cut away collars so I need quite a wide knot and the Pratt fits the bill, plus it's quick.

That said I have just re-tied today's into a Windsor and after three attempts to get the length right, it looks OK!

 

[marvin100]

most ties can be tied in a full windsor if you simply make the knot tight enough.

Oof! What you say may be true, but that's a good way to shorten the lifespan of a nice silk tie, amigo!

 

[Lexbomb]

Double windsor, my father taught me and I remember at school all the other kids asking if I could tie theirs like that because it looks better haha.

 

[D.Gray]

I tie a four in hand with extra long silk ties as I am too tall and rotund to tie a half windsor or full windsor and get the length correct.

Dave

 

[gaelic841]

Most often the 4 in hand.

 

[Rossmeister]

The windsor knots usually don't work for me, as I am a quite short, young man. However, I don't like the unsymmetrical four-in-hand, a knot I see all too often on bankers and politicians. I have become very fond of the Pratt knot, which is impressively symmetrical and it has an impressive form despite being smaller than a Windsor.

Try it out!

 

[Kazeryu]

Every time I see someone wearing a slipknot (oops, I mean "four-in-hand") it makes me cringe.
(Yes, I know that 4ih has one more loop than a slipknot, but if you pull it tight like most people do no-one can tell the difference even from kissing distance. )

To be fair, however, I rarely remember a particular knot and just fiddle with it until I get something reasonably presentable... often a half-windsor or shelby/pratt, but I'll go for a full-windsor if I have enough time to play. (Had to look them up on wikipedia to check my names)

 

[Doc4]

My collars generally look awful with things like a Windsor as the resultant knot looks too large and out of place. The four-in-hand lends itself to the double round collar which I often wear (detachable) or with my club collar (attached version of the double round). They work best with very small knots as they traditionally did in Victorian and Edwardian times and the four-in-hand allows this for me.

Of course, this is the other side of the coin ... making sure your knot 'fits' the overall appearance (both collar and face shape)

Oof! What you say may be true, but that's a good way to shorten the lifespan of a nice silk tie, amigo!

... but then you get to buy more!! Tie AD, here I come ...

 

[Agent8426]

I wear a full Windsor with spread collars and a 1/2 windsor with point and button down collars.

 

[Old AF SP]

Full Windsor for me now. When I was on the road as a LEO, always a clip-on (required when wearing long sleeves). The look on the bad guys face when he grabs your tie and it comes off in his hand when he thinks he has the advantage is priceless. LOL

 

[PrimarchBentley]

Full Windsor for me. It's what I learned growing up with, going to church every Sunday in a suit once I turned 10. I didn't even know about 4 in hand until my brief tenure at Arthur Anderson in the IT Dept. when I was 19. "Casual Friday" was still a fairly new concept, and while it was the Windsor during the rest of the week (crawling around under desks in a suit - I don't miss those days at all...), the guys in IT wore our asymmetric 4 in hands as a kind of geeky status symbol on Fridays.

My brother gives me grief about wearing an "old man knot." "Better than the sloppiness around yours" is usually my response (he usually goes with a 4 in hand that's pulled far too tight).

 

[gurana]

My dad had a thing about half windsor knots... [edit: he detested anything but the full windsor, and refused to teach me anything else.] It wasn't until well after college that I bothered to even look up alternate ways to tie a tie. But, because I'm my father's son, and I've been doing it for 18+ years or so, I found the half-windsor distasteful and difficult to pull off correctly. (Come to think of it, it might have been the 4 in hand I was doing... In any case, I didn't like it and couldn't do it well right away, so I gave up.)

A little bit later I learned about another knot called (I believe) a Shelbie (?). I haven't read this whole thread yet, but I'd be surprised if someone else hasn't mentioned it already. I found it easy to do, a bit lighter/quicker than a windsor, and more or less symmetrical. the upshot is that it's a little less formal in appearance than a windsor, but not slovenly like the 4 in hand.

 

[justinp]

My dad had a thing about half windsor knots... [edit: he detested anything but the full windsor, and refused to teach me anything else.] It wasn't until well after college that I bothered to even look up alternate ways to tie a tie. But, because I'm my father's son, and I've been doing it for 18+ years or so, I found the half-windsor distasteful and difficult to pull off correctly. (Come to think of it, it might have been the 4 in hand I was doing... In any case, I didn't like it and couldn't do it well right away, so I gave up.)

A little bit later I learned about another knot called (I believe) a Shelbie (?). I haven't read this whole thread yet, but I'd be surprised if someone else hasn't mentioned it already. I found it easy to do, a bit lighter/quicker than a windsor, and more or less symmetrical. the upshot is that it's a little less formal in appearance than a windsor, but not slovenly like the 4 in hand.

Slovenly? Seriously? Please.

 

[MichaeltheRomanHistorian]

Of course, this is the other side of the coin ... making sure your knot 'fits' the overall appearance (both collar and face shape)

Indeed so, Doc4! I think a lot of people forget that and it's interesting how each person's perception of knots can shift. Some find the Windsor overdone and too stuffy. Others find the four-in-hand too 'slovenly'. Yet, it's more important that the knot fit in with the collar and one's face otherwise it all looks 'off' to me. To me, slovenliness is really shown when someone hasn't take the care to make sure the knot complements the collar and one's face.

At the end of the day though, I respect anyone still wearing ties in this day and age (note, not a moral judgement). I just always like to see that tie since it's often a nice little 'shock of colour' in a world which is a bit bland. Now, do any of you chaps 'rock' a bow tie? I've always thought about it...

 

[Xslim]

I used to use the four in hand but then I learned to do a half windsor. I like the windsor much better because it gives me a more square knot. The four in hand tends to make a lopsided knot.

 

[The Knize]

"Slovenly"! Exactly! Inherently absolutely impossible to make symetrical. That is why I have been wearing 4-n-H lately, even with collars that are getting more toward spread. Adds a devil may care nuance to an otherwise more formal suit. Also, absolutely traditional and absolutely proper, at least with anything other than a spread collar. Not sure why, but I have not been wearing spreads collars much lately.

Nor have I been wearing button down colars much. I would consider the 4-n-H perfect for button down collars which themselves may be a bit informal for a real business suit. Button down collars also absolutely traditional and proper in the Northeast, though. Straight out of the Ivies/prep school/J Press/vintage Brooks Bros.

I thnk the Prat-Shelby is generally the best looking knot and the one I use when I am not being "cheeky" with the 4-n-H, or wearing a true spread collar--although I think the Pratt-s works with a spread or cutaway collar. The half Windsor is also inherently asymetrical and the Pratt-S just seems better to me in that knot size. A full Windsor--is that the same as a double Windsor?--to me most of the time seems too large overall, uses up too much tie material, and in particular is too wide at the top of the knot and very pointy below. But I understand why folks like then. Utterly symetical, a little formal (what's not to like!), and makes a good dimple almost automatically.

You know that the Duke of Windsor never used a Windsor knot, ever. I assume he used a 4-n-H. He did have his ties custom made especially thick because he did like a large knot. This is what I read anyway. I did not know him personally!

By the way, in the States, always a dimple for me. I am very strict on that! Some folks feel strongly that no dimple is a sign of not knowing how to dress. And I do not take a strong position on much re attire, and I hope nothing that is too arrogant, but I feel preety much the same way. To me, a tie is just supposed to have a dimple. If it does not, it has been tied "incorrectly." Sorry if that seems pedantic.

Also, I agree that a tie, a silk tie anyway, should generally be lively, not dull. It should add at least a little bit of flash/color/some kind of interest to the overall "outfit." A wool or knit tie with, say, a wool sports coat, is different. It can be very subdued.

I never rock a bow tie. Too attention getting, for some reason seems a little pretentious, and unless you want to remind folks of the well-know individuals that were them--and you may . . . .

I think a professor or a physician can easily wear bow ties. (A professor because it seems more common and traditional among them. For physicians, too, and there is keeping you tie from dragging across unsavory things, contaminating patients, or just getting in the way. There must be other professions for which a bow tie works. (Song and dance man? Barbershop quartet singer? Lathe operator? Trombone player?)

Only bow ties with a tux, of course. Always hand-tied, never pre-tied, if I can remember how to do it in time to get to the particular functon, which I am not always able to do!

But, yeah, I love the idea of a "slovenly" tie knot! Cheeky is good!

 

[gurana]

Slovenly? Seriously? Please.

... no. not seriously.

 

[Alraz]

Anything other than a double Windsor....?

Al raz.

 

[josh_k]

Mostly I wear a half Windsor. Sometimes if the occasion is special I pull out the full Windsor. I like wearing it for things like class presentations. Feeling that extra bulk at my throat somehow gives me a bit of extra confidence. It's probably ridiculous, but it works.

Dimple of course. Always make sure to allow time to get it right.

 

[justinp]

Would you wear a stuffed ferret around your neck?
No?
Well a necktie is about as useful.

Having said that, on the rare occasions that I'm forced to wear one, due to societies bizarre attachment to ridiculous traditions, I prefer a Pratt knot. Mainly because I can never seem to get a Windsor to look symmetrical.

*Blushes, puts stuffed ferret away*