To rally the troops, former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton gathered on stage at a fundraiser with President Joseph Biden in some kind of show of unity. The purpose of this strange theater was not entirely clear to me (beyond raising $26M) but this much stood out. They had all agreed in advance not to wear ties.
So there they stood on stage, basking in applause, all three in dark blue, single-breasted, two-button suits, with open-collar white shirts.
Why were they not wearing ties? Probably some fool consultant told them that this makes them more relatable or something. Maybe someone also said it makes them look young.
Actually, it just made them all look like they had not completed the task of getting dressed.
Everyone once knew that the older a man becomes, the more dressed up he should be. It’s the way to preserve dignity. The retired-in-Florida look with shorts, sneakers, and golf shirts is nothing but a humiliation to the wearer and everyone around him.
Regardless, that outfit is otherwise made to go with a tie. The tie provides the visual center, the artistic core. Otherwise nothing about the suit and shirt makes any sense. It’s like making chicken marsala and forgetting the chicken or listening to Beethoven’s violin concerto without the violin.
The missing part messes up the rest. The end result is just embarrassing.
I’m more than aware of the attacks on the tie over the decades. They are said to be stodgy, stuffy, uncomfortable, pretentious, ostentatious, and phony. None of these claims have eaten away at underlying reality, which is that a man without a tie is simply not dressed up. He is not, in any sense, truly presentable in any dignified public setting. Culturally, we give it a pass but it is not respectable.
I will preach again my constant refrain: dressing well is not about you; it’s about what you are saying about the occasion, the venue, and others there. Do you want to show respect or show disrespect? That’s the issue. The gathered president and former presidents simply showed childish disrespect for the people at the occasion.
Of course they didn’t know this or intend this. Again, they merely received bad advice. That is unbearably common in elite circles today, in which actual knowledge of fashion and fit is evaporated. Hollywood even lacks personnel who know how to dress people for period dramas. Red-carpet events are nothing but a parade of faux pas and bad fittings. There has been a tremendous depletion of actual knowledge within elite ranks.
So let’s get a refresher on the history of the tie. It was not part of the agricultural or manual worker culture. Historically it has been a marker of social ascendance, a signifier that a person was either of the leisure class or engaged in some professional pursuit that valued mind over muscle.
A tie puts the visual center of the human body at the life functioning part, the heart, and points upwards to the face and brain. That’s the symbolism. In terms of aesthetic appeal, it is the focal place for color and design while the suit and shirt serve as the template and canvas.
As more and more men moved into the professional business realm starting in the late 19th century and into the 20th century, the tie became a common man’s attire and then a market of democratic equality. Every man could now dress like the aristocracy of old. That’s why it became such an important part of what it looked like to be an American male.
You can look at images of bread lines in the Great Depression and see that no presentable man in those days would be without a tie and suit.
In the old days, every school and club had a tie marking some association. The “rep tie” would typically be one of a repeated (rep) stripes of various colors, first associated with the British House of Commons but later picked up by prep schools and clubs of all sorts. That pattern is relatively casual as compared with other patterned ties such as checks and paisleys and so on.
Whatever your choice of design—excluding cartoon characters—any tie is better than no tie at a professional event. Wearing a tie does not mean it is a “formal” occasion. Formal wear is a specific thing, black tie and dinner jacket or white tie and tailout for men. A suit and tie is called professional wear for men. Nothing else is. Indeed, the “sport coat” and trousers, even with a tie, is casual wear. Only a suit and tie qualifies as professional.
Yes, there are many varieties of ties and widths come and go with the decades. The 1970s saw the advent of the oversized wide tie, which produced the reaction in the form of the 1980s skinny tie. Mostly we are beyond those excesses today and the usual tie you get at the store is a normal medium width.
There is the bow tie of course, which I’ve worn since I was young but I’m not recommending that to men overall. It suggests eccentricity. Why do I wear it? I guess I’m just stuck with it and there’s not much else to say. As for cravats, don’t even think about it unless you are a Victorian-era reenactor.
If the cost of a silk tie (the only kind you should get while making a rare exception for wool and cotton) bothers you ($75 and up!), there is a solution. The next time you pass by a Goodwill, hop in and have a look around. You will very likely find some excellent looking ties for a few bucks. Might as well get a few.
Let’s address the big problem these days. Men say that they don’t want their collars tight and that neckties are uncomfortable. Very likely it’s because of the extra weight that many people put on during lockdowns. There are solutions, including fasting and simply buying a bigger shirt. The band of the shirt should not be so loose that there is visible space but you should also be able to stick two fingers comfortably in there.
As for the general subject of comfort, sure, sweats and house shoes are the most comfortable clothing but that is not the standard, contrary to Mark Zuckerberg and John Fetterman. These men are grown children and their very public appearance is a deep insult to their status and professions.
The effect of tie-wearing approaches sheer magic. These days, if you wear a tie, you are automatically seen as honoring the others present and the occasion, even without trying. Why would anyone pass that up? It doesn’t have to look like a uniform. It can look as if you are showing respect for others. That’s reason enough.
Plus, you should ask yourself. Do you really want to dress like Obama, Clinton, and Biden?
