The Skinny Tie Isn’t Over Just Because J.Crew Says It Is

Let's get some things straight about the latest neckwear debate.

In the way Mad Men chronicled the changing social tides of 1960's America, so too did the show track menswear's evolution from staid classic suiting to more colorful fare. Suddenly, every man wasn't wearing a gray or navy suit. The hair got longer. The lapels got wider—and with that, the ties. Even the show's protagonist, Don Draper, eventually traded in his skinny neckwear for some healthier options.

In the real world, ties continued to fatten up into the 70's in the form of flashy pizza slide-widths, and remained wide into the 80's, when a man's tie became the ultimate signifier of power and status for an entire generation of banker bros. Not a whole lot changed in the '90s until the decade's end, when a particular slimmer, skinnier, sliver of a tie came into fashion championed by the likes of Hedi Slimane at Dior Homme. Pretty soon, early-Don Draper-inspired neckwear was just about anywhere, from Topman to Lanvin.

It's clear that the ebb and flow of tie widths being "in" and "out" is common in the world of menswear—and has been for a long time. Right now, the pendulum appears to be swinging back towards neckwear of a slightly wider variety. J.Crew, a store that's in many ways a standard-bearer for big ticket tailoring trends, announced in their recent catalog that they would be adding a whole quarter-inch to their ties, upgrading from 2.5 inches to 2.75, which lead to Yahoo! asking "Did J.Crew just decide the skinny tie is dead?" Gasps!

To make skinny tie lovers even more anxious, a look at the runways of some of the world's most influential menswear designers reveals that it's not just ties that are getting wider, lapels are too. But here's the thing: Tie widths alone can't make or break or break your look because they don't exist in a vacuum. In other words, a man's tie is only as good as his shirt and the lapel on his suit jacket, and how all three work in harmony with each other. Most importantly, these three elements must all work with the guy wearing them. (The simple truth is that a small guy in a 3 inch tie and fat lapels is just going to look out of proportion.)

But the general rules are quite straightforward. Skinny ties require a smaller shirt collar and a narrow lapel. Wider options afford a larger collar and a more substantial lapel. Just look at our good friend Tom Ford, whose been on the wide tie train since, well, pretty much forever. If there is any steadfast rule to live by in the tie width world, it's this: Never, ever let your tie width exceed the width of your lapel. (It's the equivalent of a menswear felony.)

Back in the days of the real 1960s Mad Men, the only real reason guys wore slim or wide ties wasn't by choice—they were simply what stores were selling at that time. But today, we've got options, and there are ways to look good in all of them. Hell, even Jon Hamm, Mr. Don Draper himself, has been known to go skinny or wide depending on what he's wearing.

Up Next: How to Tie the Perfect Tie

MORE STORIES LIKE THIS ONE

http://ift.tt/2eRryqh

Best Product Soap
Defense Soap Bar 4 Oz (5 Pack) All Natural Antibacterial Antifungal Therapeutic

Kirk's Original Coco Castile Bar Soap, 4 Oz, 3 Count

Raw African BLACK SOAP Organic From GHANA Pure Premium Quality CHOOSE

Dial White Antibacterial Deodorant Soap, 4 Oz, 10 Count