I’ve found myself to be fascinated with tying knots in general and recently that’s spilled over into the fashion of tying a necktie. There’s three extremely common methods of tying a necktie that I’m aware of: the four in hand method, half windsor and double windsor methods.
Each method presents it’s own unique set of pros and cons. The pros for the half windsor and double windsor are obvious. The windsor knots make a symmetric and handsome full knot. There are drawbacks though, the windsor methods both use much more material than the simpler four in hand method. If you’re a tall man such as myself, I’m 6-5, it’s very hard to create the proper length without making a mess. The Windsor knots also “hide” if you will against tighter collared shirts that are quite common.
Getting to the four in hand method that Ashley describes in his book, it also has it’s pros and cons. The pros being it’s simple to tie, it’s the same structure as the Buntline Hitch! It also looks nice on the tight collared shirts that tend to hide the bulkier Windsor knots. The detractors point to it’s assymetric look, but that’s in the eye of the beholder. My job doesn’t require me to wear a necktie everyday like millions of people around the world but I still find myself tying ties and fiddling with each method. The dimple under the knot has now become a fashion statement as well…I just thought this is an interesting topic since it’s a knot that people tie in their everyday lives.
What do you folks prefer and what other methods of tying a tie are out there. I’m almost forced to use the four in hand method because of my height. It doesn’t use nearly the material and it allows me to dress the tie a little better.
Oops! After further study, it turns out I’ve been tying this knot all my life:
Li Co Li Ro Li Co T
It’s #10 in the book “The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie.” This knot is for when you want an easy asymmetrical necktie that’s the size of a Half-Windsor. (The Half-Windsor and Windsor are symmetric.)
By the way, that notation is an awesome way to describe necktie knots, and is easier than watching a video or diagrams. In fact, that notation is how I learned the Windsor. See here:
Lack of a proper necktie could be the reason for me NOT getting certain jobs or not impressing a date, or whatever. Thus, a necktie knot is both decorative and practical ($).
According to the book “85 Ways”, there are four different variations of the Windsor. Two are self-releasing. So, the other two are not a consideration for me. I strongly prefer a necktie knot to come completely undone when I take the small end out. The two Windsors that are self-releasing can be described as follows:
Li Co Ri Lo Ci Ro Li Co T
Li Co Li Ro Ci Ro Li Co T
Which is preferable? I like the second one. It’s a bit easier to make wider at the collar if that is so desired.
The Eldridge Knot looks complicated and goofy with no proper place to tuck the working end…not a big fan of that look. If going with a wide collared shirt which is popular today, there’s really no better look than the Double Windsor. It fills in the wide gap better than probably any tie knot I’m aware of. Having said that, good looking alternatives for a wide collared shirt are the Half Windsor, Pratt, and St. Andrews. At 6-5, I have a difficult time using the Double Windsor because it eats up so much material, so tall people like myself should just use the Half Windsor or even the Nicky Knot.
Narrower collared shirts call for the Four in Hand because of it’s slimmer build. Another good looking knot I like for narrower collared shirts is the Nicky Knot. The Nicky Knot is kind of a tweener if you will, it can work for a wide collared shirt or narrow collared shirt if manipulated correctly.
Among the simplest ways should be to knot it to a 4 in hand knot. Many first-timers to the fine art of tying a necktie rely on the simplicity of this technique while figuring out to knot a neck tie. Basically go through the basic suggestions presented in this article.
? Position the neck tie round the neck with the thin part in the left side and broader part on the right side.
? Take the wide part of your neck tie so the part of the tie is placed no less than just one foot beneath the thin part.
? So now go ahead and take wider part of the neck tie and bring it over the thin part and afterwards bring it back from under the thin part.
? So next go ahead and take broader part of the tie and move it above the front side of the thin part of the tie. This would let the creating of a loop where you need to pass the wider part of the necktie.
? So now keep the knot which has been consequently made very loosely inside your hand and cross the wider part throughout the loop once again right in front. The narrow part of the tie is going to work as a tightening tool.
These particular recommendations on tying a tie are generally for one of the simplest procedures. There are several additional ways available to choose from. When you have completed the knot of a neck ties, you can ease it and get rid of it such a way that the necktie don’t even have to be knotted each and every time but it is as long as you find tie knotting a troublesome process. If not making use of one of the many uncomplicated approaches to tie a tie, you could knot it each and every time you might want to choose to wear one.
