Our complete guide to the tie: how to choose it, tie it and wear it (+ surprise at the end)

Once these three elements have been assembled, the envelope is folded on itself, most often three times, three folds, to arrive at the shape of the tie. The folded edges are then sewn all the way and a travetto is added, by hand or by machine, so that the two parts of the envelope which meet face to face are united and do not move too much.

Congratulations, you now know how to make a tie. By being a little resourceful, you could almost grow your brand, right?

But here's the thing: you don't know everything yet! When you think about it, there isn't just one way to make a jacket. Well it's exactly the same for the tie.

ALTERNATIVE ANATOMY OF A TIE

The envelope is absolutely necessary. It's hard to see how to do without it...

And it has to be made of fabric! No, I'm clarifying because on Instagram, guys who hate beauty sell some kind of sparkling ties made from polymer plates. Have you ever seen this? I don't want to be dramatic, but there is a special place in Hell for those who wear this around their neck. Come on, I'll let you enjoy yourself . I see, not to spoil anything, that right now you can buy one of these extremely refined creations for $79.90 instead of $350, which is still a steal. For my part, I did not hesitate and I sued them for violating the dignity of the human person.

Brief. The envelope is absolutely necessary, I said. However, you can do without lining and even interlining. It's once again the same principle as for a jacket.

We saw that the interlining provides thickness and therefore, if it is absent, we must do otherwise. Thus, we will use a more generous envelope that we will fold more times on itself. This is how ties with seven folds and more (even up to twelve!) are born.

This is not a guarantee of quality, however it allows the tie to be thick, without foreign bodies in the envelope, and this gives a very particular movement to the fabric.

The lining being what separates the backstage from the performance hall, if it is removed, it is then appropriate to give the floor a clean and tidy up what is lying around. We empty the ashtrays. Let's vacuum it up.

In the world of ties, this mostly means rolling the material at the ends. It is a careful act of folding the edge over itself so that it forms a small bounce. As on an EG cover Capelli , E.Marinella , Shibumi Firenze , Augustus Hare , Viola Milano, Brioni

THE ESSENTIAL TIES YOU MUST HAVE:

THE FIRST OF THEM IS A VERSATILE TIE: PLAIN BUT WITH TEXTURE.

For this one, I recommend knitting or silk grenadine . Tie with texture, that gives you a little something. A writer, a journalist, an intellectual.

You can choose it in navy blue if you have a gray suit or a sports jacket. If your suit is blue (or your jacket), then perhaps opt for burgundy, aubergine, green or gray for example. Navy blue will work, but you will have to be sure by comparing the two blues.

And here are three alternatives: the first at The Tie Bar , the second at Howard's and the third at Boivin .

THE SECOND IS A WOOL WINTER TIE

Even though you'll wear knit or silk grenadine all year round, owning a wool tie for winter allows you to feel perfectly in tune with your surroundings.

Two solutions for all budgets: the first from Poszetka with its pretty pattern and color which will go well with a navy blue suit and the second from Atelier Particulier which, without deploying creative treasures, does the job as they say.

FROM THERE THE FUN BEGINS.

Some very personal examples:

And again, I went slowly so as not to scare you too much. But, over time, I tend to be more and more eccentric and, for example, Tom Wolfe's big ties with big polka dots no longer scare me.

An idea like that...

Starting a collection is not a bad idea. You can work on your sartorial character by giving it an obsessive side. Wouldn't it be great to leave your children (or anyone else!) a ton of ties all bought for completely obscure reasons? I find that admirable.

Almost every time I go to the thrift store, I bring one back and hang it up with the others. I've made a lot of stylistic mistakes in the past, as I told you, so I don't have a ton yet but I'm on the right track now. Yes, when I say “a ton,” I literally mean a ton.

Check out Vestiaire du Renard , Savvy Row and, of course, the thrift stores you come across on your way, in real life.

WEAR A TIE AS IF YOU WERE BORN WITH IT

When you think about it, the tie is a strip of fabric that you wrap around your neck, tie a very specific knot and leave it hanging on your stomach all day.

It does not make sense.

The whole issue, as I have already said, rests on your ability to make this exercise something natural. Perfectly normal. Almost banal! That the tie, so explosive in its form, disappears in our eyes, is diluted in your ease in making your clothes your own.

This is learned. Until a certain point.

FIRST OF ALL: DRESS FOR THE CONTEXT

DEPENDING ON THE WEATHER

Don't wear a wool flannel tie in summer, visually it doesn't work. And vice versa, seersucker or, more simply, cotton in winter.

Silk knitting is at its place in all seasons.

It is also worth paying attention to the patterns. A paisley, for example, will be worn more in winter, as well as a Prince of Wales. But this is very debatable.

DEPENDING ON THE LEVEL OF FORMALITY EXPECTED OF YOU

You will always congratulate yourself for being the one whose outfit fits the moment best. Feeling less elegant than everyone else at an event is a bit of an ordeal for the mind.

When wearing a tie is induced by the very type of event in which you are participating, choose dignity : a tie with a discreet pattern or simply with texture and a color that does not jump out at your throat.

ACCORDING TO YOUR MOOD

No, I'm joking.

I don't think you should wear a tie with hearts when you're in love, nor one with skulls when you want to kill everyone, nor one with beef ribs when it's your turn to do the shopping.

KNOW HOW TO IDENTIFY OUTFITS THAT COULD NOT DO WITHOUT A TIE

The white formal shirt is made to accommodate a tie.

This is how the collar holds. It is thus better highlighted, instead of slipping as best it can under the jacket.

And the tie also helps hide the long row of buttons. I'm not sure it's entirely elegant to leave the (many) buttons on a shirt visible, as if, ultimately, we were revealing part of our private life. How happy it is never to see the ropes and pulleys that move the sets of a play. But on this point, I'm afraid I'm being a little too strict.

It also seems to me that the tie fills a void that needs to be filled: it balances the outfit between the fullness of the suit and the emptiness of the shirt.

On the other hand, if you are wearing a thick suit, in a rougher, more raw material and your shirt is an Oxford, a chambray, or a denim, then the tie is optional.

Come on, now let’s roll it out!

12 TIPS FOR YOUR NEW BARRED LIFE

1. AVOID COLOR BLOCK.

If you want to wear a colored tie, you need to create bridges, complementarities, resonances. And in my opinion, the suit and the shirt must be of a similar color: for example, a forest green tie will be more subtly highlighted by a midnight blue suit and a sky blue shirt than by a midnight blue suit and a White shirt. Too striking a contrast, apparently too calculated.

2. THE TIE IS NOT A STRONG PIECE.

When you wear a patterned tie, it is better that the shirt or pocket square is also (patterned). Without that, the tie becomes like a style manifesto (a fashion statement in English). I know that this goes a little against what is often said about BonneGueule but, when you wear a tie with a fairly pronounced pattern (a strong piece therefore), this time, don't try to calm it down with basics, but use pieces that support it aesthetically.

You can also balance the boldness of your tie with well-orchestrated color tones. See instead:

The tie includes green, recalled by the jacket. The shirt is not white, but a bit of a deep blue so as not to make the tie stand out too much. The cardigan, by hiding part of the tie and with its brown color, completes the whole harmoniously. There is a link. Despite the daring tie, it holds up, we don't think the guy looks well dressed, he is.

3. AVOID WEARING A DARK SHIRT WITH A LIGHT TIE.

Because it will stick out way too much. I've never seen an outfit where it was really successful. And I'm still looking. The eye is not used to it at first and then it's awkward, because the tie really becomes the center of attention and it forms a strange continuity with your face, like the extension of your nose and this until, well… your penis.

4. WITH A TIE, A CLUTCH IS ALWAYS WELCOME.

Once you start wearing them, you'll find the suit and tie combination wonky without it. This is a pretty telling sign that it is necessary. By breaking the symmetry of the silhouette, it reinforces the charm.

The power of a white pocket square lies in its ability to divide attention between the tie and itself. So much so that it dilutes the impact of the tie. And, therefore, allows for better integration into the outfit.

5. THE TIE DOES NOT MATCH THE POUCH.

No and never. For what ?

To put it simply, the aesthetic given by this pairing between the tie and the pocket square is of the same nature as that which we see in the decoration catalogs of major brands. We have interiors where everything is too calculated and too new. Where yellow cushions match yellow taxis in a photograph of Manhattan. The rest is gray. Everything is premeditated. This is expected, nothing surprises. It's as if we had directly purchased a whole range of decoration. It's practical, it's easy, but is that the style?

Is that right ?

Not matching your pocket square to your tie means favoring an aesthetic dominated by charm and poetry, by the richness of the stories we have to tell. To return to the analogy, it is an interior where the parquet floor often creaks, the dining table is new but the chairs around it are old things that we found in an attic somewhere, and the lights illuminate the photos as best they can. family framed in aged gold. One of the walls is faded and the other is well painted. These are fresh flowers neatly arranged in a chipped vase.

A pocket square and a tie in the same pattern is cheating.

However, I understand this temptation: similar things necessarily go well together. And then, when we start, we are often so afraid of bad taste that we never hesitate to follow a pattern that reassures.

But that's not true elegance. This is what a great outfit should look like:

Do you see them, the subtle bridges of color? Warm and cold materials, smooth and textured? It seems quite spontaneous and natural. This is what you need to achieve in an outfit.

The essence of the tie is to be perfectly useless. It is not practical. It must therefore be considered as a frivolous, panache accessory. So I do not advise you to wear a tie clip, an accessory which restricts it to professional use and which denotes too much rigor on the part of its wearer and a certain narrow-mindedness (we can conclude from this hastily, just for the pleasure of judging without knowing). What you should not do.

Let your tie live, it should be a little wobbly. It should bounce on the bust. Or hang carelessly from the neck like a proud flag on a standard.

6. WEARING A TIE WITH JEANS CAN BE DONE IF:

1. Your jeans are not low-rise;
2. The fabric of your shirt is more casual than formal;
3. Your tie is more casual than formal.

7. THE RIGHT LENGTH FOR THE TIE.

The criterion for the right length of a tie is not, as we understand, that it touches your belt buckle or, let's say rather, the button of your pants.

In fact, it mainly depends on how you wear the pants. Tall ? Natural size? Small size ? Well, let's say it right away, wearing low-waisted pants with a tie is really not the idea of ​​the century. This distorts the proportions, giving you a silhouette with short legs and a long torso. Unless you have really long legs and a short torso, you shouldn't wear low-rise pants with a tie.

The figure on the left is wearing high-waisted pants. Cleverly, he makes his tie stick out from his belt so that his figure benefits from it. This is because the length of the tie depends more on the length of your bust than on where your pants end up. We notice very easily that the silhouette of the character on the right is much more slender than that of the one on the left.

8. THE RIGHT WIDTH FOR THE TIE.

Do you want me to give you the magic number to the nearest millimeter? Okay. Come closer because I'm about to confess. It's 7.85 cm exactly. You do not believe me ? Well, you are absolutely right.

There is no magic number.

For the simple reason that, once again, everything is a question of proportions. The width of your tie (at its widest point) should not be too far from that of the lapels that make up your jacket. And these lapels should not be too jarring with your shirt collar either.

The trap would be to choose fashionable lapels, that is to say too thin because then you would also need a thin tie and a small collar and this geometric combo is not for everyone. A tie width between 7 and 8 cm seems to me a good compromise for those who want not to shock too much the eye of their contemporaries who believe in fashion.

But, for those who like sartorial things, it quickly becomes a minimum and my lapels get thicker from year to year and so do my ties.

9. THE SINGLE KNOT IS THE BEST EVER.

It suits everyone and is the most natural. A knot that has been overworked completely loses its charm. It's not a performance, it's a tie knot! This goes back to what I wrote at the beginning of this article.

This is how to tie your tie. No need to speak English to understand.

You can opt for the half-windsor if your face lends itself to it. A massive face for example and/or square. We will also appreciate a double knot in this case. But other than that, really, don't get hung up on any other knots. They are not worth the time you are going to give them.

10. SHIRT COLLARS WITH WHICH TIES ARE TOO MUCH.

Collars that are too small making the tie knot appear disproportionate, collars that are too soft (even if, when you know what you are doing, in a workwear or casual look for example, this is not a hindrance), collars that are too small Cuban but that's common sense.

11. ALWAYS UNDO YOUR TIE AFTER A DAY OF WEARING...

...otherwise, the material would not recover. Hang it on a hanger and let the magic of Earth's gravity work.

12. GOUT OR NOTHING.

The drop, you know, is the little hollow formed just under the knot. It doesn't appear all the time. And for good reason, it will depend first of all on the sufficient thickness or not of the tie (a very smooth silk will slip and your drop with it) and on your skill in tying it.

But it is a joyful satisfaction to see this drop form and hold that the initiated will notice you immediately and the novices will envy you.

OUTFITS TO INSPIRE YOU

WITH A MILITARY JACKET

An outfit for mid-season or summer when it's not too violent. I'm not going to dwell on it, we can clearly see that it works. The right choice of shoes is brown brogue style, or, even better!, cordovan with their characteristic plum color.

Your favorite white sneakers should work too.

NATURAL ITALIAN

The simplicity. Focus on noble materials. Don't overdo it. The white of the cover gives value to the whole set.

Follow his example: a navy blue suit that hugs your figure without molding your shape, combined with leather moccasins for relaxation, which also go well with this unpretentious but almost duck blue silk knitted tie that does not blend in with that of the suit and the discreet striped shirt supports everything well.

Last thing: do you really believe that the bright orange of the helmet is due to chance?

TIE AND CHAMBRAY

I wanted to show you that you can combine a tie and a chambray shirt. I even encourage you to do so because it immediately makes the tie less precious, more within everyone's reach, it is also less pretentious as a result.

The charm of the outfit comes mainly from the slight difference in color between the flannel of the pants and that of the jacket. As if he hadn't really paid attention in the morning, and had put on what he had found.

I also think of this: the combination of anthracite flannel pants and chocolate brown suede calfskin shoes for winter is absolutely exquisite! You can also vary the shades of these two colors.

Finally, note that the cardigan is very useful to give coherence to everything. Without it, it would be a little too dark, not very readable in fact.

A discreet white pocket wouldn't have gone amiss.

THE RIGHT WAY TO WEAR A PATTERNED TIE

Nick Wooster is best known for his eccentricity. He is also the pet peeve of epileptics who have only one fear when walking in Manhattan: coming face to face with Wooster on one of his stylistic WFT days. It's devastating.

Brief. Here, he is rather normal and charismatic.

I want to draw your attention to his management of motifs because he does it as everyone should see it throughout their life: he varies the scales. The structure of his outfit is the tennis striped suit with a medium-large spacing between the stripes under which he wears a striped shirt also but much closer together. Visually it works.

There, you have to choose a tie that does not come into visual conflict with either the suit or the shirt and so he opts for a different pattern, the polka dot (well done Nick!), in a different scale. A little tighter than the stripes on the suit but not as much as the stripes on the shirt.

As everything is blue, he adds a white pocket square to give more truth to his outfit and he is ready to go for his job interview. Even if Nick Wooster doesn't have a job interview. He already has the job.

THE SECOND RIGHT WAY TO WEAR A PATTERNED TIE

A blue Oxford shirt with long points is still extremely useful for wearing a tie without looking like one. Well there, he's wearing a tie that looks almost nothing and it suits him without anyone asking the slightest question. It's natural. Once again. You are fed ? It's starting to sink in.

The navy blue of the tie is linked to the sky blue of the shirt. The brown of the tie matches the magnificent Valstar jacket in suede calfskin, as well as the cardigan. And red brings a slightly offbeat and authentic touch. Wow, I love it.

With this, I would wear dark brown combat boots or brogues of the same color. With navy blue socks, so as not to overdo it.

PS: do you see the drop?

YOU ARE STILL HERE ? SO I HAVE A SURPRISE FOR YOU: SHOOTING BONNEGUEULE

DAVID

OUTFIT 1: THE TIE WORN WITHOUT THE HEAD

NICOLÒ

OUTFIT 1: SOFT TAILORING FOR SUMMER

JORDAN

OUTFIT 1: WORKWEAR AND ROCK’N ROLL INFLUENCES

DAVID

OUTFIT 2: PYROMAN INSPECTOR (KEEP CHILDREN AWAY, IT CAN BE SURPRISING...)

BONUS OUTFIT 3: THE IDEAL SON-IN-LAW

NICOLÒ

OUTFIT 2: COUNTRY TELEKINESIS

JORDAN

OUTFIT 2: GOLF IN BARBADOS

I thank David and Nicolò for playing the game. And thanks also to Antoine who took the photos.

THE FINAL WORD...

It is easy to wear the tie correctly. This is done by following a few simple rules recalled in this article.

What is really difficult, however, is to honor the romantic character of the tie. This cannot really be learned and perhaps it will even take a lifetime to achieve it. At least if I don't succeed, I'll die trying. I just hope my deathbed outfit is put together by someone who reads this article.

Come on, see you soon for new celebrations!