To start a new, ongoing series of blurb-ish posts (I hope I, nor any of you, are ever called blurb-ish, but I’m a fan of the word), here is my ‘fashion faux pas’ of the day (avoid these, and you’ll be a step in the right direction):
Ties at the wrong lengths: What bugs me about this one is it’s very easy to know where your tie should end, and it’s very easy to fix it if you get it wrong the first time.
The tie should end right at your beltline (while standing). There are few ways to determine this (have the widest point hit the top of your belt, have the point at the end hit the middle of the belt, etc.) that all accomplish basically the same thing. Obviously this is more of an issue if you aren’t wearing a jacket or a sweater or a vest (durr), but it’s a good habit to get into.
Having problems? If your tie is too long or too short, the first obvious fix is to re-tie and adjust. I read a tip to measure the length of tie taken up tying each kind of know (Windsor vs. Four-in-hand, etc.), and use that to guage where to start tying. Honestly, I tend to just untie/adjust/re-tie until I get it right.
Your tie being too short is never a big problem. Merely leave the back, unseen end of the tie much shorter. You shouldn’t really ever see this end, so you can make it as short as you have to as long as it still knots.
If you have an exceptionally long tie, try experimenting with different knots (for example, the Windsor knot itself takes up much more tie length than the Four-in-hand), or take something simple like the Four-in-hand and incorporate an extra loop.
There’s always something to try, which means there is never an excuse to commit this faux pas. More importantly, this is something that will never change, so get used to doing it right!
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