How Did a Soldier's Scarf Become the Necktie?

In 2021 a member of parliament was thrown out for refusing to wear one. So why does a strip of silk at the throat still mean serious business? The necktie began with the knotted neckerchiefs of Croatian mercenaries in 17th-century Paris, and the French word for Croats gave us "cravat". How did that scarf turn into the most familiar piece of formal clothing, and why is it now coming undone? We follow four clues: a king's fashion, a clever cut, a code of stripes and a loosening knot. Along the way we cover: Croatian mercenaries in the Thirty Years' War, Hrvati, Croates and the cravat; Louis XIV's lace cravat, jabots, and International Necktie Day on 18 October; soldiers' leather stocks, the bag wig and solitaire, the macaronis of "Yankee Doodle"; Neckclothitania (1818), the first book to call neckwear a "tie"; the Industrial Revolution, the long tie and the Four-in-Hand Club; Benjamin Harrison and Theodore Roosevelt in long ties; Jesse Langsdorf's 1922 bias cut, the four main knots, the Duke of Windsor, and Fink and Mao's 85 knots; hand-painted ties, the Bold Look, skinny ties, the kipper tie and the 1990s sales peak; club, regimental and school ties, "heart to sword", and the American mirror image; women and ties, from the suffrage movement and Coco Chanel to Annie Hall; health and safety, clip-ons, hospital bans, religious objections, casual Friday and the tie's decline. Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:23 The question 0:47 The Croatian Scarf 1:43 Stocks and Dandies 2:33 The Long Tie 3:23 The Cut and the Knot 4:12 Wide, Thin, Wild 5:12 The Code of Stripes 6:16 Loosening the Knot 7:30 The answer The Long Answer: one question, eight minutes, the whole story. History, science, technology and strange events, explained clearly for curious people. Got a question you want answered? Leave it in the comments. Sources Narration based on the English Wikipedia article "Necktie" (CC BY-SA 4.0). Photo credits (Wikimedia Commons) Nxr-at (CC BY-SA 4.0) – The Cravat Regiment, Zagreb (3 photos; one also used for the thumbnail) Jorge Royan (CC BY-SA 3.0) – Rolled and patterned silk ties (4 photos) Michal Klajban (CC BY-SA 4.0) – Parliament House, Wellington Parliamentary Service (New Zealand Parliament) (CC BY 4.0) – Te Pāti Māori co-leaders in New Zealand's debating chamber, 2023 Dhantegge (CC BY-SA 4.0) – Rāwiri Waititi Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives (NZ) (CC BY 4.0) – New Zealand House of Representatives chamber Friedrich Haag (CC BY-SA 4.0) – A tie knot Jonathan Mueller (CC BY 2.0) – Adjusting a tie Michael Cooper (CC BY 2.0) – A striped tie Michael Kopatz (CC BY-SA 4.0) – A rack of neckties Myrabella (CC BY-SA 3.0) – Hall of Mirrors, Versailles King of Hearts (CC BY-SA 4.0) – Palace of Versailles Mmangan333 (CC BY-SA 4.0) – Portrait of a gentleman with a lace jabot, 1685 Eduard Paulig (CC BY 4.0) – Broadway and Wall Street, 1927 Dietmar Rabich (CC BY-SA 4.0) – Manhattan from above Jim Barton (CC BY-SA 2.0) – Cavendish Laboratory, West Cambridge C Ford (CC BY-SA 3.0) – Carnaby Street, London Acediscovery (CC BY 4.0) – Exeter College, Oxford Carfax2 (CC BY-SA 3.0) – Trooping the Colour Fortepan / Urbán Tamás (CC BY-SA 3.0) – Schoolgirls with ties, Debrecen, Hungary Los Angeles Times (CC BY 4.0) – Coco Chanel in Los Angeles, 1931 Amtec Photos (CC BY-SA 2.0) – A job interview CEphoto, Uwe Aranas (CC BY-SA 3.0) – Factory machinery JohnGold6000 (CC BY 4.0) – Metropolitan Police officer Rwendland (CC BY-SA 4.0) – A British hospital ward Rodhullandemu (CC BY-SA 4.0) – Quaker meeting house, St Helens Amir Pashaei (CC BY-SA 4.0) – Tehran Vyacheslav Argenberg (CC BY 4.0) – An IKEA store Chatham House (CC BY 2.0) – Richard Branson, 2015 CC0: Prince Claus in conversation and Prince Claus, 1986 (Anefo / Rob Croes, Nationaal Archief); the Beehive and Parliament House, Wellington (Daderot); suit and tie (William Stitt); Croatian light cavalryman, museum figure (Silverije); men's fashion fair, Amsterdam (Nationaal Archief); The Exeter College Eight on the Isis (William Turner of Oxford, Yale Center for British Art)