Neckwear, Ties

The necktie (or tie) is a long piece of either woven or knitted cloth worn around the neck, under the shirt collar, and knotted at the throat, with its blades resting on the shirt front. more...

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The modern necktie, ascot, and bow tie, descend from the cravat; mainly, men wear neckties as regular office attire, formal wear, or uniform, yet women also wear neckties as part of a uniform (e.g. military, school).

Cravat

The cravat neckband is the forerunner of the modern, tailored necktie. From the end of the 16th century, the term "band" applied to any long-strip neckcloth that was not a "ruff"; the ruff — a starched, pleated white linen strip — started its fashion career earlier in the 16th century as a neckcloth (readily changeable, to minimize the soiling of a doublet), or as a bib, or as a napkin. A "band" could indicate either a plain, attached shirt collar or a detachable "falling band" that draped over the doublet collar.

The modern cravat originated in the 1630s; like most men's fashions, between the 17th century and World War I, it was of military origin. In the reign of Louis XIII of France, Croatian mercenaries were enlisted to a regiment supporting the King and Cardinal Richelieu against the Duc de Guise and the Queen Mother, Marie de Medici. The traditional Croat military kit aroused Parisian curiosity in, and about, the unusual, picturesque scarves distinctively knotted at their necks; the cloths used ranged from the coarse-finish cloth of enlisted soldiers, to the fine linens and silks of the officers. The sartorial word "cravat" derives from the French cravate, a corrupt French pronunciation of "Croat" — Croatian "Hrvat" — however, evidence shows the word used in 14th century France and in 16th century Italy. French writer Eustache Deschamps (c. 1340–1407), wrote a ballad containing the phrase: "faites restraindre sa cravate" ("pull his cravat tighter").

Considering the interdependence of many European regions (particularly the French) with the Venetian Empire, which occupied most of Croatia's coast, and the word's uncertain philologic origin, the new male neckdress was known as a cravate; the French readily surrendered old-fashioned starched linen ruffs to adopt the new-fashion, loose linen and muslin cravates with the broad, laced edges of the military version, while a gentleman's cravat could be of fine lace, e.g. the sculptor Grinling Gibbons carved a realistic cravat in white limewood.

On returning to England from exile, in 1660, Charles II imported with him the latest, new word in fashion: "A cravatte is another kind of adornment for the neck being nothing else but a long towel put about the Collar, and so tyed before with a Bow Knott; this is the original of all such Wearings; but now by the Art and Inventions of the seamsters, there is so many new ways of making them, that it would be a task to name, much more to describe them". (Randle Holme, Academy of Armory and Blazon, 1688.)

Read more at Wikipedia.org