Neckties are returning to some younger wardrobes after years of open-collar dressing and home-working informality. A Guardian fashion feature points to renewed interest in formal accessories and cites retailer TM Lewin’s reported rise in tie sales over the summer.
The trend is not universal. The House of Lords recently relaxed its own dress rules, while some younger consumers are choosing ties precisely to distinguish themselves from older office habits. Formal shoes and other tailored accessories appear alongside the renewed interest in neckwear.
The feature places the change within a longer history, from seventeenth-century cravats to the modern tie design patented by Jesse Langsdorf in 1922. What shifts most often is the social meaning of the accessory, along with its width, length and knot, rather than the basic idea of wearing fabric at the collar.
