Monday, November 24, 2008

Tie Length: is too little too bad?

Picking the tie to complete a look is the tough part, but many guys come up short when they tie their neckwear. Proper tie length is a must for a professional appearance; too long and you look unkempt, too short and you look dumpy and juvenile.

So, in an effort to keep it simple here is the rule of thumb: the end of your tie should fall between the top and bottom of your belt when you are standing up. If you wearing a tie and not wearing a belt please stop reading this now and go play tag on the interstate.

If you have to err on one side or the other most people in the know agree that you should go longer rather than shorter, but I feel you should just retie your tie so that it works. Also don't tuck the skinny end into your shirt (this looks like you are a server at Friday's) in fact if you need to tuck anything in you've done something wrong.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I agree that the conservative choice is to let the tip of the tie fall anywhere within the belt buckle, but beg to differ on the more fashionable variation. The more fashion forward (not necessarily trendy, but perhaps throwback) is to let the tie fall anywhere within a belt-width above the buckle. This might not be the best choice for someone with a bulging midsection, as it accentuates that area. But to allow the tie to fall anywhere at or beyond the bottom of the belt smacks of the 1980s.