2,000 Years of the Necktie: Paris Presents Designer Ties

Updated August 5, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

Paris Presents Designer Ties

Neckties Through the Ages Introduction 210 B.C. China's First Emperor 113 A.D. Did Romans Wear Ties? 17th Century Croatian Cravats for the King of France Cravats Go to England Real Men Wear Lace 18th Century Cowboy Bandannas from India Sailing the Seven Seas 19th Century Business Suit Takes Shape Cambridge & Oxford School Ties Ties Fit for Officers and Gentlemen Bow Ties Center Stage A Tie Singing Dixie Lord Byron's Legacy Women Tie the Knot, Too! 20th Century Paris Presents Designer Ties Celebrities & Rock Stars Ascots Cross Finish Line Bolo: The Tie That Won the West Turtleneck: The Anti-Tie Related Links Knotty Questions How Wide Should You Tie? From Brooches to Pins A First Class Tie Care for Your Tie

In the 1920s a pioneering Paris fashion designer, Jean Patou, invented the designer tie. He made ties from women's clothing material including patterns inspired by the latest art movements of the day, Cubism and Art Deco.

Targeted toward women purchasers, his expensive ties were highly successful. Today women buy 80 percent of ties sold in the US. Therefore ties are often displayed near the perfume or women's clothing departments.

Designer ties made quite a splash in the 1960s, when designers from London's Carnaby Street devised the Peacock Look and churned out wide, colorful ties in a variety of flowered, abstract and psychedelic patterns. Nnow mod (for modern) styles were the forerunners of the hippie movement, which often dispensed with neckties altogether, often favoring colorful scarves at the neck, or wearing open shirts with chains or medallions.

Today, designer ties abound. Designers create some themselves, while others are made by manufacturers under licensing agreements. Designer ties are also popular with women, who associate them with high fashion.

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