Tie knots - does it really matter?

[EHCAlum]

I personally hate a four in hands and use a pratt or a half windsor. I will use a full windsor on a spread collar or for an interview.

[madmacs]

Since i had to wear a tie to school, and I was too tall for most ties to lose the extra with a windsor, it ended up with a four in hand... Which is in my experience a fairly typical tie knot in the UK... This also ended up being used when I went to work (the knot not the tie)

Currently I dont have to wear one, but wore one to dinner a few weeks ago and tied it as a half windsor (just because i could).

I have also been kmown to tie a proper black silk bow tie in the past... Albeit the very distant past...

[AFS1970]

I do not wear ties very often, but I am now beginning to get more into them. This is mostly because much of my previous tie wearing has been uniform (or non uniform but on duty) related and thus clip on. I began to hate one thing about clip on ties and that it the habit the older ones have of popping out on the sides and exposing themselves. I found a relatively new style that was pre tied and attached with Velcro in the back of the neck. That still only really worked for uniform wear but such ties do have their place.

Oddly enough this year has seen me acquire quite a nice start to a tie collection, even though I still do not have as many chances to wear them. However this has lead me to look into different knots. I tend to vary them up based on no real criteria, although I did discover that some knots go better with some shirts, I never knew the names of the collars in question. I never knew that a knot could be a sign of the formality of the occasion.

[crash]

Tobus,
When I tie my Colquhoun tartan ties I always use a full Windsor. I just like the symetry better I guess. I have the oposite problem. I'm on the tall side and tend to run out of tie. Maybe 1/2 Windsor for the modern and full for the ancient. ha ha

[O'Callaghan]

I learnt to tie a tie when I was four years old. I had to wear one every day to school, and later had some jobs where I had to wear one. Consequently, like Jock, I only know one knot, and wasn't sure what it was, although I thought it was probably either a half or full Windsor.

Having learnt how to tie a tie at such a young age, I am entirely useless when it comes to instructing anyone else, except by standing behind them and tieing it around their neck myself. Come to think of it, though, that is probably how I was taught.

After looking at the videos on the web site that was linked (and retieing the tie I had on several times, which I was only wearing because I went to an Xmas party today), the knot I use appears to be a half Windsor.

So, I can tie a half Windsor in my sleep, but other knots not atall. No decision process is ever needed or possible, rendering any advice in this thread redundant!

I'm afraid if I need to wear black tie I wear a pre-tied bow tie, as I never learnt how to tie a bow tie, but at least I don't (and never would) wear a clip-on bow tie.

[kiltedwolfman]

I learned to tie the full Windsor in the forces and the reason given to us was that a "Half knot makes for half a man". The knot on the Windsor can be made smaller by slight readjustment of it's location or by how tight you snug it up. A great big sloppy knot never looks good. As to the Four in Hand, personally I've never liked it, it looks like a poor attempt at tying a knot by someone who wasn't willing to take the time to leanr a proper knot. Just my oppinion.

[Kilted Cole]

I'm a big fan of the Selby or Pratt knot. its more symetrical than most and for men who arn't the largest of gents its not as wide as the full windsor.

[CDNSushi]

I learned to tie the full Windsor in the forces and the reason given to us was that a "Half knot makes for half a man". The knot on the Windsor can be made smaller by slight readjustment of it's location or by how tight you snug it up. A great big sloppy knot never looks good. As to the Four in Hand, personally I've never liked it, it looks like a poor attempt at tying a knot by someone who wasn't willing to take the time to leanr a proper knot. Just my oppinion.

Even when I was in air cadets, we caught ROYAL sh*t for not tying a full Windsor knot... I've done it ever since, except for those situations where the tie itself is just too thick for it to look nice...

Funny how such things stick with you. To this day, I press my clothes a certain way, and polish boots a certain way... Lol. I bet you can tell a lot about a man by the way he polishes his boots.

[artificer]

I vary knots based on several things:

1) Cut of the shirt collar, points get Four-In-Hand or 1/2 Windsor, spread collars get 1/2 or full Windsor.

2) The cut of the suit itself - a long, thin lapel doesn't usually want a fat knot.

3) The tie itself. I've got thin ties that go with more Modern suits (60s) that I'd never tie in a Full Windsor, likewise I've got some very lush, thick silk ties that would look ridiculous with a Four-In-Hand knot.

[Jock Scot]

I have absolutely no idea what the tie knot I use is called, it might be a four in hand, but I really don't know. The one thing I do know, it is not a full Windsor knot. In my youth, the wearer of a Windsor knot was regarded with great suspicion by the older generation, I am not sure that applies these days though.