The Necktie History

By Phil on February 6th, 2007

The history of Necktie History had an important event in its course when in the 1880s the British Military decided to give out its bright colored uniforms as they helped enemies to notice easily. The British Army had the distinction of wearing very bright uniform which was a very easy target for their enemies even in the dim lights. The awareness to change the uniforms for the entire British Military took place in the early 1880s. After this the Uniform was changes so that there were no bright stripes and lines on the Uniform and the full uniform was made to have a more subtle look.

But the military refused old colors only in their uniforms and those bright Colors and the stripes continued with their neckties. These ties not only remained in their old colors, but they created new uniforms for each regiments.

One of the regiment The Royal Rifle Corps were allotted with rifle green and scarlet ties and for Artists’ Rifles they were changed to black, gray and red colors. For Court Inns the stripes colors were green and blue.

In the Military circles it was it was strictly followed that a person should wear ties from more than 200 regimental ties. Even some time London’s greatest shopping stores questioned their customer’s right for wearing a particular tie. These demands and changes in the custom of wearing the neckties had a phenomenal increase in the demand for exquisitely designed neckties and the neckties came to be sold in a variety of colors and designs. This increased the customer’s eagerness to buy some of the rarely available ties. This gave rise to the enormously popular necktie rare collections and many persons who were the owners of those precious ties exchanged them for thousands of dollars.

In America where the climate is not so conducive for the wearing of neckties, it seemed so uncomfortable to wear lace or silk cravats in the hot American south. The plantation owners of those times in the American continent, who were powerful and opulent, made a custom of wearing wide ribbons only to show their social powers. These the plantation owners wore wide ribbons that are tied in bows around their necks and these were made a compulsory item of their regular attire. As this can be worn with a low collared shirt, this plantation tie was the origin of American neckwear. All the development to the modern Necktie could be traced back to this modest wide ribbon bow.

This tie soon became part of Mississippi River boat Culture of the west. The famous writer Mark Twain also wanted to show his picture with wearing a plantation tie. The Riverboat Gamblers soon accepted this tie in their uniform with a fancy white shirt and a light suit. Today the leading supporter for this plantation tie is Colonel Sanders of chicken fame, who always wanted to picture him with these ties.

These plantation ties are often worn by Country music singers and square dancers.