The earliest story on the neckties is originated from Egypt which is the most incredible part of their mysterious and exotic clothing culture. A long rectangular fabric is hanging on the shoulder and wrapped around the neck. It is similar to a short shawl and that is the prototype of neckties in the legend. In the ancient Egypt, this accessory has very important implication which represents the wearer’s social status. Only the noble is eligible to wear it, not the ordinary civilians. In a sense, the modern tie is the derivative of a conceptual product which is a symbol of the feudal system of ancient Egypt. It represents a clear class differentiation and is inherited through the necktie evolution.
There are even more stories on the neckties in the Europe among which the British ones are the most interesting. According to the old legend, the ties were invented by British women. They are headache to the stains on the clothing of their husband from the food. In order to keep them clean, the smart women put a piece of cloth attached to the collar. So he can wipe his mouth if needed. In addition, a few stones are also nailed into the man’s cuff for the decoration. Subsequently, these two British treasures become the current neckties and cuff links and have been sought after by men in the world. Of course, there are other legends. For example, the ties were used for the wind observation by Irish fishermen during fishing; their wife or lover of Roman soldiers prayed for the peace with a neck scarf around the first century BC; or they were used to cover the scar from the battle by British soldiers. No one knows whether they are real but it seems that the practice of neckties is indeed from the war.
Although there are different stories, the neckties should be originated from France according to the verified historical information. The wars were frequent in the Europe during the Middle Ages. In 1688, King Louis XIV in France started the war to Austria. At that time the Austrian soldiers wore a white scarf around the neck as an identity. The king liked that scarf which is known as Croatta. He made a scarf himself and wore it in the palace. After a while, he was bored by the plain style of Croatta so he began to make a new design for the scarf, such as adding the embroidery lace and tying a butterfly knot. This accessory was soon becoming popular in the palace since Louis took the lead as an example.
Moreover, this trend was spread to the army and every one followed that. The king Louis then did more on the Croatta such that one army was named after Croatta. The promotion by the king Louis is very important for the necktie development in the history. You could say there are no modern neckties if no promotion from King Louis XIV. The king had no idea how important his promotion for the modern fashion within next hundreds of years. The Croatta has been evolved into two categories in the current fashion industry: one is the necktie with the downward development and the other is the bow tie from the upward development.
