The History Of The Necktie
05 August 2026 · Updated 14 October 2026 · By Tajmilkha P.
The necktie's story begins not in a tailor's shop but on a battlefield. In the 17th century, Croatian mercenaries serving in France wore knotted scarves at the neck, a look that caught the eye of Parisian fashion, who named the style "cravate", a corruption of "Croat".
From cravat to modern tie
Over the following two centuries the cravat evolved through countless forms (the stock, the bow, the ascot) before settling, by the late 1800s, into something close to the necktie we recognise today: a long strip of fabric, knotted simply at the collar.
A symbol that endured
Through the 20th century the tie became shorthand for professionalism, occasion, and care in presentation. Widths and patterns have moved with the decades, but the core idea, a considered detail at the neck, has never gone out of style.
At Vane Kensington, we see every tie as part of that long thread: a small, deliberate act of dressing well, connecting a Croatian battlefield to a modern boardroom.
The Beau Brummell effect
In Regency London, George "Beau" Brummell turned the starched white cravat into a statement of personal discipline, reportedly spending hours perfecting a single knot. His influence made careful neckwear a mark of the English gentleman, a reputation London tailoring still trades on.
Regimental and club stripes
By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, British regiments, schools and clubs had adopted their own striped colours, worn on diagonal "repp" ties. The direction of the stripe (traditionally running from the left shoulder down to the right in Britain) became a quiet signal of belonging. Our striped ties borrow those codes.
The modern tie
In the 1920s, New York tie maker Jesse Langsdorf patented a method of cutting ties on the bias and sewing them in three pieces, which let a tie recover its shape after knotting. That construction is still the basis of a well-made tie today. Widths have swung from the skinny ties of the 1960s to the wide kipper ties of the 1970s and back again, settling on a classic width of around 7 to 8cm.
Heritage motifs such as heraldic lions and crests remain part of the vocabulary, as in our Sovereign Lion Navy tie and the jacquard and crest collection.
That same idea, a considered detail signalling exactly the right register, still applies today. See our guide to black tie vs. business formal for what a tie actually signals in each setting.
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Pieces that fit the advice above: The Muswell Hill Claret Dot Stripe Tie, The Mayfair Club Stripe Tie, Ascot Stirrup Striped Tie.
