The History Of The Necktie

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 London boardroom.