Ties,ties,ties

For fans of fashionable neckwear for men, what's old is new again. Now Mo Rocca who follows these matters has his own ideas about that.



Way back in the 1990s, freedom was ringing everywhere. Women were making huge inroads in the workplace. As for men, business casual would liberate them from the stranglehold of the tie. Millions of American males heard the cry. Mr. Businessman, tear off that tie!



But reports of the tie's demise have been greatly exaggerated. Yes, today ties are back.



What do you think this tie says?

It says first says it is a matter second says it's stylish.

It makes me feel a little bit one of our people.

It makes me feel empowered and makes me feel good like I am actually a businessman. OK. I am not.



Sales are way up among 20-somethings. Andrew Escobar manages the John Varvatos store in New York City.

I really just found with us you could throw a tie almost on anything and it kind of just ups the look a little bit. Makes a look a little bit more refined. And yet you can still leave your jeans on and your Chuck Taylors on. And it still has a rock'n'roll-edge.



It is not surprising that the tie has survived. After all, ties and men have been bound for more than a millennium. Among the earliest models these knotted scarfs worn by Chinese soldiers of the 3rd century BC.



What I'm putting around my neck right now is a proud descendant of a line going back 300 years. Back then, men wore cravats wide ruffled and unapologetically impractical. Over time the cravat became today's necktie. By the middle of the 20th century, though, the tie had lost much of its personality. It had become obligatory. Part of a uniform dictated from on-high.



Then the arrival of business casual sounded the death knell for the tie. Or did it? There is not as much social pressure to wear a tie. Wearing now, it becomes more of a, you know, an interesting piece that stands out more. In fact, men have embraced the responsibility of choosing what to wear to work, and more and more they are choosing the tie.



In one word, how does that tie make you feel?

Powerful!



Clean, smooth! Clean, smooth! You look okay. That's fine about it, they are so good.



I guess proper. Probably it's the first way to go to work. Ok. So it gives you respectability. Sure.



Because you wouldn't wear a suit with that color and pattern. Right? (Absolutely I wouldn't). Actually what do you look like? Kinda cool, I think? (ur, well, without a suit...in the suit, yeah,yeah) Maybe a little modest. You would never get a job.



There is a tie for every occasion, season or mood. This one makes me feel dependable; this one makes me feel like a seventh grade English teacher; this one makes me feel minty fresh.



Men's fashion a lot of guys complain they don't have a lot of choices. But the tie is the one area where you can really letter a wrap, right?

Sure, yeah. You definitely have a lot of freedom. Of course, freedom isn't just an American value. (undefined language) He is from Albania and he has a beautiful tie.



And so today's man is no longer required to wear a uniform. Instead he is fit to be tied.