Ties on women were, in fact, seen during the darkest days of Dress for Success, accompanying skirted suits, tailored shirts, pantyhose & sensible pumps. Check out the first picture of Kathy Whitmire, elected Houston’s mayor in 1981. (She got razzed for looking like Dustin Hoffman in* Tootsie*.)
Once women began to be taken seriously, the look evolved into Power Dressing for Women: suits or dresses that did not try to hide every evidence of femininity. Elegant pantsuits were another option.
Now, most business environments require less formal dress for both sexes. No more ties! Women may wear slacks. Those of us who still like skirts have mostly dumped pantyhose–especially here in steamy Houston. Let me state that it’s great to dress more casually–but it’s still possible to show a bit of style & avoid looking like a slob!
There’s still a place for more formal dress. I hope every gentleman has a well-tailored suit for certain occasions. And I’ll gladly add control-top pantyhose to my dress-up ensembles. But those occasions don’t demand I try to look like a guy.
(Check out second picture in the link above to see Kathy Whitmire today. She now lives in Hawaii.)
I wear a tie to church occasionally, but never to work (and I work in a professional office environment). I think ties for men will all but go away completely before women start wearing them regularly. A better poll would be “When will men stop commonly wearing ties?”
I don’t think ties are going away for men as quickly as some have said (hoped) upthread. I’m sure everyone here is familiar with the man at work who has only one way to show the world that he’s a wild and crazy guy: by wearing a tie with cartoons or something on it. Social convention implies that he’d do some much more wacky if, alas, he only could.
Would you rather he come to work in a top hat and tails, or dressed as a Klingon?
Women have enough to do without having to learn to tie a tie on themselves.
In fact, the very 1st post said pretty much what first popped into my mind when I saw the thread. There’s no practical reason women would start using them.
I like ties. I wear one every Friday to work - I call it “Dress Up Friday”. The tie I’m wearing now is one I bought at the symphony, with musical instruments and notes on it. Goes great with my green long-sleeved shirt.
OTOH, I’m quite glad that my tie-wearing is voluntary and that business wear has become far more casual since the 1970s (I “blame” silicon valley CEO chic for this, though that’s not the only reason business dress became more casual).
The draw of pants is obvious - they’re more comfortable, offer greater range of movement, allow women to participate in tasks that they couldn’t with a skirt (or could but with difficulty).
Ties offer no such benefit. They look ok, but not better than other accessories than women already wear. I predict they will continue to be worn occasionally by women making a statement.
I can’t imagine a tie looking good an a large busted woman. Unless a tie-tac was used to keep the bottom of the tie attached to the shirt, the end of a tie would hang out away from the stomach/shirt.
Women commonly wore ties during the 1890-1910 period. It was especially common with casual sportswear, such as bicycling or golfing. Women wore both bow ties and straight ties, with a cotton shirt and dark skirts. Boater hats were popular with the look.
Here’s a well known Sargent portrait featuring the look -
Portrait of Mr. & Mrs. Isaac Newton Phelps-Stokes
I think that ties for women will come and go, but ties for men are slowly going the way of the top hat.
I’m surprised how many do know how to put on a tie.
I was talking to a woman once who, while describing to me a frustrating experience she’d had with the DMV, reached up to my tie, undid it, and retied it perfectly, without skipping a beat in her complaint.
Apparently at that moment she couldn’t stop herself from showing me how to “really” tie a tie.
It’s not stopping YOU from wearing a tie, so who gives a shit?
The only time I wore a tie was when I was in high school and we had “cross-dressing day” during Spirit Week. I borrowed one of my dad’s. Other than that? Never. (Well, unless I was dressing up for Halloween as a Hogwarts student)
Personally, I’m all for the complete and utter thermonuclear vaporization of ALL hangman’s nooses, errr… ties, I hate the smegging things
If someone (male or female) wants to wear one of their own free will, without any coercion, that’s fine by me, but the “requirement” of the noose needs to die a painful, agonizing death, ties serve no functional purpose and are nothing more than a silly, irrelevant cosmetic affectation
I hope they go away for everybody. Fortunately, I don’t have to wear one in my current job. They did require them for a short period, but now we have polo shirts with the company logo.
When I have to have that top button buttoned I feel like I’m choking and the damned tie just adds to that. That choking sensation does NOT increase my productivity.
I get my shirts 0.5 or even 1 size oversized e.g.: my neck is 15.5 inches so I get 16’’ or 16.5’’ collars. I need to have the shirts adjusted but I’d do that anyway.
Also, not buttoning up the top button and covering it up with a full Windsor knot works well.
