What is a good alternative for a tie? Help required.

[Drew B]

So, I wear a suit or at least pants and sports jacket pretty much everywhere I go (As do the majority of gents here). However, there are some places where a tie can be innapropriate or even impractical. Usually I would just lose the tie and unfasten the top button but during my time here I have become increasingly... anal ... about neatness and now the sight of collars poking over the jacket really irks me so the question is "What can I do"
I could use:
>Ribbons
>Scarves
>Pins directly into my neck... painful but delivers the desired effect... no i think I'll scratch that one.

Anyway, looking forward to fedorian input.
Cheers,
Drew.

 

[dhermann1]

A scarf tied on your neck is a very 20's - 30's Noel Coward kind of a thing. An Ascot can be cool as well.
If you feel comfortable in it, a turtle neck or a dickie could also look good. Of course you do have the Australian climate to deal with. Turtle neck might be a bit warm.

 

[Feraud]

Be a vintage fashion trendsetter and go tieless once in a while.

Sans tie is not necessarily unkempt.

 

[Widebrim]

Be a vintage fashion trendsetter and go tieless once in a while.

Sans tie is not necessarily unkempt.

My first thought to the original question is, "There is no good alternative for a tie," but I'll be gracious...

Feraud is right, but if you do choose to go sans cravat, please wear the collar out and over your lapels, classic style.

 

[Alex Oviatt]

A pocket square--especially figured silk--adds a note of color and luxury when one is tieless.

 

[Drew B]

widebrim, you're right a tie is, for the most part, a necessity but sometimes, especially in summer you need a bit of breeze on the chest. What I need to find is a way to have my shirt unbuttoned but not have my collar go all over the place. For some people it might work but for my self I really don't like the over and out collar, its just not me.

Cheers,
Drew.

 

[Not-Bogart13]

widebrim, you're right a tie is, for the most part, a necessity but sometimes, especially in summer you need a bit of breeze on the chest. What I need to find is a way to have my shirt unbuttoned but not have my collar go all over the place. For some people it might work but for my self I really don't like the over and out collar, its just not me.

Cheers,
Drew.

In that case, skip the tie and wear button down collars! That's what I do.

In any event, i think the pocket square is an excellent suggestion.

 

[Hal]

If you don't want to wear a tie, please don't wear a jacket.
The jacketed-but-tieless look seems to be very popular today but to me it looks unfinished and incongruous.

 

[tbrunke]

A nice silk scarf is always a great alternative, but I would agree that collars with buttons would be a great way to go as well.

 

[Tomasso]

The jacketed-but-tieless look seems to be very popular today

Actually, it's been popular for over three quarters of a century. [huh]

 

[HodgePodge]

Feraud is right, but if you do choose to go sans cravat, please wear the collar out and over your lapels, classic style.

I have tried to do that a few times, but the collar of the jacket keeps shrugging off the collar of my shirt, so it just looks stuuuupid. I dont understand what Im doing wrong. I put the jacket on, 'pop' the collar, then try to fold it back down overtop of the jacket's collar/lapels but it just will not stay overtop at the back. Maybe Im using the wrong shirts and/or jackets...

Actually, it's been popular for over three quarters of a century. [huh]

As the kids these days say, 'pwnd!' [Is there a golden era equivalent to that?]

 

[Bird's One View]

I like jacket without tie much better than tie without jacket.

 

[Not-Bogart13]

Going without a tie in a jacket is a great way to look casual, be comfortable, and still be well dressed. Especially in summer or in warmer indoor areas. Nobody looks classy dripping with sweat and turning red. It's a choice that even the best dressed men in history have turned to from time to time.

 

[Hal]

Actually, it's been popular for over three quarters of a century.

I can remember it in Britain in the early 1950s and in the early 1970s. It looked sloppy then, and it looks sloppy now.

I like jacket without tie much better than tie without jacket.

And I very definitely prefer the opposite! In summer, a long-sleeved shirt with a tie, with belted, flat-front smart cotton or linen trousers without turn-ups look fine - and were my hot-weather wear to my teaching job for many years. But then, I much prefer the styles of the slimmed-down late 1950s to what has been called the "bold style" in this forum.

Going without a tie in a jacket is a great way to look casual, be comfortable, and still be well dressed. Nobody looks classy dripping with sweat and turning red.

Surely in those circumstances the jacket should be dropped.

It's a choice that even the best dressed men in history have turned to from time to time.

Yes, if you count President Ahmedinejad of Iran as one such!

 

[skbellis]

Collarless shirts

Why don't you just get a few nice collarless shirts. No need for a tie, and no collar 'flopping' around.

Cheers,

Scott

 

[Feraud]

As the kids these days say, 'pwnd!' [Is there a golden era equivalent to that?]

That would be, "In like Flynn".

 

[Not-Bogart13]

I can remember it in Britain in the early 1950s and in the early 1970s. It looked sloppy then, and it looks sloppy now.

Purely a matter of personal taste.

Going without a tie in a jacket is a great way to look casual, be comfortable, and still be well dressed. Nobody looks classy dripping with sweat and turning red.

Surely in those circumstances the jacket should be dropped.

Actually, I find that a tie makes me much hotter than a jacket. It must have something to do with how ventilation occurs. [huh]

Yes, if you count President Ahmedinejad of Iran as one such!

Hey, we're talking style here, not politics. The best dressed army in the world were the Nazi's, regardless of their monstrosity. Besides, I didn't say that everyone who wore a jacket without a tie was one of the best dressed. I said the best dressed have worn a jacket without a tie. Rather a large and important difference.

 

[Caity Lynn]

I restate an earlier opinion (seeing that I haven't worn a tie on a regular basis since gradeschool and even then, it was a button cross tie, not a tie, tie ) Go for button down collars

 

[Hal]

Hey, we're talking style here, not politics. The best dressed army in the world were the Nazis, regardless of their monstrosity.

I hadn't intended to be political, and am sorry if my comment came over as such. I see no connection between style and politics, but am trying to express, in the strongest possible terms, my dislike of the open-necked-shirt-with-jacket look, which I don't and won't adopt. (However, it may have rescued the sports jacket from the oblivion to which that seemed to be doomed in the 1980s.)

I said the best dressed have worn a jacket without a tie.

Is not this a matter of personal taste as well?
The button-down shirt, which you mention in an earlier posting, may have a bearing on this question, as it is of American provenance and (as you say) looks neater in the circumstances. From postings on this and on similar fora it seems to me that Americans have historically been far less ready to remove the jacket than are the British. There may be, or have been, a UK/USA cultural difference here.

 

[Solid Citizen]

IN like FLYNN

NOW your talking!

SAD state of fashion today some would consider even this look OVERdressed Solid Citizen [huh]