Commentary: To Knot or Not Tie – That Is the Question

By Louis A. Zona

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – I was glad to see that each NBA coach still wears a tie when shouting out plays from the sidelines.

It’s just great to see that the tradition of wearing a tie among professional coaches continues.

One of the U.S. senators from Pennsylvania is on the opposite end of my personal study of tie wearing in America.

I know that he’s trying to give the appearance of being an ordinary person. But why blame the one piece of male adornment that gives us guys a little class or a little color? You’ve probably figured out that I’m a tie guy and frankly enjoy wearing a tie every chance I get.

I was one of professor Al Bright’s original students at Youngstown State University. You could always find professor Bright on campus since he was one of the few members of the faculty who dressed up every single day.

I once asked Al about why he dressed up even when he was teaching painting or sculpture classes.

“I wear a tie every day because I enjoy dressing up but also a tie denotes self-confidence and success. You’re right that I do occasionally get a little paint on my tie when I’m teaching art,” he told me. “But that little bit of paint might be seen as a badge of sartorial splendor.“

I always enjoyed Al’s defense of the tie. And Al Bright was so very proud of what he’d accomplished –with or without a tie.

My father, rest his soul, had an interesting way of reusing ties once they were worn out and out of style. He’d head out to his garden and begin tying his tomato plants with them.

“They do the job well and they seem to like purposes,” he’d repeat. “And I’ve got the prettiest tomato plants in any garden on Center Street.”

I enjoy watching some of the politics shows on television and note how the guests dress. Most men on these shows today wear an open-collar dress shirt and would look so much better with a tie to complement the shirt.

If I produced these programs, I would force the men without a tie to go out and find one.

By the way, most of the ties worn on these shows are very plain and show no imagination, which is OK with me. But off-limits would be those cowboy string ties. I think that they’re OK but only for the ranch.

I would not be caught dead wearing a bow tie although my good friend Don Tucker always looks good in one. He can pull it off but the rest of us would need to punt on that one.

But let me pass on a little-known fact in the museum world. The next time that you’re in an art museum of significant size, notice that many of the male curators wear bow ties.

I can’t tell you how it began but most curators and directors wear bow ties on the job. It serves as a museum professional’s uniform in a sense.

And then there are the holiday ties, especially those worn at Christmas. My friend Ray Johnson suggested that I’d look better in a tie that lights up.

When you think about it, an amazing amount of technology went into that stupid tie. Can you imagine Leonardo da Vinci coming back to life and having to answer questions about a tie that employs such technology?

I, for one, would have little to say about it except that Ray Johnson was willing to shell out real money to power the Christmas tree that lit up on my chest.

I don’t think that I have ever spent much over $10 for a tie. I do know that most ties in men’s shops can be closer to a dollar and some are well over a few dollars.

I once met a man who was CEO of a tie company. It was at a dinner in New York City. In sharing his knowledge of ties, he demonstrated how one can determine how much a tie is worth.

According to this authority on ties, it has to do with the thread count seen on the back of the tie.

Well, I gave it my best shot and can’t seem to find out just where that thread count begins or ends.

And then there’s the knot issue. With all my tie experience, I still cannot tie a perfect Windsor knot. I can manage my way through a so-called half Windsor – but not a full Windsor. And I’ll be darned if I would ever wear a clip-on.

But never say never.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.