A necktie (American English) – also called a long tie or, more usually, simply a tie (Commonwealth English) – is a cloth article of formal neckwear or office attire worn for decorative or symbolic purposes, knotted at the throat, resting under a folded shirt collar, and usually draped down the chest. On rare occasions neckties are worn above a winged shirt collar. Neckties are usually paired with collared dress shirts under suit jackets or blazers, but have often been seen with other articles, such as sport coats and v-neck sweaters. Neckties can also be part of a uniform, however, in occupations where manual labor is involved, the end of the necktie is often tucked into the button line front placket of a dress shirt, such as the dress uniform of the United States Marine Corps.
Neckties are reported by fashion historians to be descended from the Regency era double-ended cravat. Adult neckties are generally unsized and tapered along the length, but may be available in a longer sizes for taller people, designed to show just the wide end. Widths are usually matched to the width of a suit jacket lapel. Neckties are traditionally worn with the top shirt button fastened, and the tie knot resting between the collar points. Importance is given to the styling of the knot. In the late 1990s, Thomas Fink and Yong Mao of University of Cambridge mathematically determined 13 knots as "aesthetically" viable out of a possible total of 85, of which the commonest known are the four-in-hand, the Pratt, and the Windsor knots. The cut of the folded collar of the dress shirt is typically paired to the style of knot used. Neckties were originally considered "menswear", but are now considered unisex items in most Western cultures.
