Hybrid return to premises attire, are you dressing up, down or the same as before?

...as Americans begin to emerge from another financially devastating pandemic, another rash of headlines is predicting the tie’s imminent demise. Last fall, the Financial Times wondered, “Is This the End of the Tie?” More recently, The Wall Street Journal asked, “Will Ties Ever Be Relevant Again?”

For more than a year, many men who once felt bound to wear ties have shown up on Zoom each day wearing polos or even T-shirts. Now that they have tasted freedom from the necktie — and have seen their colleagues, clients, and bosses doing the same — how can they ever go back to working with their necks encumbered?

After this pandemic, many fewer men will have to. The arc of fashion has always bent toward informality (and androgyny—since the late 1800s, women have sometimes worn ties too). But a major disruption—like a war, a recession, or a global pandemic—can accelerate that natural change.

Ties as an everyday accessory have certainly taken a hit, from which they’re unlikely to recover fully. The deeper functions that ties have long provided—such as social signaling and personal expression—will be absorbed by other garments. But ties will continue to be worn on the most formal occasions, and as quirky accoutrements for the self-consciously old-fashioned or whimsical. In other words, neckties are the new bow ties.

Spending on clothing fell overall during our collective work-from-home experiment, but attire from cubicle-friendly labels such as Brooks Brothers, J. Crew, and Banana Republic was particularly affected.

With an estimated 25 percent of us now wearing a different size than we did pre-COVID—whether bigger or smaller—we’re going to have to buy new clothes eventually, but they may not be the same things we were buying before.

While many employers are now more open to flex time or pets in the office, they’re also relaxing workplace dress codes to allow leggings, hoodies, T-shirts, and sneakers. Men assembling wardrobes for these newly informal workplaces are likely to leave behind stiff-collared dress shirts and the ties traditionally worn with them, just as some women may ditch pantyhose, skirts, and high heels. Even as events constantly reshape people’s preferences about what they wear, some fashion habits are surprisingly resistant to change.

Ties have so far avoided the fate of spats, bowler hats, and pocket watches. o persist for hundreds of years, a garment needs to serve powerful practical, social, or emotional needs that individuals may be only dimly aware of. Though decorative and somewhat superfluous now, the necktie was highly functional at the outset. Its ancestor, the cravat, became fashionable in Europe in the 17th century. Thought to be a military style introduced to France by Croatian mercenaries, it kept men’s shirt collars closed while protecting the neck from the cold.

motomondo wrote: ↑ No more ties?

I love my ties. I don't usually wear a jacket / suit jacket / blazer, but I love to wear a nice dress shirt and a tie.

mebiuspower wrote: ↑