How To Tie A Tie: Best Guide With Easy-To-Follow Instructions For Tying Knots

“Eighty-Five Ways To Tie A Tie”

According to Cambridge University researchers Thomas Fink and Yong Mao, there are 85 Ways To Tie A Tie. Learning all of them is perhaps a fun project for a retired man, but for the rest of us, knowing just a few is more than sufficient.

Critically, in the following sections, we’ll only cover a few different key varieties. They can be changed depending on collar spread, tie space, and even your mood.

Without further ado, here are a couple of common and uncommon knots or varying levels of complexity.

How To Tie The 4-In-Hand Knot [Easiest Knot]

The four-in-hand knot is arguably the most widely used necktie knot in existence.

It’s easy to execute and creates a conal, asymmetrical knot that, when expertly done, is quite rakish. This is the “go-to” knot and the perfect one to learn first.

1. Starting with the wide blade, about 6″ longer than the narrow one, wrap the wide blade over the narrow one.
2. Loop the wide blade behind the narrow blade and then back in front of it
3. Pull the wide blade up behind the forming knot
4. Pull the wide blade down through the know
5. Adjust

Connoisseur’s Corner

• When to Use This Knot: Perfect for daily office wear, casual events, and anytime you want a quick, classic, and effortless knot.
• Best Collar Pairings: Its small, asymmetrical shape is ideal for standard point, tab, or button-down collars.
• Material Suitability: This versatile knot works with almost any tie, but it truly shines with textured materials like wool or knit ties.

How To Tie A Full Windsor Knot [Formal Knot #1]

Everyone and his uncle is familiar with the Windsor knot, at least in name.

Drawing its name from its false attribution to the Duke of Windsor (who had a fondness for them nonetheless), this is a large, triangular knot that is created with extra loops while tying.

Those who love Windsor knots appreciate their fullness and exacting shape. Windsor knot detractors (such as James Bond, who was reported not to trust men who wore them) find them to be overly studied and too perfect, even anal-retentive. Glenn O’Brien is quoted as saying, “The Windsor is not, typically, what one would call devil-may-care.”

1. Starting with the wide blade, about 10″ longer than the narrow one, wrap the wide blade over the narrow and pull it up behind where they intersect.
2. Pull the wide blade down in front of the whole thing
3. Pass the wide blade behind the narrow
4. Pull the wide blade down behind the intersection once again
5. Pass the wide blade in front of the narrow one
6. Pull the wide blade up behind the intersection
7. Pull the wide blade down into/behind the knot
8. Adjust

Connoisseur’s Corner

• When to Use This Knot: The gold standard for formal occasions: job interviews, weddings, and board meetings. It conveys confidence and symmetry.
• Best Collar Pairings: A wide spread or Windsor collar is required to accommodate this large, symmetrical knot.
• Material Suitability: This knot’s large shape relies on a quality tie that can hold a dimple. It pairs best with medium-weight silk or grenadine. Avoid using it with very thick ties, or it can look like a “Dorito” around your neck.

How To Tie A Half Windsor Knot [Formal Knot #2]

The half-Windsor is a Windsor knot with the second loop removed from the tying process. It isn’t as thick as a Windsor but maintains its triangular shape.

This is a good knot for men of small stature who need their ties to be adjusted to a shorter length, but don’t want a massive knot underneath their faces.

1. Starting with the wide blade, about 8″ longer than the narrow one, pass the wide blade over the narrow one.
2. Loop the wide blade behind the narrow one and pull it upwards
3. Pull the wide blade down behind the still-forming knot, then pull it across in front of the narrow blade
4. Pull the wide blade behind the still-forming knot again
5. Tug the wide blade up to create the knot below
6. Pull wide blade through the slipknot
7. Adjust

Connoisseur’s Corner

• When to Use This Knot: A highly versatile, all-purpose formal knot. It’s less bulky than the Full Windsor, making it a perfect and professional choice for daily business wear.
• Best Collar Pairings: Works perfectly with a standard spread collar or a classic point collar.
• Material Suitability: An excellent choice for most ties, from medium-weight silks to light wool blends.

How To Tie A Pratt Knot [Connoisseur Knot #1]

Created by Jerry Pratt, a former employee of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, his eponymous knot starts with the tie reverse-side out, as you can see in Step 1 from the graphic above.

It’s easy to tie and makes a symmetrical knot. It uses relatively little of the tie’s length and is thus suitable for tall body types or those with shorter ties. It’s also known as the Shelby or Pratt-Shelby knot.

1. Starting with the tie reverse-side out and with wide blade hanging 6″ lower than the narrow blade, pass the wide blade underneath the narrow blade
2. Pull narrow blade up and loop behind the intersection
3. Pull the wide blade down and loop in front of the narrow blade
4. Tug wide blade up behind intersection (note the knot starting to form)
5. Pull wide blade down through slipknot
6. Adjust

Connoisseur’s Corner

• When to Use This Knot: A clean, symmetrical, medium-sized knot that’s less bulky than a Windsor. An excellent “in-the-know” choice.
• Best Collar Pairings: Its medium, symmetrical shape works best with a standard spread collar.
• Material Suitability: As it uses relatively little of the tie’s length, it’s suited to both tall men and those with shorter ties.

How To Tie A Kelvin Knot [Connoisseur Knot #2]

This knot also starts reverse-side out. It’s an excellent choice for shorter men who prefer a somewhat smaller knot but need to take up some length with their ties.

You could borrow a phrase from Glenn O’Brien and call this one the four-by-four-in-hand knot. Similar to the Pratt in that it starts reverse-side out, it loops around the knot twice as opposed to once, like a four-in-hand would.

1. Start with tie reverse side out and with the wide blade about 6″ lower than the narrow blade
2. Pass the wide blade underneath the narrow blade
3. Loop the wide blade in front of the narrow blade
4. Loop the wide blade in front of the narrow blade again, then pull up behind loop
5. Pull wide up as far as it can go. The knot will begin to form.
6. Pull wide blade down behind slipknot
7. Adjust

Connoisseur’s Corner

• When to Use This Knot: A sharp, slightly fuller, and more angular alternative to the Four-in-Hand.
• Best Collar Pairings: Works well with point, spread, or club collars.

How To Tie An Oriental Knot [Connoisseur Knot #3]

The Oriental knot is the easiest to tie in terms of steps.

One loop creates the knot and one pull-through completes it. This makes a very small knot and is great for tall men, men with long torsos, or very small-framed men whose faces are easily overwhelmed by large tie knots.

1. Start with the tie reverse side out, and with the wide blade about 6″ lower than the narrow blade
2. Pass the wide blade underneath the narrow blade
3. Loop the wide blade in front of the narrow blade and bring it upwards behind the intersection
4. Pull the wide blade up as far as possible
5. Pull the wide blade down through the slipknot
6. Adjust

Connoisseur’s Corner

• When to Use This Knot: The simplest, smallest knot. Good for when you’re in a hurry or for casual settings.
• Best Collar Pairings: The small knot works best with narrow collars, like a point or tab collar.

The Sign of an Expert: The Tie Dimple

You may have heard of something called a “tie dimple.” This is a fold in the fabric just beneath the knot, and necktie enthusiasts tend to feel that the presence of a dimple separates the men from the boys, as it were.

A good dimple helps to hold the tie in place while giving it some added visual interest. A tie without a dimple can look like a limp fish hanging around your neck, while a tie with a dimple comes to life and is indicative of a man who’s in charge of his clothes.

You can create a dimple by simply pressing one into the tie with your fingers after it has been knotted. Ties (silk ones primarily) have “memory,” though, so over time a dimple will occur naturally.

Above, we see a tie with no dimple: lifeless and sloppy. Below, we see a tie with a dimple, full of life and natty as all get-out.

Tie Knots, Face Shapes, and Body Types

While it’s essential that your tie knot sync with your collar, it must sync with you physically before anything else.

Body Types

Generally speaking, small men should tie small knots like 4-in-hands and Orientals, and large men should tie large knots such as Windsors. These proportions sync well, and doing the opposite will make small guys look puny while making large men appear humongous.

Face Shapes

The relationship between tie knots and face shapes mirrors that of glasses with face shapes. In short, you want to emphasize the shape’s strengths while not drawing any attention to its deficiencies. If you don’t know your face shape, you can identify it in five minutes by using our face shape guide.

Men with Square or Round faces tend to do well with conical knots such as the four-in-hand and Pratt knots. The shape of these knots adds length to these faces, which lack them.

Conversely, men with Oblong, Diamond, Heart, and Triangle-shaped faces do better with more symmetrical, horizontally-oriented knots such as the Windsor and half Windsor.

Oval-faced men, lucky as they are, can pretty much get away with any tie knot they wish.

Generally speaking, you’ll want to find the best balance between your body type and face shape when deciding the knots that look best on you. The best way to do this is through experimentation.

Conclusion

It’s not totally necessary to learn a bunch of different ways to tie a tie. In fact, most men end up learning one knot and simply using that one for every last application that they’ll ever have for it. This is fine.

We, though, prefer to have a few options at our disposal. We find it’s best to know one triangular knot, one conical knot, and one small knot, all of which are covered above.

To read more about ties, check out some related guides and expand on your sartorial knowledge:

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