Throw Back Thursday: The Origins of The Necktie and Return of the Bow Tie

“You always feel better about yourself when you work to look your best, which means you project that image to others. They take notice.”

Photo: Fashion-forward FSO Experience Director  Shawn Curwen 

opts for the Bow Tie

Good Morning Folks,

One of our most popular posts provides guidance on proper business attire. Then in a Throw Back Thursday post we showcased the history of court attire going way back to customs of white powdered wigs and black robes… still used in the Supreme Court and some countries (such as you've seen if you've been watching the judge to the left in news clips of the Pistorius trial).

What she wears that also distinguishes Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (who remarked in a Katie Couric Yahoo interview today saying when asked if the 82-year old would retire soon, she responded that she's not ready to hang up her Jabot).

Jabot?

Jabots survive in the present as components of various official costumes. The white bibs of judges of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany are officially described as jabots, as are those worn by judges and counsel throughout Australian courts. Jabots are prescribed attire for barristers appearing before the Supreme Court of South Australia.

French magistrate court dress and French academic dress include a jabot, called Rabat. It is usually of plain cotton, except that of academic high officials, which is made of lace.

In the United States Supreme Court, jabots are worn by some female justices, but are not mandatory. Both United States Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor often wear jabots with their judicial robes;Justice Elena Kagan, in contrast, does not.

The Speaker of the British House of Commons also wears a jabot along with a black and gold robe and lace frills.

Jabots continue to be worn as part of the highest formal Scottish evening attire and a former part of Scottish highland dance costumes from the 1930s to the 1970s. They are usually worn with high-necked jackets or doublets (Sheriffmuir or Montrose), often with matching cuffs for both genders and a fly plaid of the same tartan as the kilt, draped over-the-shoulder for men.

But here in the USA,. the necktie still rules. So...

Today we share Jennifer Busch's LinkedIn article "The Origin of the Necktie" -- Jennifer, over to you.

While the tie as we know it is a fairly modern invention, specific neckwear was worn by Romans in a similar way to accentuate and identify the military or in sports today to identify a team or troop. 

Cravat, which has become universal for tie origins are based in the Croatian mercenary’s terminology.  

The Croatian mercenary’s who fought with the French during the 30 Years War wore cloth around their necks both as decoration and to tie their shirts. “Croat” became “cravat” and the origins of the necktie were born. King Louis IV, who wore lace cravats when he was a boy, liked cravats so much he made them mandatory attire at Royal gatherings. Soon enough, the always chic Parisian nobility started wearing them and the cravat craze spread to other parts of Europe. 

The natural progression from the cravat was the bow tie. While the bow tie has evolved over time the early renditions were difficult to knot and easily loosened, making them impractical for men who worked in physically demanding jobs. By the beginning of the 20th century, instead of being tied into a bow, the fabric was knotted to hang down from the neck. This is how the necktie came into fashion. Made from silk, it often had stripes. 

While it was easier to knot than a bow tie, it was hard to keep the fabric straight. 

In 1924 an American tailor, Jesse Langsdorf, tried cutting the fabric at a 45-degree angle across the silk’s grain to see if it would stop the problem of curling at the bottom and give the tie a neater, sleeker look. He also cut the fabric into three sections, two equally long sides and a shorter piece to go around the neck in such as way so that the seams would match. This design also made it easier for men to loosen the tie without it becoming undone. 

What became known as the Langsdorf tie has been the standard for the last 90 years. While patterns, fabrics, lengths and widths have come and gone, the basic cut has not changed. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it and this accessory has seemed to work well for men, and even women, who want to spice up their look.

Speaking of ties, have you seen the 12-year-old 'kidpreneur' who captured the hearts and minds of ABC's Shark Tank panel and has Daymond of FUBU fame as his personal mentor?

This kid named MO has the FSO skip, fire and twinkle for sure and is bound for greatness. 


Moziah Bridges didn't get an investment when he stood before Shark Tank's panel of five angel investors looking for financial help to grow his bow tie business. He got something much more—a mentor.

Daymond John, the founder of the FUBU clothing line. John said that back in 1989, when his company was nothing more than a few hats, he rejected an offer for $10,000 for 40 percent of that company. Ten years later, that equity would have been worth $40 million.

According to his website Mo's Bows, "Mo's Bows is a company I started in Memphis, TN in 2011 when I was just 9 years old. I couldn't find fun and cool bow ties, so one day I decided to use my Granny's scrap fabric to make and sell my own. I like to wear bow ties because they make me look good and feel good. Designing a colorful bow tie is just part of my vision to make the world a fun and happier place." Love it!

Whether MO achieves his goal of bringing back the bow-tie remains to be seen. But some of our most fashionable leaders like Shawn Curwen have already embraced it. As long as I don't have to wear a powered wig and gown to call on a law firm (lol), I'm good with diversity in dress.

And remember even those who are not expected to wear a suit and tie everyday shouldn't forgo all style and fashion sensibility. 

Here are LinkUPs that will help you dress for success:

What IS Business Casual?

3 Tips For Expressing Your Style And Enhancing Your Personal Brand

What You Wear to the Office Still Matters

Have fun kids and you MUST.. ENJOY THE RIDE... we are a blessed and excited group!

Have a GREAT day as I look forward to seeing all of you soon.

Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer

Throw Back Thursday: Court Attire

"In Europe, a man in a white wig stands in the centre of a crowded courtroom, his. The biggest influence exercised by defence lawyers on trials. Those wigs don't come cheap: Lawyers can earn £1,000 from the taxpayer even for cases which are rejected outright at the first hurdle."

Good Morning Folks,

I am often asked why the Silicon Valley workers get a pass and have made casual Fridays (even hoodies, shorts and skate boards) standard attire, while those of us working in New York still dress up?

We'll if you think it's bad here, you should see the courts in Britain, a style of address we adapted in the United Stated, thankfully only briefly.

Here's a throw back this Thursday via WikiPedia:

Judicial court dress[edit]

Group photo of United States Supreme Court Justices from 2009. Optional formal dress can be seen under the robes, such as bow ties. Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg also wear lace jabots

During the early history of the United States, the court dress of judges and practicing lawyers closely mirrored British court dress of the 18th century; both wore white powdered wigs and (typically) black robes in the lower courts, and in the higher ones, judges would wear red with black markings. The practice fell out of favor and died out by the mid-nineteenth century.

Today, generally judges of both state and federal courts are free to select their own courtroom attire. The most common choice is a plain black robe which covers the torso and legs, with sleeves. Female judges will sometimes add to the robe a plain white collar or lace jabot. Beneath the robes business attire is standard.

William Cushing, showing early U.S. Supreme Court dress, with a wig

Until the tenure of Chief Justice John Marshall, all Supreme Court justices wore red robes with ermine trim and full-bottomed wigs, reminiscent of British court dress. Marshall, however, eschewed this formality and began the practice of only wearing a black silk robe, with no wig. In 1994, Chief Justice William Rehnquistadded four gold bars (similar in appearance to captain insignia in the US Navy) to each sleeve of his black robe, but the change in his attire (he had been Chief Justice since 1986) was his own innovation and was inspired by a production of the operetta Iolanthe, rather than any historical precedent. His successor, John G. Roberts, chose to stick with the traditional plain black robe.

Some Supreme Court justices (including Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, and Stephen Breyer) maintain the ancient legal practice of wearing large black skullcaps, in their case when wearing their robes outdoors in cold weather (for example, at presidential inaugurations in January.)

Many state supreme court justices wear unique styles of robes, the most notable being the Maryland Court of Appeals, where all judges wear red, and British-style tab collars. The judges of the Delaware Superior Court continue to wear the red sashes or baldrics of their British predecessors, albeit now only on ceremonial occasions.

Some judges eschew special dress entirely and preside over their courts in normal business wear. This is often seen among administrative law judges who preside over relatively informal administrative hearings.

Attorney court dress[edit]

Lawyers wear normal business attire in courts of all levels. During the second-wave feminism movement in the 1970s, some judges forbade female attorneys from wearing trousers when appearing in court, but pantsuits are now widely accepted. Like judges, American attorneys do not wear wigs.

Until the 1970s, morning dress was required of all attorneys appearing before the United States Supreme Court by the Court's rules. Even after the Court abolished the requirement, the Office of the Solicitor General maintained the practice. When the Solicitor General (or any of the deputies) appears before the U.S. Supreme Court, he wears morning dress, with striped trousers, grey ascot, waistcoat, and a cutaway morning coat.^[9] A feminized version is sometimes worn by female deputies, which consists of the same garments tailored to female measurements. Former Solicitor General Elena Kagan, the only woman to hold the office to date, appeared before the Court in pantsuits in lieu of morning dress. The traditional female equivalent of morning dress (a formal gown) is strictly for social purposes, so it would be inappropriate attire for appearances before the nation's highest court.^{[10][broken citation]} The Court's Marshal and Clerk of both genders also wear morning dress when the Court is in session.

I wonder what our kids will be saying about the way we dress for court and to call on lawyers and bankers twenty years from now?

FSO USA is going to dominate the USA. And we cannot do it without you. So Inspire your teams. And help me light up the nation. 

Thanks for reading. Thanks for believing. And thanks for being here. 

Have a GREAT Day. Love Life.

I'll be a seeing you soon.

Mitchell D. Weiner

Chief Happiness Officer