His Point of View

OK, this post serves two purposes

Purpose #1 if you know that there is a proper type of know to wear with various shirt collar styles I will simply provide you a link to see videos on how to tie many of the most common types of knots  http://www.youtube.com/user/avvi66

Purpose #2-  If you don’t know the reason why your tie doesn’t quite look right (provided the colors & patterns work well together) with that shirt you are wearing I need to provide a little help with selecting the proper knot for your shirt collar.

photos below are from www.brooksbrothers.com

“Windsor” knots are for shirts with a very wide collar, and traditionally these knots are used for formal ocassions, but I say if the knot fits wear it.

“Half Windsor” knots look very similar to Windsor knots, but they are adapted to fit a shirt collar slightly smaller than one which a Windsor knot would be suitable for.  Notice that the shirt collar above is a bit more wide open than the shirt pictured to the left.

The “four-in-hand” or “simple” knot is probably the knot you were first taught you to tie as a young man.  This is one of the easiest knots and it is the general purpose knot.  Unless your collar is very wide this knot will likely work.  This knot is widely used with button down collar type shirts and with ties that are wide.

If you have a wide tie you may want to consider the “small knot.”  But remember that this knot is not just for fat ties, but if your collar is closed in you may need to consider this knot as well.








This is only a small sample of the many types of tie knots.  These are the few knots which I have found will get most men through most situations… Of notable mention are the “bow tie” knot which I did not cover as you will surely know when you need this type of knot and the “Prince Albert” knot which is useful if your shirt collar is long.  Some of these knots go by many names so read carefully to make sure you are learning about the correct knot.