Ties Have Sex Appeal

Hot Ties - Sexy Neckties - Modern Sex Appeal - click here for the collection

Neckties Are Sexy; Really

It isn't just the charisma, or the successful and stylish look of men in ties that attracts women. Men wearing suits and ties command attention because it is a fashion statement of pure individual expression. Nothing else in a gentleman's wardrobe even comes close to the polished look of ties with such style and attraction.

A little humor never hurt anyone so an explanation of necktie sex appeal in a humorous way seems fitting. Keeping with the tone of having fun and adding satire to many of the articles in this blog this one is a bit silly and a bit serious. It is beyond me why so many guys just hate ties to death so if I can make fun of myself and neckties maybe they will have a change of heart, maybe not.


The ever stylish Frank Sinatra - he 
wrote the rules on looking sharp

There is a funny theory among myself and a few friends why a man wearing a tie is considered to have more sex appeal according to women.

There are some who would suggest that wearing a necktie cuts off circulation to the brain, causing a guy to be in a sort of in agony. If this were true, then how come the world’s smartest and greatest leaders, including the most successful businessmen wear neckties religiously and they look everything but in distress. The gentlemen that take their attire seriously are usually very rich and very powerful. It could be possible that if true and there is a restriction of blood flow as a result of wearing a tie, the brain is forced to work harder which explains why men who wear ties are usually very successful.  However there may be a side effect.  Additionally, women are wearing ties more and more which may create competition is sex appeal and the pursuit of success acquiring wealth.  Regardless, this does prove further, how sexy ties are.


Daniel Craig 007 Casino Royal

The guys that wear suits and ties, dressing up, have firm control of their lives and they really do know how to live, enjoying a very exciting life style. They are the meaning of success, driving fast cars, wining and dining, and not alone as they are popular. Being well groomed affords great respect. Wearing neckties is very personal and what the tie says is unique to each own. It is a greater self confidence that results and the expressed personality that makes a guy interesting resulting in attracting circles of friends who are equally self assured. If a guy wants to win he will not surround himself with losers.

So men who wear ties are a special sort, now more than ever. If you wear ties then you know about the feeling of being on top of the world. It was Al Pacino in Scar Face who declared "The World Is Yours," If a man is serious and he dresses the part then the potential is limitless. The old adage "it's a man's world," whatever it is a man can have it if he puts his mind to it, achieving anything is possible.

“I wear a tie every day – that’s what certainly separates me from those guys who are afraid to put a noose around there neck every day.”

It is a joke in the neck wear business that hits home. So wearing neckties sets a man apart; that man has everything he desires because he is thoughtful about his appearance and self assured.  Men who wear ties also have very beautiful women for friends. Could it be that because when a man wears a necktie, the blood flow is indeed restricted to the brain, and some of their thinking is done with the wrong head – causing great complications trying to juggle responsibilities. Which, in-itself actually may explain why they can get into so much trouble.




Ryan Gosling GQ Magazine

Therefore if the brain is starved of oxygen, it forces the other brain to work at a greater pace, which in turn reaches the most important quest of all – the slaying of beautiful women? I do not mean slaying in a harmful way, but it sounds better then conquering. Men do conquer - that is what we do. I read somewhere that the necktie is a male phallic symbol - whatever that means and whatever it suggests? None-the-less the verdict is in, ties make a guy a lady killer, and no I do not mean that in a harmful way as well. Women just seem to melt in the company of a well dressed man. And if that man is wearing a necktie and the lady gets close enough she will fondle it, the ladies do like silk and maybe the male phallic symbol too. Let’s just say a man in a tie is a natural swooner.

Thus, supporting the theory once and for all, men in ties are sexier because ties are sexy.

Sexy neckties

Men i suit and ties have greater sex appeal

Now, the potential pitfall of the sex appealing necktie and attracting the ladies. Mae West said "too much of a good thing is wonderful" - but trust me too much of the lady thing can really wear guy down. If it is too many ladies ( a guy needs to rest ) or if the guy is spoken for and he causes the fatal attraction syndrome to happen by looking really suave in a suit a tie and commanding the charisma - style routine etc. - he can wind up in a heap of trouble. If the personality and self confidence results in becoming a politician or an actor then behaving correctly is a must.

While I was researching facts and images for this article on Google I discovered Hot Ties and their great photos of sexy babes wearing their really sexy ties. I also discovered another blog post illustrating a re-invention of 40's "Belly Warmer Ties or Peek-a-Boo tie" - a necktie with a picture of a sexy pin up girl on the reverse side. Miss Feeney’s Ties bringing sexy back to the fashion of furnishings on Zoot Patrol - definitely related to this article so check it out. Zoot Patrol had some very interesting articles about the diverse world we live in and the way out fashion ideals and or other stuff that makes civilization so unpredictable and special. One in particular could not have been a timelier find as I had already continued on the very subject. They outline "The Eight Best Former U.S. President Sex Scandals." Read a brief synopsis further below.


A really sexy necktie

Men are sexier in suits and ties

Considering President Bill Clinton’s escapades in the White  House and the other usual sticky situations that successful guys get into, it is really quite simple to figure out how such things can happen . While their brains are working on overload due to a restriction of blood flow; their other brain is taking over, in-turn coloring things up a few notches. The other head is controlling body language, desire, agenda, and dictating behavior.  Surely these men must have figured this out, which must be the real reason why those guys really wear those neckties every day. Thinking with the wrong head can be boring.  Sometimes the brain gets in the way of what is most important - encounters with women. 

The conclusion: neckties are sexy.  Once you really think through the phenomenon of wearing neckties or not and what it really means, we can conclusively understand why things work the way they do or maybe don't work.

A really sexy Necktie Fashion Show

Check out our sister blog Too Sexy Ties

Check out Miss Feeney's Finery and the Peek A Boo Ties 

This on-line necktie catalogue is exactly to the point really sexy ties and models at Hot Ties

Political Sex Scandals at Zoot Patrol

Political sex scandals are as old as time. For centuries -– eons really -– power has been proven to be the ultimate aphrodisiac. Indeed, from Caesar and Cleopatra to King Henry VIII and the headless bodies of his many wives, sex scandals have rocked the civilized world. Of course, our very own presidents have etched their names into the annals of those renowned historical texts like Penthouse and Hustler, proving yet again that even the rich and powerful –- or maybe especially the rich and the powerful –- are prey to the whims of their, uh, little presidents. The following is a list of eight United States presidents who failed to veto the legislation put before them by the legislature, and by the legislature, I of course mean their penises.  You guessed right, Bill Clinton, J.F.K, Thomas Jefferson, and 5 more that I had no idea of.  This is great reading. The Complete article - They just could not keep their pants on.

Not to forget a really great British sex scandal that was world wide headline news.  It is no doubt a necktie story - read the romantic tale The Mystery of the Windsor Necktie Knot on our retail site.  It should be called "Sex Appeal and How the World found Out How He Made His Windsor Necktie Knot."

Can A Guy Own Too Many Ties?

Imelda Marcos Had Over 3,000 Pairs of Shoes?

Novelty Neckties - I Just Cannot Stop!

I have a thing for ties, not just ties - it is novelty ties like Marvel Comics Super Heroes Spiderman neckties, or Van Gogh Art neckties - Starry Night and really wild fashion neckties. When is it a compulsion and not just a desire to have a sufficient collection and is there difference? How many ties are too many?

Apparently I am not alone.  I searched Google after I published this one - you gotta check out the photo of this guy's wife - it's priceless - her husband has 771 ties, neatly rolled, in copy-paper box lids. luckily, they have large closets Her husband and I are "birds of a feather" He's lucky he has such a nice wife that puts up with his tie issues. I envy him, not for his ties - I have plenty of my own.

How many ties should a guy own?  How many ties do you own? - you are welcome to leave a comment below or take our survey on a Flickr discussion we started 

I absolutely love wearing ties and do not consider it a bad thing to have so many. I certainly do not harm anyone in anyway by collecting them. It is not like I have storage containers full of neckties like Imelda Marcus had filled with shoes. The wife of late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos made the “list of the greediest people of all time” in Newsweek Magazine a couple of years ago. I will admit she was a bit over board, but women do have a thing for shoes, don’t they. I remember calculating how many shoes she had purchased and how many weeks an adult could live on the average - wearing a new pair of shoes every week, she came up short on weeks. So, she had a surplus – is that a bad thing. Some people collect guns – they are dangerous, or dolls – they are not dangerous or Playboy Magazines – they may or may not be dangerous. I collect ties; I also make a living selling them. So, this is not just a silly hobby, it is a profession. There is nothing wrong with trying to make an honest buck is there?

Sure, I own a lot of ties; my personal collection that is. Now for the Internet Store Nice Tie Store but that’s another story – over 100,000 to date in stock. But those are for sale and they do not count. My personal stash of novelty ties - is what I am talking about. It’s quite a selection of unique fashion ties and the fun stuff like, the Wolverine, Silver Surfer, Spy vs. Spy in silk by Ralph Marlin and so on. For fashion I own many Portofino and Martin Wong ties, and collector item neckwear; Electric - Rush Limbaugh neckties. I have never counted them however estimates range at 400 – 500 neckties that are absolutely tie guy gems. Factoring in the “being fashionably correctness” values I believe I am just about right on the inventory. There are 364 days in a year and an extra day every 4 years so if I wore the same tie within a year to a place I have been to and anyone realized it I would be at very least completely embarrassed. After all, I do have a reputation to maintain. I always wanted to be the best at everything, so collecting ties in such a serious way became natural for me. Sadly enough, often, I would feel remorse at times selling a tie – like it was too nice to let it go especially if it was the last one. I have many regrets that is for sure.

Too Sexie Ties - Irvine Spectrum

I always think about ties, how their made, how to tie ‘em, and most important thing; how to sell ‘em. One thing is for sure, I possibly may have really taken too many home. Some I have never worn and there are some that I have two of by mistake. My walls are covered with neckties and they are even double and triple hanging. Even the coat rack is covered with ties. When I wake up it is the first thing I see, hundreds and hundreds of cool neckties. And when I sleep, well I’ll be honest I don’t sleep with any, however, I do dream about them. I will admit, I have slept with a few still tied around my neck, but then again, I had my shoes on, the suit, and the rest of the trimmings too.

Too Sexie Ties Novelty Necktie Collection - Irvine Spectrum

Have I always been a nut, for ties?  I’ve always loved ties - mostly, however there was a brief time that I did not like ties very much. 

Explaining this is quite simple; I must have been hung in a prior life, and could not stand to have anything tight around my neck. I was young and immature then. When I became a sophisticated man who appreciated the finer things in life; like a great bottle of wine and the company of a beautiful woman, I completely fell in love with ties.  It was as if I had a special power – a boost of self esteem when I wore ties.  So I admit it, I had a hate for ties which is hard to imagine as now I’m so fascinated by neckties now that it is actually out of control at times.  You might say that I am obsessed with ties.  I am planning to make a will soon giving everything I own, the necktie collection, the classical music CD collection and the DVD collection too to my son however he may not have the ties unless he will wear them.  If he does not agree to this then the tie collection is out if the deal and a moderator will find a museum for them. 

I guess it has become a problem. My friends think I should talk to someone about it. “So what if I am a bit eccentric and collect ties, I really don’t think it is such a big deal – is it.”

The famous, not - the infamous necktie salesman, Jeffrey Hunter - Nice Tie Store, formally Too Sexie Ties, the Irvine Spectrum Center.

Imelda R. Marcos (born Imelda Remedios Visitacion Romualdez on July 2, 1929) is currently a politician in the Philippines and was wife of 10th Philippine President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos. Upon the ascension of her husband to political power, she held various positions to the government until 1986.  She was a controversial first lady who $5-million shopping sprees to New York and Rome, reportedly owned the world’s largest collections of gems fine art by Botticelli, and Michelangelo, purchased more than 3,000 pairs of shoes.”  The former first lady was also known for holding extravagant parties for foreign dignitaries during the reign of her husband.

Read more Imelda Marcos Wikipedia - the Internet's Encyclopedia

Read more: Newsweek's Greediest People of All Time

A discussion I started on

How Many Ties Do You Own



Another forum that explores the question How many ties should a guy own

Visit Nice Tie Store - Novelty Neckties and Fashion Ties

Men Who Wear Necktie - Not an Actual Study



Men Who Wear Neckties


Not an actual study of men who wear ties by Internationally recognized expert “Big Ed” and endorsed by Louie the Lip, Guido, Needle Nose, Vinnie from the Bronx, and other experts in style and being a “mench” ( Yiddish for gentleman ). As illustrated in the graph above, the average male by dressing with sophistication not only gets to the top by wearing neckties he gets the beautiful women too. That is because where there’s money; there will always be beautiful women. Often than not getting the big money requires serious attire. You will usually not see a wealthy man doing business dressed poorly. Therefore this chart also illustrates frequency of encounters with beautiful women as well as accumulation of wealth.


This one is for fun, if I had to be serious all of the time I would have a real job and I would not be selling neckties nor writing about them. One long a dreadful day attempting to sell ties at the Irvine Spectrum Center where I had a kiosk I decided to explore what I could create with Window’s Office Excel. All I needed after that was something to say.

Death of the Necktie

Hold onto the eulogy - ties are not going to die anytime soon. There is still a great demand for neckties and in the last two years the necktie has seen a resurgence in men's fashion - Jeffrey Hunter

On June 14th 2008 USA Today did a story about the necktie and whether or not ties were headed to oblivion. The acceptance of casual dress has caused the necktie industry to take a severe blow - at somewhere around 20% from the peak in sales of ties in the beginning of the 70's when 200 million to 250 million ties were sold each year. With the market shrinking and the recession taking a toll on consumer spending many manufacturers have shut the doors or at the very least cut back on operations. Unique and specialty ties have been discontinued from 2000 and over the last five years or so some necktie icons like Tabasco, Endangered Species, Looney Tunes, and much of the Ralph Marlin line of novelty ties have seen their end. However men still wear ties and there is a niche market now for special novelty neckties, especially on-line.

Here are segments of the USA Today piece if you missed it: 

The necktie, knot what it used to be, still hangs on

.......Predictions of the necktie's demise have been circulating for years. In the mid-1990s, designer Gianni Versace offered his vision of male fashion in a coffee-table book titled "Men Without Ties," a sure sign of where things were headed. A bronzed Adonis dashed across its cover dressed in nothing but a few ties, lashed loosely around his waist.


The burgeoning popularity of casual Fridays turned khakis and open collar-shirts into suitable wear for workplaces previously better suited to suits. The dot-com boom filled thousands of instant offices with laid-back twentysomethings who saw no point in lashing something tight around their necks.

But rumors of the tie's death are roughly equivalent to the longtime predictions that the computer would soon turn society paperless. There's a lot of truth to the prognostication, but somehow it hasn't quite turned out that way.

Clearly, the tie business is nothing like the old days. In the early 1970s, when sales peaked, manufacturers sold between 200 million and 250 million ties a year in the U.S. Today annual sales have dropped to about 50 million, according to Lee Terrill, president of the neckwear division of Phillips-Van Heusen Corp., the nation's largest tie maker.

A Gallup poll last year found just 6% of men wearing neckties to work each day, down from 10% in 2002. More than two-thirds of the men surveyed said they never wear a tie to work, up from 59% five years earlier.  But the necktie still has its defenders and devotees, men who invest the kind of affection in their ties that a golf shirt will probably never know.

"A lot of people call me the Tie Guy," says Bob Smith, the outgoing provost and vice chancellor of academic affairs at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark.  Smith has a collection of more than 400 ties in his closets. They are vital accessories in a job requiring him to deliver many speeches and presentations — more than 700 in the past eight years. Every Smith speech is punctuated with a tie themed to the subject.  A tie with a giraffe on it for a speech about the qualities that make a good supervisor, one who is able to raise his head above the fracas to see the landscape clearly. Another featuring a painting by Charles Rennie Mackintosh of a rose inside a teardrop that he saves for delivering eulogies.

"When I walk into a room, they'll look at my necktie, they'll actually pick it up when I walk in, and say 'Oh, what are you going to talk about today? and I'll say, 'Oh, wait and see.' It actually creates a sense of mystery," Smith says.  Smith's collection, though, pales compared to the more than 1,000 ties owned by Richard Arutunian, a retired Southern California neckwear manufacturer.   Arutunian rejects this talk that the tie has come undone. A tie is singularly irreplaceable, he says, uniquely capable of sending a message about its wearer to women and to his fellow men.  "To me it tells more about the person than even the shoe does," says Arutunian, who long served as official tie historian for the neckwear industry association's predecessor. "Is he trying to impress me? Is he wearing a tie because he has to wear that tie? How is he tying that knot?"

Wearing cloth around the neck stretches back a long way. Some trace the modern tie to the early 1600s when Croatian fighters looped fabric around their necks before battle, captivating the public's imagination. 

Hard to believe, but for most of history men were the peacocks of the fashion world, and that included draping their necks in all sorts of status symbols, from waterfall cloths to cravats, says Paula Baxter, who curated an exhibit that closed last year at the New York Public Library on the rakish history of men's wear.  "Even the Puritans. They would wear lace collars," she says.

The era of the male dandy ended in the late 19th century, when the uniformity of the tailored suit took over. In the early 1920s, neckwear makers began cutting cloth on the bias — diagonally, at an angle to the weave — and the modern tie was born. It found a welcome home on the necks of the expanding ranks of white-collar workers.  By the 1960s, 600 companies made ties in the U.S., mostly smaller, regional manufacturers. They banded together in a professional association that lobbied on their behalf.

Those days are long past.

"The number you have dialed is not in service at this time," a recording greeted callers to the New York offices of the Dress Furnishings Association this week. "Please check the area code and number and dial your call again."  Don't bother.

Today there are only about two dozen companies making ties in the U.S., and the business is dominated by huge firms. Many of the ties American men wear are made overseas. It didn't seem to make any sense to keep running an association built for an industry so fundamentally different from what it used to be, says Terrill, the neckwear business executive and a member of the association's board.  "We didn't think anybody would notice," he says, of the decision to close.  Instead, the association's closure has been greeted as confirmation that the tie is done. 
The suggestion alarms Terrill, who says that sales have steadied and ties are poised to make a modest comeback. 

There are still a few islands of tie-wearers. Lawyers and folks in finance and insurance work in offices where suits and tie remain the badges of professionalism.  "When you wear a tie it still says ... you're dressed for the occasion," says Amy Klaris, a retail strategist at consulting firm Kurt Salmon Associates.  Today, with the economy softening, men need to market themselves and a big part of that is the way they dress. That will send the pendulum swinging, albeit subtly, back to the suit and tie, Terrill says.

In the past 10 or 15 years, as dress codes loosened, men who'd always worn ties "were making a statement. I'm not going to wear a tie because I don't have to wear a tie," Terrill says. "But now so many people don't wear a tie, that it's a statement to wear one."

read the entire story USA TODAY

check out Nice Tie Store's necktie collection

A few related posts

Men In Ties

I Love Ties

Men in Ties

Notes in the Key of Life From the Archives: Men in Ties by Cindy Swanson
Sunday, February 06, 2011


Ben Affleck wearing a black suit and 
charcoal tie

I found this blog post today which interestingly enough continues from an earlier post that concerned necktie popularity as reported in USA Today about two and a half years ago. Revisiting this question is a means of understanding if ties are becoming less popular or regained the attraction this fashion accessory once commanded. I am planning a similar study of this issue that actually has great emotion attached. Some men actually hate ties as if they were a threat to their freedom of personality. You may want to check out a post I made nearly ten months ago called “I love ties” check it out  - which started out as a response to a blog post I found called “die necktie die.”

The study that I plan to execute on line and in a multiple choice questionnaire will be affectionately called TIE WARS - Jeffrey Hunter

Delving into the archives for a story about whether men's ties are disappearing off the scene. How about you? Do you like to see men in ties? Are you a man who hates/loves them?


Cary Grant

On June 17, 2008, USA Today ran an article questioning whether men's ties were disappearing off the scene. Over two years later, ties are still going strong, and men are still looking great in them! Following is my original post: The USA Today article - find it here  “The necktie, knot what it used to be, still hangs on”

Are neckties going the way of the buffalo?

Photos of some popular movie stars wearing ties that surely set trends in men's fashion. 

Russel Crowe

After Father's Day-the day probably most associated with the giving of ties, save as Christmas presents - USA Today questions whether the necktie will "hang on" much longer.  The story reports that "the recent decision by the Men's Dress Furnishings Association--the trade group for America's neckwear makers--to shut down has some folks tied up in knots."

Admittedly, we're living in the day of Casual Friday....and Monday...and Tuesday...etc. The tie is not the icon it used to be. The story cites a Gallup poll that found just 6 per cent of men wearing neckties to work each day, down from10 percent in 2002. More than two-thirds of the men surveyed said they never wear a tie to work.

Robert Redford

However, there are still men who enjoy dressing up and looking sharp. "When you wear a tie it still says ... you're dressed for the occasion," the story quotes Amy Klaris, a retail  strategist at consulting firm Kurt Salmon Associates.

I can sympathize with men who think a tie feels like a noose around their neck. I don't know if I would enjoy wearing one all the time, just as, being a woman, I wouldn't want to have to wear high-heeled shoes all the time. However, I do think my husband looks gorgeous when he's dressed up in a suit and tie...and I would hate to see the necktie die out completely.


Daniel Craig

When I originally posted this story, I got some great comments from readers. Here are a few:

Kay: I love to see a man dressed up! But I have often wondered who first decided to tie a piece of fabric around their neck and call it fashionable... It is a strange practice, really.

Joel: I personally think neckties were designed by Torquemada.Another problem I have. My neck is too large for the size shirt I wear. If I get a shirt with a large enough neck, the sleeves are too long. They used to have extenders for necks, but they're increasingly hard to find.  So I either wear turtlenecks or just an open shirt. I'll wear a tie to a funeral, but that's about it.

Randy (a former co-worker of mine): I will always believe in ties. Even when one of our co-workers at the station begged us all to go to tieless attire, I still wore one a lot. Maybe you remember that. I still believe that a tie is a standard of professional dress and should be. Sure, I did tire at times of them, but if a man wears the proper neck size shirt, you can get used to the tie. However, I come from the old school of thought.

Ann-Marie: Josh Holloway would look good in a suit made out of garbage. But he looks extra yummy in a tie. (and no garbage)

Lea: I love a man in a tie, especially mine and thank goodness, he is still very much a believer in the tie. Such a professional and polished look! Love it!

So, how do YOU feel about men in ties? I'd love to get some more great comments! What do you think? Please post below - Cindy
 
Notes In The Key Of Life - Cindy's Blog


Men in ties at Nice tie Store