Welcome back to our series about tie knots!
In this video, I'm going to show you how to tie the Windsor knot.
In the late 20s, the Prince of Wales was one of the most popular, most stylish and most
photographed men in the world.
He decided to wear big tie knots and so the term Windsor knot appeared and stood for a
big tie knot.
Interestingly, the Duke of Windsor actually never wore this knot as he said in his biography;
a family album which is very interesting because it talks a lot about his clothes.
Let me read you the quote, " The so-called Windsor knot in the tie was adopted in America
at a later date.
It was, I believe, regulation wear for G.I.s during the war when American college boys
adopted it too.
But in fact,I was in no way responsible for this.
The knot to which the Americans gave my name was a double knot in a narrow tie - a 'slim
jim' as it was sometimes called.
It is true that I myself have always preferred a large knot as looking better than a small
one, so during the nineteen-twenties I devised, in conclave with Mr. Sandford, a tie always
of the broad variety which was reinforced by an extra thickness of material to produce
this effect.
As far as I know, this particular fashion has never been followed in America or elsewhere."
So as you can see, the Duke of Windsor created the size of the tie knot with the interlining
and with the fabrics he used, not with the knot.
This is just another proof that it's not just the knot, it's the tie, the silk, the interlining
and it all plays together in the size and the look of the knot.
That being said, In terms of size the Windsor knot is one of the biggest tie knots out there
at the same time, it's also very popular but what's important to understand is that in
order to tie a Windsor knot, you should A. get a tie that's longer B. it should be thinner
simply because it's such a big knot.
So here, you see me wearing a very thin madder silk tie by Fort Belvedere with paisleys and
the knot is still rather big.
I think it's very popular because of its symmetry although personally, I'm a huge fan of it.
Nevertheless, here is how you tie it.
You want the slim end on your right and the wide end on your left.
The slim end should be about a hand and a half above the waistband.
If you have a shorter tie, it needs to come up much further.
So you'll have to experiment with it and see what works.
Wide end goes from left to the right, up here and pinch it and take the bottom end, come
through here and pull it through.
And then you go to your left side, now's the chance and move the long wide part around
the right side, come up and go through the hole in the back and pull it down.
So what's happening here is you can see you have two knots, one, two.
You pull it a little tight and bring the wide end to the left side and again up, pull it
up and you see the knot forms.
Like usual, bring the wide end through the knot, gently pull and if you want a dimple,
you can pinch on top.
pull it gently through.
If you like the look, pull it up and adjust.
As you can see, this knot is very symmetrical and it's very wide, forms this triangular
shape and that's why you want a wide cutaway spread collar to accommodate this knot with
a classic or medium spread collars, you run into troubles because the collar is going
to cover the edges which looks not very advantageous.
You're much better off with a four in hand knot or a kelvin or a Pratt knot rather than
the full Windsor knot.
Now, what happens if you use a thick tie?
I'll show you.
Here, I have a longer wool blend tie from Fort Belvedere with red herringbone.
I'm going to do the same thing, I'll tie the Windsor knot.
Now this is what the Windsor knot looks like with a thick tie, it basically eats my face.
Personally, I don't like that look.
If you like it, go for it but always bear in mind, full Windsor knots look better with
a slim long tie.
Oftentimes, I see shorter men wear a Windsor knot because the only way for them to get
their long ties to the right length is to choose a bigger knot however, that looks awkward
because they have smaller heads and big knots which just looks overwhelmingly wrong.
Therefore, I created ties in three different sizes.
Some for short men, some for normal men and some for tall men so everybody can wear the
right tie knot and tie size that works best for their personality and the face rather
than having to come up with a gigantic knot so you achieve the right length.
So, if you're a shorter man or taller or normal guy in terms of height, check out our shop
and we have specific ties at specific lengths so you look your best.
If you enjoyed these how to a tie videos and how not to tie them, please sign up for our
list and we'll send these videos right to your inbox.
Thank you!