TIED DOWN

The tie becoming redundant can be traced to the rise of our current metrosexual era where gender roles are blurred and men don’t need to act male. Many more companies are promoting elastic dress codes and even formal dressing isn’t so formal anymore. The new millionaires,the techies,famously have a contemptuous attitude to ties,and might have contributed to its slow demise.
According to an international report on tie sales worldwide released last year,the proportion of men in professional jobs who buy ties has dropped from 70 per cent in 1996 to less than 56 per cent today.

However,it’s not all over for the tie in India just yet. Satya Paul,a popular brand of contemporary saris,stocks a large variety of ties in fabrics like silk,manmade fibres and yarns. The occasional splashes of colour the ties a modern look. They are priced between Rs 795 and Rs 5,000. “It’s not a huge market . We’ve introduced a clubbing range of ultra-slim ties in deep burgundy and cuff links to match,” says Jyoti Narula,managing director of Genesis that owns the Satya Paul brand.

He believes the tie is not going away from a man’s wardrobe anytime soon. “Remember,day to day,a tie is the only way a man can express his mood. Women can wear a red dress,we can’t wear red shirts. But we can wear red ties,” says Narula. Similarly,Tikka Shatrujit Singh,advisor,Louis Vuitton emphatically states that ties can never go out of fashion. “Every man wears one for a job interview and that will never change,” says Singh.

At Vuitton,the tie is an important image category even if it isn’t a huge contributor to the bottomline. “Clients use them for gifting purposes,” he says. For those who still subscribe to the old world charm of ties but want to remain fashionable,the conventional wisdom of dark suits with bright ties need not apply. The Eighties trend of skinny ties,of a two-finger width are back. However,designers warn they should never be worn with wide collared shirts. “There are no hard and fast rules,” says Arora who recommends trying ties with rolled up,capped,short sleeves. The conservative workplace may frown upon a skinny tie. But then,what use is fashion if it isn’t a bit edgy?