The Wider Tie Is Creeping Back Into Menswear
By Megan Gustashaw.
Wider is better—or at least it looks that way right now. That's because just about everything in menswear, from pants and sneakers to hair and outerwear, is being shown bigger and looser than its been in a long time. We're not just talking about baggy sweats here either. We're talking about tailoring too; the wider tie and fatter jacket lapels have been adopted by designers, while suit pants are starting to have a little more give as well.
RELATED: How to Tie the Perfect Tie Knot...Better
Some runway trends never quite catch on, but it doesn't look like the wide-tie thing will be one of them. At the end of last year everyman brand J.Crew casually increased the width of its ties (and lapels, too), for example, and the look has been all over the red carpet recently as well. Just last week two menswear heavy-hitters, Jake Gyllenhaal and Luke Evans, wore extra-wide ties for press events—big, fat, 3-4 inchers at that.
While we encourage you to embrace this trend with as much nonchalance as retailers and celebrities, there is a right and wrong way to do it. We’d recommend not going wider than 3” or 3¼" (unless you are Tom Ford or being dressed by Tom Ford) in order to avoid the pizza-slice look that was popular in the ‘70s. In addition to that, you always want to make sure your lapels are in proportion to your tie. So if you’re going big with your neckwear, you want a bold peak lapel jacket and a spread-collar shirt that can stand up to that width. And finally, while prints and colors are OK in moderation, be careful not to veer too far away from classic.
Chargers player Joey Bosa got a little too crazy with his tie—too Trump-shiny, too wide—at the NFL Honors earlier this month, and it served as an example of how quickly things can go off the rails with this trend.
In short, if you've been wearing Hedi Slimane-approved 2" ties for the last ten years, walk before you run.
This story originally appeared on GQ.
More from GQ:
Cristiano Ronaldo Has Mankind's Greatest Body
Brad Pitt's 50 Most Stylish GQ Moments
The Hottest Women of the 21st Century
