Why Are Donald Trump's Ties So Long?
At Friday's inauguration, amid all the processions and speeches and meals, there was one thing that proved to be a distraction all day: the ridiculous length of the president's tie.
I wrote last week about why Donald Trump needs to start buttoning his suit jacket, and just as important is that he begin paying attention to the length of his neckties. I'm not alone in this; Esquire and GQ have already weighed in on the topic. I've always believed that the proper length for a man's tie hovers somewhere around his belt buckle, and T&C Style Director Whitney Robinson confirmed to me that men's ties should always extend only "to the tip of your pants."
But Trump's dangle way below that, and it's been an ongoing issue for the businessman-turned-politician that dates at least to the early days of The Apprentice:
The issue is that Trump has a unique way of tying his ties, making the longer end significantly longer than the shorter tail. The tail is so short, in fact, that the president has to resort to scotch tape to keep it in place-the loop on the back of a men's tie is designed for exactly this purpose, but Trump's trying strategy results in a tail that's too short to reach the loop.
So why is this?
I called up Andy Tarshis, who runs a New York City business, Tiecrafters, which has been cleaning, altering, and generally obsessing over ties since 1952. I asked what he thought about the reason behind the length of Trump's ties, which, if they match his suits, would be made by Brioni.
"Brioni ties are typically a little longer than other brands' standard length," Tarshis said. "I just had a customer bring in some Brioni ties for cleaning, and this tie was around 59-60 inches. Most ties are 58-ish."
A spokesman at Brioni confirmed that the standard length of the ties the company sells today is 150 centimeters, which converts to just over 59 inches.
So Trump's ties seem to be longer than most (Tiecrafters could help him by shortening them), a problem compounded by his method for tying them. But here's the thing-they weren't always so long. Take a look at this photo from 1984:
The tie's length is spot-on, right to the top of Trump's trousers!
So how'd he go from that-to this?
Well, there's something else that changed in the years since Trump was a young real-estate developer: his weight. Our new president produced a letter from his doctor last fall reporting that he was 6-foot-3 and weight 236 pounds, which put him in the "overweight" category, according to the body mass index (skeptics questioned that assessment, arguing that Trump isn't that tall and could weigh at least a few pounds more, which, if true, would bump him up to the "obese" category).
One fashion source I talked to said that the worst tie mistake a heavyset man can make is to have a tie that's too short, "because if you have a big a stomach and the tie ends and it's sort of laying on top of the stomach, it exaggerates the size of the waist."
Trump's tactic of tying his tie too long ensures he'll never need to worry about it resting on his paunch.
But it just looks silly. So please, Mr. President, consider getting your ties shortened or revising your Windsor knot approach. If nothing else, you wouldn't need to use so much Scotch Tape.
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