In the early 1800s, plantation owners in America's Deep South found the heat to be too intense to be comfortable in lace or silk cravats.
As an alternative, the Southern aristocrats chose to wear wide ribbons tied in a bow.
Thus, worn with a low-collared shirt, the plantation tie was born.
As early Americans pushed west across the continent, the plantation tie found favor in the Mississippi River riverboat culture.
A riverboat gambler was not fully dressed unless he was sporting a plantation tie with a frilly white shirt and a light, summer-weight suit.
An American advertising icon, known to most of the Western world, is Colonel Sanders, of the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise; he is always portrayed as a Southern gentlemen, complete with white suit and plantation tie.
Women started wearing neckties around the late 1800s.
They adapted the ties to be worn with sporting costumes, such as those used for bicycling, skating, hiking, or boating.
Many more ties, along with trousers, were adapted for wear by the working women filling in employment vacancies caused by the men going offto World War II.
These patriotic women worked in factories, as well as at office jobs, to help keep America's economy alive.
The 1960s brought a flurry of tie creations, with the advent of the Peacock Look and Carnaby Street of London.
Colorful, wide ties were covered with abstract and psychedelic patterns, predating the Flower Power look of the hippies and the late 1960s.
Most hippies chose, rather than with neckties, to adorn themselves with brightly colored scarves, chains, and medallions.
Regionally speaking, bolos are very popular in the Southwest, particularly in Texas and Arizona.
The first bolo came to be purely by accident.
In the late 1940s,Victor Cedarstaff, a silversmith, went horseback riding in the Bradshaw Mountains near Wickenberg, Arizona.
The wind blew his hat off, and when he retrieved it he removed the hat band, which had a valuable silver buckle on it.
Not wanting to lose it, he buckled the hat band around his neck.
Upon returning home, he wove a leather string, put silver balls on the ends, and fed the leather string through a turquoise buckle.
Cedarstaff patented his version of the bolo and today they are machine-made.
In 1971, the Arizona state legislature proclaimed the bolo to be the official state neckwear; now it is a common sight to see a bolo being worn in a business situation.
The turtleneck shirt became the anti-tie.
Colored turtlenecks popularized by British writer Noel Coward gave way to the popularity of the black turtleneck with the French and American intellectuals in the 1950s.
This reputation was further enhanced by the Beatnik Generation with poetry readings at the local coffee house.
There are four basic knots that are used in tying a necktie.
The most popular knot is called the four-in-hand; it is virtually the standard knot used in the United States and is also the name of a long necktie.
Also used are the Windsor (created by the Duke of Windsor), the half Windsor, and the Pratt (or Shelby) knots.
At one time, neckties were held in place with various types of jewelry specifically designed for the job.
In the 17th century, they were confined by brooches made with precious stones.
From the 17th to 19th centuries, stick pins were a must.
During the first half of the 20th century, pins and clips were considered stylish but now, in the 21st century, the necktie is allowed to hang freely, with no restraints SOME TIE CARE TIPS:

• Silk ties should be professionally dry-cleaned only.
  
• A hot iron can instantly destroy a wrinkled silk tie.
  
• A crocheted or knitted tie should never be hung.
  Lay it out flat or rolled up before returning it to its storage drawer.