Pratt knot

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A blue Pratt knot. Pratt Knot.png
A blue Pratt knot.

The Pratt knot is a method of tying a necktie. It is also known as the Shelby knot [1] [2] [3] and the Pratt-Shelby. The knot was created by Jerry Pratt, an employee of the US Chamber of Commerce in the late 1950s. [4] It was popularized as the Shelby knot after then 92-year-old Pratt taught it in 1986 to television reporter Don Shelby who he felt had been tying his tie poorly on the air. [5] Shelby then refined the Pratt knot with local clothier Kingford Bavender and wore it on the air with a spread collar where it stood out and attracted attention for its symmetry and trim precision. [6]

Contents

The knot was considered revelatory although strictly speaking it is a variation on the Nicky knot, notable for being tied inside out. As of its popularization in a 1989 New York Times article as well as subsequent UK profile the knot was unknown within the fashion world and not recorded in the tie industry's standard reference guide of the time; Getting Knotted – 188 Knots for Necks, by Davide Mosconi and Riccardo Villarosa in Milan, Italy. [6] [7]

The Pratt knot is unusual in that its starting position is 'reverse side out', like the Nicky knot, a self-releasing variant of the Pratt. It uses less length than the half-Windsor or Windsor knots, and so is well suited to shorter ties or taller men. Unlike the four-in-hand knot, the Pratt method produces a symmetrical knot. It is of medium thickness.

Using notation from and according to The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie , the knot is tied

The Nicky is tied

See also

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A bolo tie is a type of necktie consisting of a piece of cord or braided leather with decorative metal tips and secured with an ornamental clasp or slide.

Bow tie

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Cravat (early)

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Windsor knot A necktie knot

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Four-in-hand knot Method of tying a necktie

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Don Shelby

Donald Gilbert Shelby is a retired American journalist who was most recently a news anchor on WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is regarded as an experienced investigative journalist, as his work has earned two Peabody awards and an Emmy Award.

Bands (neckwear)

Bands are a form of formal neckwear, worn by some clergy and lawyers, and with some forms of academic dress. They take the form of two oblong pieces of cloth, usually though not invariably white, which are tied to the neck. When worn by clergy, they typically are attached to a clerical collar. The word bands is usually plural because they require two similar parts and did not come as one piece of cloth. Those worn by clergy are often called preaching bands or Geneva bands; those worn by lawyers are called barrister's bands or, more usually in Ireland and Canada, tabs. Preaching bands symbolize the two tablets of the Ten Commandments given by God to Moses.

Service dress uniform

Service dress uniform is the informal type of uniform used by military, police, fire and other public uniformed services for everyday office, barracks and non-field duty purposes. It frequently consists of a jacket, trousers, white dress shirt, and neck tie, sometimes for ceremonial occasions along with orders and medals insignia. Design may depend on regiment or service branch, e.g. army, navy, air force, marines, etc. In Western dress codes, service dress uniform is a permitted supplementary alternative equivalent to the civilian suit - sometimes collectively called undress or "dress clothes". As such, service dress uniform is considered less formal than both full dress uniform and mess dress uniform, but more formal than casual wear combat uniform.

Small knot Method of tying a necktie

The small knot, or oriental knot or Kent knot or simple knot, is the simplest method of tying a necktie, though some claim the simple knot is an alternative name for the four-in-hand knot. The small knot is not very well known despite its simplicity. One of the reasons may be that the small knot is not self-releasing, and may annoy people accustomed to four-in-hand and Windsor knots who pull at the tie to untangle the knot. Additionally, it is a common opinion that, should the thin end of the tie become visible, it not be "inside out"; the small knot is one of several that violate this preference, though this can be remedied by giving the entire tie a half-twist during the tying process.

<i>The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie</i>

The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie is a book by Thomas Fink and Yong Mao about the history of the knotted neckcloth, the modern necktie, and how to tie both. It is based on two mathematics papers published by the authors in Nature and Physica A while they were research fellows at Cambridge University’s Cavendish Laboratory. The authors prove that, assuming both the tie and the wearer to be of typical size, there are exactly 85 ways of tying a necktie using the conventional method of wrapping the wide end of the tie around the narrow end. They describe each and highlight those that they determine to be historically notable or aesthetically pleasing.

Shelby is both a surname and a unisex given name. Notable people with the name include:

References

  1. "Don Shelby inspires new 'ShelbyKnot' tie collection – Twin Cities".
  2. ""Don Shelby" tie knot – Google Search".
  3. "Don Shelby Partners with St. Paul Clothier for Necktie Line".
  4. "As Neckwear Goes, This Knot's News". NYTimes. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  5. "Taking a Tip from a Dapper Fan, Anchorman Don Shelby Makes News with the Knot in His Necktie : People.com".
  6. 1 2 "As Neckwear Goes, This Knot's News". The New York Times. 30 August 1989.
  7. Getting Knotted: 188 Knots for Necks : the History, Techniques and Photographs. Ratti. 1 January 1985.