“Black Accent” Bows : Wembley’s Distinguished New Tie Fashion. . .Goes With Everything This Spring. .

Men have needed neckties for a long time, particularly since the 19th-Century reforms that left men’s clothing utterly plain. In The Tie (Barron’s: $21.95; 160 pp.), Sarah Gibbings tells the history in considerable detail: how the ribbons that tied the 18th-Century pigtail became the bow tie, how the working-class (and American) bandanna turned into the modern four-in-hand, and how the riverboat gambler’s string tie was originally associated with Lord Byron, who never actually wore a necktie. It’s interesting to note how the modern necktie, often scorned as excruciatingly formal, originated as a rakish ornament of pugilists and horse-and-carriage hot-rodders. Turn-of-the-century female cyclists wore neckties, Gibbings speculates, to make them “honorary men”--in other words, to indicate that they were not outdoors for disreputable purposes. There’s occasionally more detail than many people will want here, as in the technical discussion of the Resilient Lining technique used in nearly all modern ties, and exactly how Pierre Cardin licenses his designs. But this book offers more than neckwear for thought. In its own way, it’s a light on history.