Gone are the extremely wide ties of the 1980s. Gone too is the early-2000s fad of extremely skinny ties (thank goodness).
So where have we landed in 2015, and what width of tie should a man really be wearing? There's an easy way to tell.
In fact, it's a simple and widely recognized rule of thumb. It goes like this: The widest part of your lapel should match in width the widest part of your tie.
That's it. Here's a graphic courtesy of Black Lapel that further explains it:
Not that complicated, right? For most ties and lapels, this will end up in the range of 2 1/2 to 3 inches. Anything narrower, and you're headed into 1950s fad territory.
According to GQ UK, some tie materials require special consideration. For example, a knit tie should err on the skinnier side, while one with a print should be wider.
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