How The Length And Width Help To Identify 1920's and 1930's Men's Vintage Neckties

Experience has been the best teaching tool for me. I have to say that leafing through books written about mens vintage ties, especially those with pages of photographs provided me with the foundation with which to piece together the puzzle. Finding such ties, inspecting their physical attributes, both the front and the back, and making note of the feel of the fabric as well as the special sheen associated with ties from this era, has been very instructive. Necktie blogs have been a great resource, too.

I’ve distilled the criteria to the following categories by which to date 1920's and 1930's mens vintage ties: length, width, color, construction, fabric, shape, label, manufacturer, price, and other identifying attributes. A tie needs to meet all the criteria in order to belong to this time period. The length and width provide some clues to whether a person owns a bona fide men’s 1920’s and 1930’s necktie:

Length

Most ties range from 45 to 49 inches. There are, of course, always some exceptions to the rule to account for the various neckwear manufacturers. When tied, they drape three quarters of the way down from the knot to the belt line, never reaching the belt line, unless the person is short in stature. This was the fashionable way to wear ties. Many photographs and movies of time reflect the length of 20’s and 30’s ties, as do print ads. While many of the ties of the 40’s were equally short, they were primarily very bright. Both the color scheme and designs were loud. Many sported novelty themes. In contrast, 20s and 30s ties appear much darker and reflect muted shades of red, burgundy red, orange, brown, maroon, wine, purple and black, both as solids and patterns. Floral themed patterns were produced and they were the closest thing to a novelty theme available during this time.

Width

Mens narrow and skinny neckties were worn in the teens and through World War I. They ranged in width from 1 ½ to 2 ½ inches. Neckties of the 20’s and 30’s settled in the 3 to 4 inch range. By the mid to late 1940’s, ties ballooned to well over 4 inches. The following is a list of some measurements of actual 20’s and 30’s era ties:

2 ¾ x 42 ½ inches
3 x 46 inches
3 x 48 ½ inches
3 x 49 inches
3 ¼ x 45 ½ inches
3 ¼ x 46 inches
3 ¼ x 46 ¼ inches
3 ¼ x 47 ½ inches
3 ¼ x 47 ¾ inches
3 ¼ x 48 inches
3 ¼ x 48 ½ inches
3 ¼ x 49 ½ inches
3 ¼ x 50 inches
3 ½ x 46 inches
3 ½ x 46 ¼ inches
3 ½ x 46 ½ inches
3 ½ x 47 inches
3 ½ x 47 ½ inches
3 ½ x 48 inches
3 ½ x 48 ½ inches
3 ½ x 48 ¾ inches
3 ½ x 49 inches
3 ½ x 50 inches
3 ½ x 50 ¼ inches
3 ½ x 50 ½ inches
3 ¾ x 44 ½ inches
3 ¾ x 45 inches
3 ¾ x 45 ¼ inches
3 ¾ x 46 inches
3 ¾ x 47 inches
3 ¾ x 47 ¼ inches
3 ¾ x 47 ½ inches
3 ¾ x 48 inches
3 ¾ x 48 ½ inches
3 ¾ x 49 inches
3 ¾ x 49 ½ inches
3 ¾ x 50 ½ inches
4 x 44 ¼ inches
4 x 46 ½ inches
4 x 47 ¾ inches
4 x 48 inches
4 x 49 ¼ inches
4 ¼ x 49 inches

The length and width are but two factors determining whether a tie was made in the early part of the 20^th century. The choice of fabric, actual construction, location of the label, even the occasional dry cleaning tag still attached to a tie can provide key information as to whether a tie is in fact from the 30’s. The more characteristics a vintage tie has, the more confident a person can feel that they own an authentic article from this era.

How The Length And Width Help To Identify 1920's and 1930's Men's Vintage Neckties by Strangelittlebird is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.