How to Tie a Necktie

Most men learn one knot, badly, from another man who learned it the same way — and then tie it that way for decades. This page is the fuller version: the four knots that between them cover every collar and every tie you are likely to own, each with its steps in order, and the two finishing details — the dimple and the length — that separate a tie that is merely on from a tie that looks deliberate. If the suit around the tie needs the same attention, our guide to how a suit should fit is the companion read.

Before the First Move

Every knot on this page starts the same way. Stand in front of a mirror. Shirt buttoned to the top, collar up. Drape the tie around your neck with the seam side down (the Pratt knot below is the one exception), the wide end on the side of your dominant hand, hanging noticeably lower than the thin end. How much lower sets the finished length: about 30 cm (a hand's length and a half) is the usual start, and the bigger the knot, the more length it consumes — start the wide end a little lower for a full Windsor than for a four-in-hand. You will not judge it perfectly the first few times; adjust the start, not the knot.

The Four-in-Hand

The default knot of men's dressing: small, slightly asymmetric, and right with nearly everything. It suits narrow-to-medium collar spreads, ties of light-to-medium weight, and men with shorter necks, because it builds the least bulk at the throat.

1. Cross the wide end over the thin end, forming an X just below your chin.
2. Bring the wide end underneath and back around to the front, completing one full turn around the thin end.
3. Bring the wide end up toward the neck loop from underneath.
4. Pull it up through the neck loop, then down through the small horizontal loop you just formed across the front of the knot.
5. Slide the knot up to the collar, holding the thin end still with your other hand so the knot travels instead of the tie.
6. Pinch the dimple in as you snug it home (see below), and center the knot on the collar.

The Half-Windsor

A wider, more triangular knot that fills a medium-to-spread collar properly, with only two more moves than the four-in-hand. Despite the name it is not half the size of the full Windsor — it is most of it, with a slimmer wrap, and it is the right knot for most spread-collar business shirts.

1. Cross the wide end over the thin end.
2. Bring the wide end up through the neck loop from underneath, then down toward the opposite side.
3. Bring the wide end around behind the thin end and across to the other side.
4. Bring the wide end up to the center, toward the neck loop.
5. Pull it down through the neck loop, then across the front of the forming knot.
6. Bring it up through the neck loop once more from underneath, and down through the front loop.
7. Slide up, dimple, center. The finished knot should sit as a neat, near-symmetrical triangle.

The Full Windsor

The largest, most formal knot: a wide, confident triangle built for wide spread and cutaway collars, and for ties of light-to-medium cloth — a thick tie in a full Windsor becomes a fist. Start with the wide end lower than for the other knots; this knot eats length.

1. Cross the wide end over the thin end.
2. Bring the wide end up through the neck loop from underneath, then down to one side.
3. Bring it around behind the knot and across to the other side.
4. Bring it up to the center, toward the neck loop, and down through the loop to the opposite side — the two sides of the triangle are now built.
5. Bring the wide end across the front of the knot, covering the triangle.
6. Bring it up through the neck loop from underneath, and down through the front loop.
7. Slide up gently, dimple, center. Tighten a Windsor by degrees — a yanked Windsor twists.

The Pratt (Shelby) Knot

The insider's knot: medium-sized, tidy and self-centering, and the only common knot that starts with the tie inside out. That reversed start is what makes the finished knot sit so flat and symmetrical — and it begins with the wide end under the thin end rather than over it.

1. Drape the tie inside out — seam facing outward — with the wide end on your dominant side, hanging low.
2. Cross the wide end under the thin end, forming an X below your chin.
3. Bring the wide end up to the center and down through the neck loop, pulling it snug — this sets a firm band at the collar.
4. Bring the wide end across the front to the other side.
5. Bring it up through the neck loop from underneath, and down through the front loop you just made.
6. Slide up, dimple, center. The seam now faces the shirt, as it should.

Choosing a Knot: Collar, Tie and Neck

• By collar spread: the gap between your collar's points is a space the knot must fill. Narrow and standard point collars take the four-in-hand or Pratt; medium spreads take the half-Windsor; wide spread and cutaway collars need the half or full Windsor — a small knot rattling in a wide collar reads as a mistake even when everything else is right.
• By tie width and weight: wide or thick ties (heavy silk, knitted ties, wool ties) build bulk on their own — pair them with the four-in-hand. Slim ties and light silks can carry the Windsors.
• By your own build: a longer neck carries a bigger knot gracefully; a shorter neck is flattered by the smaller knots, which leave breathing room between chin and knot.

The Dimple and the Length

Two finishing rules outweigh any knot choice. The dimple is the small vertical fold pinched into the wide end just below the knot: as you tighten, press your fingertip into the center of the tie under the knot and hold the pinch while the knot slides home. It gives the tie posture — the knot sits up instead of slumping — and it is the single detail strangers read as "this man knows how to dress." The length: the wide end's tip should just meet the belt line, touching the waistband or buckle. Below the belt looks careless; well short of it looks borrowed. The thin end ends slightly higher and lives behind the wide end, in the keeper loop or under a tie bar.