How Long Should A Tie Be?

Whether you are heading into the office, or you have an important occasion that you need to or that you want to wear a tie to, there might be one question that crosses your mind.

That question is: how long should my tie be?

Getting the length of your tie wrong is a common mistake made amongst gentlemen. You’ll be pleased to know that this mistake is pretty easy to fix, just when you know how long a tie should be.

This is where we come in to tie up any loose ends, and give you the ideal guide for just how long your tie should be.

Let’s talk length

One of the easiest indicators that we can give you is that your tie should reach the top of your trousers. This is most definitely the correct tie length that you should aim for.

If you find that your tie is hitting the waistband of your trousers then you should find that you have the perfect length tie.

If you are wearing a square tip tie opposed to a pointed tiek, then the tie should just pass the top of your waistband. 

That’s right, for diamond and square ties the rules are the same! You need to ensure that you aim for the bottom of the tie to hit the middle of the waistband.

Or, if you are wearing a belt then you should aim for the bottom of your tie to hit the middle of your waistband or your belt.

We’re sorry to say that if your tie ends up flapping past your waistband then your tie is far too long. Alternatively, if your tie is closer to your shirt collar than it is to your trouser waistband then it is far too short to be considered remotely acceptable.

Wearing your tie in either of these fashions will certainly get you some questionable looks – and it will most certainly take away from the professionalism of wearing a tie.

Yeah, getting your tie length right is important no matter whether you are wearing a three-piece suit or just a simple shirt. The length of your tie is important no matter how you are wearing it. 

How should my tie look?

This all depends on what you are wearing along with your tie. For instance, if you are wearing a suit jacket buttoned up then you should just about see the bottom of your tie.

It is important that your tie is not too long so that it is poking out from underneath your suit jacket like a snake’s tongue. 

Alternatively, if you have your jacket open or if you decide to wear a shirt and tie without a jacket then the length of your tie will be pretty obvious.

You really do not want your tie to be too short because it would look like you have borrowed a tie from the kids’ section.

Although, having a short tie is no better than having a long tie. If you find that you have to tuck your tie in then we can confirm that your tie is definitely too long.

Here’s the thing, we have all seen enough colleagues, or even famous faces wearing their ties wrong to know what not to look like. 

Can you get the perfect tie length every time?

You’ll be pleased to know that it is possible to get your tie at the perfect length every time! It is important to mention that there is no perfect or universal tie length that will suit everyone.

If you try and pre-tie your tie to a certain length then this might not work for you.

The truth is that the correct length of a tie will always be relative to your waistband. This is something that comes with a lot of practice, and a whole lot of trial and error first!

When you look at your tie, you will see that there is a bigger piece and a smaller piece. We will refer to the bigger piece as the front and then we will refer to the thinner piece as the back.

It is important that you make sure that the front piece is longer than the thin piece – no matter what kind of knot you go for!

It is the knot itself that will influence how much longer the front piece needs to be.

Then, you just have to do up your tie. When you are doing this you will be able to see the length of your tie and ultimately whether or not you need to redo your tie again.

You can also adjust the front piece of the tie shorter or you can adjust the front piece longer depending on how the tie looks when it is done up. 

One you have practiced doing this a few times then you should find that doing up a tie will come naturally to you.

This will enable you to learn how long you need to leave the front piece of your tie when you get to the stage of doing up your tie where you have to knot it.

In Conclusion

Overall, we all know that the subtle details are crucial in bringing a shirt and tie look together. It can go from cool and crisp to rushed and haphazard in seconds – depending on how you have done up your tie.

This is something that you want to avoid because it defeats the whole point of wearing a tie. Take note, the finer details can never be overlooked – so make sure that you get your tie length spot on.

We are not saying that you will reach a point where you will get your tie length right every single time that you put a tie on.

But, if you do your tie up and find it is at the wrong length then there is a quick fix for you. Re-tie your tie!

These extra few seconds of redoing your tie will definitely add something extra to your office wear or evening wear.

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