The Tie Clip

Don Draper wears them. So does Roger Sterling. You should too. Tie clips (also known as tie bars) became popular in the 60’s when men decided they shouldn’t be flapping in the wind on their way to work. That anal-retentiveness has once again taken the sartorial world by storm.You do have some options when it comes to tie clips. You have gold or silver colored. You have ones that pin into your tie, spring loaded ones, and finally ones that the tie just slips right into.Here are the keys to wearing a tie clip the right way.

1. Wear the silver color and only the silver color. Your best options are to go with stainless steel or silver. But hey feel free to go with platinum if that’s how you roll. Unless you’re still rockin a gold Rolex please don’t go with gold. You’ll thank me one day.
2. Get the slip-on variety or the spring loaded clip. Obviously you don’t want to ruin your tie and a tie-pin can do that. The spring loaded ones probably won’t do any damage either, but the slip-on variety is the safest bet.
3. Wear skinny ties. I hope you already are, but I recommend not wearing any ties wider than 3.5 inches and that is only in the most conservative of settings. I also wouldn’t go skinnier than 2.5 inches, unless it’s a knitted tie which I wouldn’t go skinnier than 2 inches. Note: throw out all these rules if you’re a jazz musician or something cooler.
4. Wear it with some color. Your tie and/or shirt should be the centerpiece of your look. The tie clip should be an accent.
5. Don’t get a patterned tie clip. Like I said, the tie should be the focus, go with a matte finish if possible but the key is just go simple.
6. Position it so people can see it. The key is to make it look like you’re not trying so don’t put it up so high, but don’t put it so low that people can’t see it either. I personally don’t like it when the tie clip is less than 75% of the width of the tie at the position it’s at. Similarly don’t go more than 10% wider than the tie at the position it’s at.