How To Wear A Tie Clip - Where To Buy A Tie Clips - Tie Bar History
Hi!
I'm Antonio Centeno, the founder of Real Men Real Style.
Today, I'm going to be talking with you about how to wear a tie clip.
We're going to talk about the history, how to wear one, and then where you can pick one
up.
Okay.
If you haven't already, please subscribe to my YouTube channel.
By doing that, these videos come right to you.
You can just simply click on the "subscribe" button right there at the bottom of the video.
In addition, I would appreciate it if you would like the video.
When you like these videos, and it's very easy to do, just click on that "like" button
right down there, more men find these videos.
I really appreciate you helping me build up my audience here.
Okay, so really quick, my first tie clip.
I want to share with you guys the first time I picked up and I wore a tie clip.
It was 1998 and I just joined the United States Marine Corps as an officer and the Marine
shop raked me over the coals and I had to buy all my uniforms.
I got this really cool jewelry box where, believe it or not, Marine officers get a jewelry
box and it's where we keep all of our ribbons, all of the little details that go in to our
uniforms, and there was a tie clip in there.
I actually didn’t know what it was at first.
I've never worn a tie clip, never had one, and over the years though, the last 15 years,
this tie clip has really worn on me.
I really like it simply because of the history and the message and the meaning behind it.
You know, having a little thing like this that reminds me of when I first became a marine
officer is a great thing, so tie clips are useful.
They are serving a functional piece in a sense of they keep your tie out of your soup.
They keep it right there straight where you want it, but they're also a bit of jewelry
and they can really add, I think, quite a bit of style to a very simple or plain outfit.
Tie Clip History
So tie clip history, where do they come from?
They date back to the turn of the 20th Century and they were also called tie bars and tie
slides, so you'll occasionally hear those names come up as well, but they were worn
in a time period when men wore more elaborate bows and ties and they would actually use
pins to help hold them in place.
The first tie bars were really just U-shaped pieces of metal that were going in and holding
them in place.
You can imagine it like a U-bolt except without the threads.
So time went on and all of a sudden, they started to become more elaborate.
They used precious metals, jewels.
And even after World War I, we started seeing men basically within the tie bar and within
ties in general.
We could see what regiment they had been with in the military or if you're a part of certain
clubs, we would see that as well.
They fell out of use and knowledge with relaxed business standards I think in the 1980s, '90s,
and really just saw them disappear, so many companies stopped carrying them at all.
And so, for many younger men, now they're starting to see these with the advent of the
internet and all those great stuff about how you can buy anything anywhere and you're seeing
them really starting to make resurgence.
Old is new again, so it's pretty cool to see them make a comeback, but this is a classic
piece that's been around a long time.
Not necessarily this piece.
This one I actually pulled from JoJo & Sofia's website, but you can see it's got a little
bit of a clock on there, so somehow a bit more elaborate and fun.
Other times, they're just simple metal bars.
How to Wear a Tie Clip
So how to wear a tie clip.
It's meant to hold the tie to the shirt.
I've seen some guys try to wear it where they just think they're holding the tie together.
No, it's meant to hold the tie to the shirt, hold the tie in place.
In addition, I like to wear it at about the two-thirds point and that's starting from
the buckle or starting from the bottom of the tie going up, and I like it to go about
two-thirds the way up.
If you want to make that even easier, maybe just above center, so find the center point
in your chest and then go a couple of inches above that.
And if you want to be more specific, perhaps between the third and fourth buttons starting
at the top.
Clips also that are wider than the tie should not be worn.
Here's a quick little graphic of a general area.
I think this is actually a bit high.
I would say it's okay to wear it just a little bit lower here as well.
Don't wear it too high because then it loses its function.
And so, if you're wearing a vest, yes, you are going to probably cover your tie clip.
Here's another picture.
I think this gentleman is pulling it off, perfect, and we see it's just above the halfway
point, about an inch, an inch and a half above the halfway point.
Where to Buy
So where to pick up a tie clip?
There are a lot of places you can go, gentlemen.
Thrift & Vintage Clothing Stores, you could sometimes buy them in there for 50 cents for
a dollar, pawnshops.
eBay is a great option as well.
There's a lot of stuff out there on eBay, jewelry shops.
You can walk in if you're really looking for something that's higher end and made from
precious stones, and you want to pay a lot of money for it, go to a jewelry shop.
I actually think one of the best places is online.
Of course, you guys are seeing me here on YouTube, but ETSY is a great place, so go
to ETSY.
It's usually a lot of crafts there.
I think a lot of the pieces I see on ETSY are underpriced for what you're getting.
Also, I'm really fond of JoJo & Sofia, so they have sent me some samples.
And guys, I'm not getting a cut or anything.
I just like this little company out of Chicago.
Sarah, I've talked with her on the phone, very nice woman, and she's making these out
of Chicago.
This one with Batman, pretty cool, huh?
I saw this one on ETSY, and this other JoJo & Sofia of course, I'll point you to their
website down below.
Now, if you haven't already, I'm going to encourage you to subscribe to my email list
and grab my free 47-page e-book, and the reason I want to do this, gentlemen, is because actually
I'm giving away a really cool coupon code so that if you are on this list, you would
actually get the JoJo & Sofia.
She's going to be sending out pocket squares, free pocket squares with anyone that purchases
at least two tie clips from her, so this is something that is kind of a special, but the
only people that are going to get this are those on my email list, so I invite you to
go grab my free e-book and get on my email newsletter.
Okay guys, your turn.
I would love to hear from you and let me know in the comments where you are getting your
tie clips from.
I'd love to hear where your sources are at, or if you think I missed something here in
the presentation, I'd love you to add to the conversation down below.
Okay guys, I will see you in the comments.
Bye-bye.