TJ Walker shows how to tie a necktie in steps: align the wide end to your middle button, wrap and tighten from the back, pinch a dimple in the knot, then adjust so the tip reaches your belt buckle. A proper knot and dimple make you look polished for speeches and interviews.
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Hi, I'm TJ Walker, here to help you with one of the greatest challenges.
For all men, how to tie a tie.
Here's how to do it. So for starters, I pull my collar up.
That's going to be the easiest way of doing it. Collar up. Now I take my tie. I have the big piece, and you can do this either way. The big piece with the big end on my right side, the smaller end on my left side. Now I match it up to the big button in the middle of my shirt. I want the tip to hit the button. If it's way down here, I won't have enough tie.
If it's like this, then my tie.
Will be too long. So I match it up here. I then pull them out. I hold my left part of the tie with my left hand. Fingers like this, Right tie, right hand like this. I put it over the top and then back over. And then I wrap it around the right side, pulling it straight down. And I tighten it. I don't do it really hard, but I do tighten it from the back. I'm pulling it from the back, continuing to hold the short left side with my left hand. Now I switch hands. I hold the small part of the tie with my right hand. I wrap the left part of the tie and through the loop and then bring it all the way through the long part of the tie. I again pull a little. Not too hard, but I'm trying to make a little triangle here. Now I will wrap it all the way around. This time, it comes up the back. I pull it. Now I loosen the front. I loosen the front. I push it back down. I pull it through. Now, I don't just yank it here. You can do all these steps well, but if you just yank it here, you're going to end up with a mess. So I'm now going to take my finger, push in the middle. I want a nice dimple. That's going to make you look classier. It's going to make your tie look elegant. So behind the tie, I'm creating a ridge. I am pointing my finger, pushing it on top, ridging it from the back. And I am slowly, gingerly bringing it together. So I'm clamping down on the head of the tie. I'm keeping my fingers behind it. I'm intentionally dimpling it. And now, even though it's not to.
My neck, you can see that's a.
Pretty good knot right there. Now I slowly from the back, not from the front, the back.
I push the tie up as it gets closer now and only now do I bring my collar down. And only now do I button the top button. You do that before it's not comfortable.
And it won't, it won't work very well. So now again, I am slowly from the back. I'm pulling down on this and I'm gingerly pulling from the back of the tie and getting it so that it is straight. Continuing in a mirror to massage and get the knot just right. And.
There you have it. And here we have the final result.
You can see the tie.
You can see a little dimple. Notice that the dimple isn't perfectly in the middle. It's slightly off centered.
That's okay.
You don't want to look too perfect or it will look like a phony tie, a clip on tie. Also notice that it's right up to the top. There's no gap between my neck and shirt and the tie because that can look really odd. So everything comes up. It's tight, but it's not too tight.
Now notice the length. I have the length so that it goes right to my belt buckle.
So the bottom of the tie hits the top of the belt buckle.
If it's way too long, that looks silly.
And of course, nothing looks sillier than a tie that stops right here. So you've got to have the knot right, but you've got to have your length right, too. Now, when you go to give your speech or go to give your media interview, you're comfortable and confident, knowing you look your best, you look professional. No one's going to hire you or give you that new deal or that contract just because you have a nice tie or a nice knot. But at least no one's going to laugh at you or be wondering about why doesn't this person know how to dress himself? It's important to know how to look your best.
