- Is that it?
Oh, we're rolling.
Hey, uh, here I am,
unnecessarily dressed up.
Now, you can tell I'm
doing some serious stuff
cause I'm not just
wearing this sweet blazer,
I'm wearing a tie.
Generally speaking, these
things are decorative.
I mean, a tie won't keep
you warm they way, say,
a scarf would and depending
on the material it's not
going to be a very good
napkin or a mop or a towel.
Nope, we just tie these
things around our necks
and walk around as if to
say, that's right world,
I'm doin' important stuff today.
So once upon a time in the early 1600's,
both Louis the thirteenth
and his successor
Louis the fourteenth
used Croatian mercenaries
during various battles.
And these mercenaries wore
scarves or knotted neckerchiefs
as part of of their uniforms.
These scarves did have a
function in that they likely
helped tie jackets together
and keep them closed.
But the French king was more
impressed by the mercenaries
fashion sense and he wasn't the only one.
Over the next few years, the
scarves, which were called
cravates or cravats swept across France.
They were more comfortable
than the starched linen ruffs
that had been the norm because
these cravats were loose,
less restricting, and as
they became more popular
with the wealthy, they
also became more intricate
with newer materials like lace,
increasingly sophisticated
knots and so on.
The cravat soon spread to other countries,
earning fans like England's
Charles the second.
Of course, at this point
there were numerous variations
on the original cravat but
these didn't look like the
relatively slim modern ties we see today.
We didn't even call them
ties, we were all just like
different words that
basically mean cravat.
During the reign of Louis the fourteenth,
the original cravat gave
way to a variation called
the Steinkirk.
It had a single knot and a narrow shape.
And as the years turned into
decades and those decades
turned into centuries, the
tie continued to evolve
and we created variations
like the bow tie.
You've seen that, Josh
wears one on Don't Be Dumb.
And here's a weird tangent.
Do you remember that
song Yankee Doodle Dandy?
Right, probably.
There's a part in the
song where this verse goes
he stuck a feather in his
hat and called it macaroni.
But it turns out that
macaroni described a specific
type of fashion sense and
the men who subscribed to it.
In the late 1700's, a group
of controversial fashion
aficionados, known as macaronis
began tying their neckware
in certain knots and styles
to indicate their taste.
Which reportedly led to their
cravat simply being called
ties.
Now, while their
popularity may wax and wane
over the decades, which
is the case with most
fashion accessories, it seems that ties,
or something like them, are here to stay.
So, I've gotta be honest
here, the idea of a tie
seems pretty bizarre
when you think about it.
I mean, do ties have a
purpose other than decoration?
Let us know what you think
in the comments below
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new Brain Stuff videos every week.
