Arrow collar advertisement, 1920.
The necktie is dead.
Well, not really dead, but clearly on life support and barely hanging on.
I started practicing law in 1990. At that time, most lawyers wore a necktie to work even if they were going to be in the office all day. There were plenty of exceptions even then, particularly in the summer, and already by that time there were lawyers who almost never wore neckties in the office unless they were meeting with someone. During the summer months, many lawyers didn't wear neckties to work if they were in the office.
High school shop students, 1917. Not only are they wearing ties, they've made artillery shells in shop class.
Indeed, back then during the summer I'd wear polo shirts, but otherwise I'd wear button down shirts with a necktie. The allowance for polo shirts was apparently new, as an older lawyer's long time secretary (he wore coat and tie every single day) who conceived of herself as the firm policeman commented to me about wearing polo shirts back then in a very pointed way. However, a partner, who wore polo shirts in the summer, had specifically told me it was okay, so I kept on doing it.
At that time, 100% of male lawyers going to depositions wore ties and usually coat and ties. "Summer Rules", which had once existed for courts prior to air conditioning, remained informally in effect and you could actually go to court hearings, which were normally in the judge's chambers, with just shirt and tie and no coat, although I never tried that myself. Now, Summer Rules are a thing of the past and for that matter so is going into the judge's chambers.
Lawyer as they dressed every day, 1944.
Anyhow, nobody would have conceived of going to depositions without a tie, and probably with coat and tie.
No longer.
I just did a series of depositions in a case which features a lot of them. On the first day, I wore a tie and the plaintiff's lawyer did. Nobody else.
The big city lawyers who were older wore sports coats with button down shirts, but no ties. The younger big city lawyers didn't even do that. One wore a plaid shirt.
The caption claims these are "U.S. Troops" on the border in 1915, but they're almost certainly National Guardsmen. National Guardsmen are troops, of course, but the caption is not specific. This assumption is made as all three of these troops are wearing an obsolete pattern of campaign hat and the one of the far left as viewed is carrying a revolver rather than a M1911 pistol. The uniofrm of the one in the center is confusing and appears to be mixed, with the soldier wearing an obsolete pattern of khaki service dress jacket. Note the ties.
That would have never have occurred when first started. Even the big city lawyer defending the deposition didn't wear a tie.
On the first day of this week in which I was taking a deposition, I wore, as usual, a tie. Nobody else did. The second day I didn't plan on going to a deposition but I was wearing a tie, so I had one on anyhow. I was the only one. On day three, I found that my button down university stripe oxford shirt wouldn't button at the neck as its shrunk a bit (truly) so I omitted a tie.
Nobody wore a tie that day.
Yesterday, one lawyer wore a tie but he dispensed with it early on.
Sic transit Gloria Mundi.
I don't really like ties. They're odd. But something in this trend bothers me. Whereas lawyers looked like lawyers and dressed fairly formally to do depositions at one time, now some dress like slobs (none in this series). I was shocked the first time I saw a lawyer dressed like that in a deposition, but now if a lawyer walks in with dirty jeans and a messy sweater, it's no surprise.
Indeed, I'm now finding that some concept of proper dress escapes certain classes of people entirely.
Recently I was going to take a summer intern to court with me for something and noted it to him. The next day, he showed up as per usual. No tie, and a shirt that looked like he'd slept in it.
I left him in the office.
I've heard that some students at UW in the business college have a class, or classes, where they must appear in coat and ties. This wasn't the case when I was there, so this is a new development. It must have occurred to some professor that students don't know how to present themselves once they're out in the work world.
Whoever that is, is right. Unfortunately, or not, depending upon your view, that's the case for a lot of adults as well.
Of course, a person can dress nicely and omit a tie. But the tie was a placeholder of sorts. With it nearly gone, nothing seems to be taking that place. Maybe the sports coat. . .barely.
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