Neckties

Neckties are amazing, confounding, and create an instant statement. It is amazing that by simply changing this one accessory, a man can make one shirt into several outfits. Blue shirt + black tie with blue and silver designs. Blue shirt + purple and gray striped tie. Blue shirt + green tie. White shirt + any tie... the combinations are only limited by the number of ties a person possesses! Ties also have this invisible aura of classiness, intelligence, and allure when used correctly. When used incorrectly (i.e. tacky, mismatched, paired with casual wear), the statement can be rather repelling. Ties can also be subtle or loud communicators of personal favorites (sports teams, Garfield, or a Scottish clan crest, for example), festive nods to holidays (flags, Christmas lights, etc.), or indicators of someone's personality.
The classiness and intelligence alluded to by a tie may occasionally be a deceitful cover-up, a fraudulent masquerade that cleans up the outside with nice window dressing and false advertising. However, I am of the opinion that if one dresses like a gentleman, the expectations created by a nice necktie will wear off on the owner at least a little bit. Of course there are some chaps who are every bit as nice as their necktie suggests, even when they are not wearing one. There is a difference between smart wearers and nice, gentlemanly wearers as well. Smart wearers are never without a tie, because their profession expects and demands it (and it can also hint at money and education). Nice wearers will endure a tie for a special occasion or for work, but they can take it off without feeling incomplete...as if they were walking out the door without socks or pants on.
Last but not least, we come to a special category of tie-wearers: the female wearer. Dress codes in places such as boarding schools (Hogwarts, even), food service, and other professions often require women to wear ties. I fall into this category. For me, I felt almost guilty purchasing a tie, as if I were violating some sacred ground of male fashion, or were heading into that questionable territory of cross-dressing. My satisfaction soon replaced trepidation, however. I found that ties can be ridiculously expensive, and yet unbelievably enticing in their broad spectrum of designs and colored array. They can be as confounding as they are attractive when you are a) trying to tie it in a hurry, b) trying to make the back end shorter than the front end when cinching the knot, and c) happen to be short enough that the "one size fits all" claim barely prevents the tie from reaching past your waist. Nevertheless, the tie completes my uniform, and lends its invisible charms to make a less than glamorous job a bit more attractive simply by making me look put together.
An interesting invention, neckties. It is a shame that so many have yet to discover their valuable qualities!