Fashionable Women Are Wearing Ties—and There’s a Reason Why

Even before that, the tie was cinematic gold for storytelling through the lens of fashion. Marlene Dietrich famously wore a full suit and tie in 1930’s Morocco. Elsewhere, everyone from Katharine Hepburn to Grace Jones and Princess Diana wore ties. Janelle Monáe has made them a part of her uniform, and Victoria Beckham has styled them in her own way: in 2008, underneath a tuxedo blazer without a collared button-down shirt, and, in 2020, with a boho-chic ruffled blouse and a white suit.

Victoria Beckham in 2008.

Victoria Beckham in 2020.

Women started wearing various forms of neckties in the second half of the 19th century, according to Valerie Steele, director of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology. “In America, suits for women were accepted fairly readily,” she says. “In France, it took longer. They saw it as being a kind of feminist statement, which they were uneasy with. They were fearful that if women started wearing suits and neckties, pretty soon men would be wearing aprons and at home washing the dishes and taking care of the kids.”

As far as fashion goes, women have been borrowing from the boys’ closets forever. “Women have often, throughout history, tried to borrow aspects of menswear, because it’s been seen as more prestigious,” Steele adds. “In the Middle Ages, women tended to wear scarves and men wore fancy hats with feathers and things in them. So women started to borrow those hats, and eventually, the men just gave up and said, ‘Okay, fine. Women can wear that, but we’re not going to wear that anymore, because that’s too feminine.’” With the pandemic, the popularity of ties only increased: “On the one hand, COVID increased casualization. And on the other hand, in reaction to that, some men and women are also dressing up more in a sort of suit-and-tie approach to emphasize, ‘I am a professional and I am working,’” Steele explains.

Princess Diana sporting a coordinated skirt suit and tie in 1985.

Those who don’t adhere to traditional 9-to-5 office dress codes have also fully committed to the trend, styling ties with baggy T-shirts and frilly dresses—basically anything but something you’d see in a clearly corporate environment. (Case in point: The maximalist content creator Sara Camposarcone wore a rainbow beaded tie necklace for an event recently.) And as shopping vintage becomes more mainstream, the tie has become more accessible. In the past, one might have had to visit the men’s section of a department store. But now? There are usually piles of them at local thrift stores in a huge array of quirky prints and patterns. Irony plays a big role in styling, too—it’s the same reason why there were so many industry insiders walking around Fashion Week wearing sports jerseys. “It’s sort of tipping a hat, ironically, towards the history of women fighting their way into the professions and saying, right now, we have it,” Steele says.

Macy Eleni, who exclusively creates thrifting content and wrote a book on the subject, has noticed a rise in the trend, too, with people creating entire garments, like shirts or shorts, out of ties. She personally likes to wear ties as her own version of a skinny scarf, tossed around her neck to add something new, or even as a belt. “When it comes to ties, I love looking for old department store brands like vintage Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s, Saks, etc. The pieces they were carrying during the ’80s and ’90s were of such fabulous quality that you really can’t go wrong when snagging them from a secondhand spot,” she says. “I actually thrifted a very chic Tom Ford silk tie at one of my favorite local spots for $2.99 a few years back, and it will truly last a lifetime.”

In 2023, we had bows to top off our outfits. Now, the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction. Want to know how to tie a look together? You already know the answer.

Kristen Bateman is a contributing editor at Harper’s Bazaar. Her first fashion article was published in Vogue Italia during her junior year of high school. Since then, she has interned and contributed to WWD, Glamour, Lucky, i-D, Marie Claire and more. She created and writes the #ChicEats column and covers fashion and culture for Bazaar. When not writing, she follows the latest runway collections, dyes her hair to match her mood, and practices her Italian in hopes of scoring 90% off Prada at the Tuscan outlets. She loves vintage shopping, dessert and cats.