custom of wearing ties with a suit

The necktie along with the ascot and bow tie are descendants of the cravat. The cravat orginated in the 1630's with Croatian mercenaries who came to fight for King Louis XIII wearing colourful scarves which became known as cravats. King Charles II brought it over the English channel after his exile. It went out of fashion for a while in the 1700's but it became fashionable again in the 1770's. By 1815, cravats were becoming known as ties because you tied it according to your desire. The cravat evolved into the bow tie. The modern tie also called a four-in-hand developed in the 1850's in Victorian England and became required business attire from then on. The old school tie dates from the 1800's in England. American manufacturer Jesse Langdorf simplified the manufacturing process in 1926.