The Care and Feeding of a Cravat

A troubled tenor writes her Ladyship with the following problem:

"I have kept my silver tie folded on the shelf in my closet. I pulled it out while redecorating my bedroom, and it appears to be quite creased. I'm concerned because I did the hang the tie in the bathroom thing with my red tie for the Christmas concert for over a week, and it still had the fold in the center. Is there a way to carefully iron these ties? Should I take it to the cleaners and have them do it? I don't want to look a mess on stage and let you down. HELP!"

(For my dear readers outside the chorus I must explain that silver "long" ties were generously donated to the chorus for their silver anniversary.)

Our trembling tenor has been dealt with. Bartleby (her Ladyship's faithful manservant) has been dispatched to flog said tenor for his transgressions. You see, when these ties were purchased her Ladyship composed an informative e-mail elucidating the proper care of one's tie. This applies to all fine silk ties but is even more critical when dealing with inexpensive polyester ties. (The dictates of economic necessity were such that polyester was the only sensible option for the chorus.) Her Ladyship's dear boys were instructed to roll their ties for storage as this is the only way to avoid wrinkles.

One should never, never fold their tie for storage the reason being, folding a tie will cause a crease and you should never iron or press a tie...ever. Her Ladyship doesn't even recommend hanging the tie on a tie rack unless one is sure that the ties won't get crushed in the closet as one shoves one's garments to the side looking for that shirt that is just the right shade of cerulean blue that makes one's eyes dance. Pressing or ironing ruins the soft roll of the edge of the tie and creates an unsightly crisp crease at the side. Even a professional pressing by a dry cleaner will cause this...a reputable dry cleaner would refuse to press one's tie.

If one has tried steaming one's tie, as our terrorized tenor has done, and it failed, then there are only 3 options left. In this instance purchasing a new tie makes the most sense as they cost less than professional refurbishment in the first place...unless, of course, one cannot purchase it from the same vendor (wouldn't want a dove gray tie in a sea of silver gray). Next on the list would be to send the tie off to an establishment such as Tiecrafters in New York http://tiecrafters.com/cleaning.html who, for much less than the price of a new, fine silk cravat, will meticulously refurbish ones ruined tie. The last and most desperate measure is to place the tie face up on an ironing board, cover it with a lightweight clean cloth and using a good, powerful steam iron that is known not to spit droplets of water, steam the tie WITHOUT touching the iron to the tie or cloth. If this still doesn't release the crease turn it over and try LIGHTLY pressing and steaming the tie from the back. This will no doubt leave a vertical crease on the front of the tie but this is less noticeable on stage than a horizontal crease. If all these measures fail you could try wearing it as a belt; Fred Astair got away with it, maybe you can too...(eyes rolling).

IF one has successfully removed the crease what then does one do with the tie? That's right, class! Roll it and store it. One should roll it and then one could, say; place it in a clean empty rolled oats container to protect it or use one of many commercially available storage boxes.


Her Ladyship particularly likes the plastic tube containers for transporting the tie to concerts rather than tossing it, along with its fate, willy-nilly into the bottom of the garment bag.

One final tip; to extend the life of any tie it should be untied by reversing the steps used to tie it rather than pulling the short end through the knot. Regardless of how temptingly convenient it is to yank it through the knot, this will stress the fabric and the lining and distort the tie.

With Sartorial Sanctimony,
Lady Prisspott