What year does the necktie date back to?
A cravat is the neckband that was the forerunner of the modern tailored necktie. From the end of the 16th century the term “band” applied to any long strip of cloth worn round the neck that was not a “ruff.” The ruff itself had started its career in the earlier 16th century as a starched and pleated strip of white linen that could be freshly changed to keep the neck of a doublet from getting increasingly grimy. A “band” could indicate a plain attached shirt collar or a detached “falling band” that draped over the doublet collar. The “cravat” originated in the 1630s. Like most male fashions between the 17th century and World War I, it had a military origin. The word comes from the French cravate, (a corruption of “Croat” ), the name given by the French in the reign of Louis XIII, ca 1635, to the scarf worn by the Croatian mercenary troops enlisted in a regiment that supported Louis XIII and Richelieu against the Duc de Guise and the Queen Mother,Marie de Medici.
