Bring Back the Ascot

[lakewolf]

Originally Posted by trogdor

I have to dispute that -- I've seen them in Tie Rack for about €30 or less! In Cork! I'm not sure if they have Tie Rack in the US, but it's a not-very-upscale shop (often found in malls). I can't think of a US point of comparison, but it ain't flashy.

They had quite a variety, and frankly, I'm tempted...

Yes, the ones in the Tie rack qualify as Ascots to me

That is 100% silk and shorter and thinner than an scarve, it has a thinner band in the middle so you can wear it inside or around your shirt collar and maybe pin it.

these are Ascots

This is how it looks around the collar, best with a wing collar

Here inside the collar

The ones in the blog are scarves, the kind almost everybody here in Europe wears when is colder. You can find them in cashmere, silk, wool, silk/wool, many of them are synthetic.

I don't have a real ascot but I bought me one scarve silk/wool from Tie Rack, that looks like the ones in the blog, but this is not an Ascot, you can't tuck it inside your shirt, it is too big, I also have 2 in silk one black one white... here are the pictures
one is wool in one side, silk on the other, the other two are pure silk

 

[Artisan Fan]

I think its hard to wear an ascot these days and not look pretentious.

 

[Will]

Originally Posted by Artisan Fan

I think its hard to wear an ascot these days and not look pretentious.

It's like wearing black tie. Hard for some men to contemplate if no-one else will be wearing it but they may take a chance in the company of others.

Once you do it a couple of times you realize no-one pays attention unless you walk around pointing it out.

 

[Sator]

Originally Posted by JLibourel

A lot of the neckwear in the Sartorialist blog looked like what I would describe as "scarves," rather than "ascots" in American usage, what I think the British call "day cravats."


Ascot is the American English for a cravat.

If you wear a cravat casually then then it is called a day cravat. It tends to be made out of smoother silk so that it is comfortable to wear against the skin.

Proper dress cravats are as rare as hen's teeth. They are best made out of woven silk so that the cravat pin can get a bite out of it. I would go so far as to so nobody makes proper self-tie dress cravats in the traditional colours and fabrics any more:

So if you do find a cravat these days - it will be a day cravat.

 

[LabelKing]

I don't believe this is an ascot in today's sense. It was really more of a tie as Robert de Montesquiou here is wearing it as.

 

[Sator]

Originally Posted by LabelKing

I don't believe this is an ascot in today's sense. It was really more of a tie as Robert de Montesquiou here is wearing it as.

On the other hand isn't it a bit wide to be a conventional tie in the modern sense? It could just be a cravat which has been tied in a slightly unusual and dandyish manner. Great frock coat BTW.

 

[LabelKing]

Originally Posted by Sator

On the other hand isn't it a bit wide to be a conventional tie in the modern sense? It could just be a cravat which has been tied in a slightly unusual and dandyish manner. Great frock coat BTW.
True, I believe this is a long sort of muffler-type item. However, my point was that an ascot in today's vernacular wouldn't be appropriate to discuss the item in the picture, which served the purpose of a tie in the 19th century. Beau Brummell's famous anecdote of having to spend several hours to knot the perfect tie would have been in reference to something like this. I also think those fitted gloves are perfect, but then Count Robert de M. was the foremost dandy in his day; Huysmans based his des Esseintes character on his excesses.

 

[Sator]

This is why the English differentiate between a 'dress cravat' and a 'day cravat'.

You are right that when we say 'cravat' or 'ascot' the first thing that comes in mind is a 'day cravat'. However, as you point out just as Beau Brummell famously spent hours tying his dress cravats, a cravat can be a more formal type of neckwear too.

 

[LabelKing]

 

[fatty]

i have to say unfortunately, that i'm really not a fan of it. Unless you're this guy, they're not something you can wear too often.

 

[wimbledonballs]

just join this forum and found your blog about the ascot or in the uk we call them cravat.
i got to say i love them and try to wear as much as i can about to go on cruises and will
be wear them at dinner and in the cocktail bar with a jacket and silk pocket hankie the best
cravat here in the uk are from turnbull and asser must buy about four of five a year.
hope still wearing and enjoining your cravats. yes bring back the cravats.

 

[lordofpi]

Glad to have you, Wimbeldon, but you do realize this thread is from two years ago? Funny thing is that I read through the whole thing again having deja vu before seeing a "2007" in one the posts.

 

[micbain]

Even just knowing what an ascot is will be grounds for a good ass kicking in most places. Somethings are better left in the past.