Tailor out to collar tie slackers

by Valerie Sprague
BBC News Online

Mr Souster (l) tailored suits for the late Eric Morecambe

A tailor in Bedfordshire has opened a "tie surgery" to teach men how to knot their neckwear properly.

Geoff Souster, a former Savile Row tailor who makes bespoke suits and formal dress, said a recent study showing the health risks linked to tight ties inspired the idea.

So he is offering lessons at his shop, Sousters, in Luton.

A New York study, and a report by the British Journal of Ophthalmology, indicated wearing a tightly-cinched necktie could cause higher internal eye pressure, which can make it easier for glaucoma to develop.

Mr Souster said: "Many men just do not know how to wear a tie, and tend to compensate by simply pulling it as tightly around their necks as is possible.

A customer shared his secret, which is you fasten a bow tie it around your knee and practice on your knee Tailor Geoff Souster

"I think it's a good thing to know - a lot of younger men had no idea how to properly tie a tie, taking into account the way we've been dressing down over the last couple of years."

He told BBC News Online that he also aims to educate men - and women - on how to fasten a chic tie.

"You often see this in films - it's quite provocative, a woman tying her partner's tie, so I'll teach them as well.

"But generally, it is the men who don't wear their ties very often, go a wedding and can't tie their tie who need help - or those who put on weight, try to wear the same size collar shirt, and try to fit the tie around the shirt."

He suggested people who cannot make it to his shop visit their local tailor and ask for instruction.

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Mr Souster said most British men want to learn to tie the classic Windsor knot, and he says even people who admire the look of a bow tie often simply give up because it is so difficult at first.

He said: "When you're tying a bow tie, you get infuriated, because your arms are aching, and you just get fed up, but a customer shared his secret, which is, you fasten a bow tie it around your knee and practice on your knee."

Whichever knot a man prefers, Mr Souster does not approve of taking the simple way out by wearing a 1960s-style clip-on tie.

"I haven't seen one for years, though I have fashioned something like this for a customer with a disability.

"But no ... I think that's cheating, like the false handkerchief in the top pocket. It's too easy."