I learned how to tie the Pratt Knot last night - also sometimes referred to as the shelby knot. The reason for the descretion is apparently Jerry Pratt, its American inventor, used the knot for thirty years before Don Shelby publicised it on local television. It came about in the New York Times and Daily Telegraph in 1989.

In any case, I was recently informed that the Windsor knot is slightly dated for the “modern man” and is also quite a big knot. With the Pratt, you not only get a slightly smaller knot (good for those medium-bodied ties), but also a nice little dimple in your tie just below the knot. It’s bugging me out a little bit, though, because you end up with the small end facing the wrong way. I realize that you can’t see it and you could even twist it if you wanted to, but the fact that the knot is originally designed to flaunt symmetry is difficult for my logical mind to process and stop thinking about. We’ll see how it goes.