No Tie Required!

Option 1: Yes!

Option 2: No!

Option 3: Maybe

Option 4: Maybe

For the past month, I have been rotating on Psychiatry. Due to the nature of some of the patients we deal with, certain precautions must be taken to ensure the safety of the patients and staff. Along with the absence of handles on doors and other means by which a patient may harm himself, we are advised no to wear ties, scarfs, and lanyards that don't easily detach. And because clip-on ties are a rather repulsive thing for an adult to wear, today's post is about proper ways to wear your dress shirt without a tie.

Option 1: Wearing with the top button unbuttoned. Personally, I do not normally utilize this option because I am very self conscious of the collar's tendency to wander and end up looking like Option #2. I believe that oxfords are the best style dress shirt to wear unbuttoned. Unfortunately, I do not possess enough oxfords to survive this psychiatry rotation. Instead, I use Wurkin Stiffs magnetic collar stays to secure the collar in place (yes... this is a shameless plug and yes you should go buy a set right now!) Anyway, this maintains the professional, neat look fitting for the work place.

Option 2: Spreading the collar over the lapel of your blazer or suit jacket. UNACCEPTABLE (unless you are a baby boomer, pimp, or head of a drug cartel)! As I mentioned above, Wurkin Stiffs and other collar stays can prevent this from happening to you accidentally.

Option 3: Having more than one button unbuttoned. Depending on the situation, unbuttoning more than the top button may be viewed as unprofessional. If its happy hour and you want to seduce the young lady across the room with your chest hair and man cleavage, why not? If you've been dancing the night away and could use a little extra ventilation, why not? Just remember there is a time and place for it.

Option 4: Buttoned all the way up. This is my personal favorite of the tie-less options, because I usually wear a dog tag or other neckwear as a tie replacement. Unfortunately in Psychiatry, substituting a tie with another strangulation hazard is not wise. Though this look is professional, it feels very unfinished to me.

With that, I will leave you with a motivational quote from my MCG classmate Daniel Johnson: "Doc on!"

The Clinical Stylist