By this point, we all know what it looks like when Donald Trump wears a tie. That tieâitâs going to be big. Itâs probably going to be red. And itâs definitely going to be fastened with the hamfisted inverted triangle of a full Windsor knot.
On Monday, as Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States, he and his VP, JD Vance, both opted for reddish, Windsor-knotted neckties, making for some low-hanging symbolism of their fiery Republican sensibilities. The Windsor knot, like many of Trumpâs aesthetic proclivities, is a relic of bygone aristocrats (its namesake is the abdicatinâ Duke of Windsor) and its beefy, symmetrical shape has long been considered passé by menswear aficionados. According to author Ian Flemingâs fifth James Bond novelâtitled, funnily enough, From Russia With Loveâthe fictional international superspy/real-life fashion icon was never a fan.
âBond mistrusted anyone who tied his tie with a Windsor knot,â Fleming wrote. âIt showed too much vanity. It was often the mark of a cad.â
Cads in Windsor knots abounded at Mondayâs ceremony. Seated together in a murdersâ row of folding chairs, Silicon Valleyâs tech eliteâMeta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Muskâhad prime-view seats to the inaugural happenings in the Capitol Rotunda. Like Trump and Vance, Zuckerberg and Bezos both wore unexceptional navy suits and wide burgundy-toned neckties knotted with chunky, triangular Windsors. (The two CEOs were also accompanied by their partners, and in another curious instance of sartorial symmetry, Zuckerbergâs wife Priscilla Chan and Bezosâs fiancée Lauren Sánchez both wore optic-white jacketed ensembles.)
Pichai, who sported a purplish printed tie, also opted for the Windsor. Musk, who always manages to stray from the pack for one reason or another, went for a four-in-handânominally GQâs knot of choice, though Muskâs appeared rather sloppily tied, and he fussed with his solid navy necktie throughout the event.
