Many, many years ago I visited a member of the Israeli Knesset in Jerusalem. As I walked through the halls of Israel’s legislature, I was struck by the lack of ties. Members were generally in shirts without ties. (Interesting in light of the recent news about dress codes in the U.S. Senate.)
I asked the Member about the absence of ties and his response was
“What purpose do they serve?”
Over the past few years, especially with the lockouts, remote work and zoom, ties are not as ubiquitous as before. I have worn one only a few times over the last few years.
And so, as I dressed recently for a memorial service at MOMA, I debated and opted not to wear a tie. It was a very distinguished group of attendees at the memorial, and I was very appropriately dressed — without a tie.