Catholic School Crossover Ties

March 16, 2021 9:25 AM

When I attend catholic elementary school, part of the uniform was a crossover tie. Are these still worn? What is the history of these? Where did they originate?
posted by falsedmitri to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (10 answers total)

Great question! I did a little digging and found this piece on the history of British school ties. The article suggests that the cross tie for school uniforms is an American thing:

"The neck tie is a male garment. British girl's schools attempted to emulate the boys' schools, especially the public (private) schools. Many girls' school adopted the tie as part of the school uniform and most secondary schools continue to require that the girls wear ties. Some schools have adopted a cross-tie for girls. I'm not sure where or when it first appeared. I began noticing the crosstie at American parochial schools in the 1950s, but it may have originated earlier. This stylle has proven quite popular at American parochial schools and has been adopted by many American public (state) schools in the 1990s. American girls do not commonly wear neckties. The necktie is still commonly worn by English girls.
"

I also found an article about the evolution of Girl Scout uniforms, and it looks like they didn't adopt a criss-cross tie until the 70s.

It does look like they are still worn at some schools. From a random school's current dress code: "K-4 Plaid jumper with white blouse (long or short sleeve) with Peter Pan collar, a black criss-cross tie and black sweater. They should wear with grey socks or tights with black Mary Jane-type shoes."

Nothing so far about the origin, but I'll keep looking.
posted by RobinofFrocksley at 10:10 AM on March 16, 2021

Now I'm really curious so I asked the lovely and knowledgeable folks at the Vintage Fashion Guild forums, here is a link to that thread, hopefully they can help as well! Their membership is international, so it may take a day or so to get replies.
posted by RobinofFrocksley at 10:21 AM on March 16, 2021

FWIW, way back when I was in Catholic school, they called them Cross Continental Ties.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:22 AM on March 16, 2021

FWIW, cross ties are a very common part of women's uniforms outside of schools and scouting. Restaurant service uniforms, pilots, I'm not well versed at all in military clothing but I feel like I've seen the cross tie on military dress uniform as well.
posted by phunniemee at 10:27 AM on March 16, 2021

In the UK, the Girl Guides and Brownie Guides had similar-ish ties as part of their uniform from 1967 to 1981 (1990 for Brownies). I presume that they were trying to be hipper, there was also a change in syllabus at the same time which made activities more pick and mix. School ties here have generally been standard neck ties throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.
posted by plonkee at 10:50 AM on March 16, 2021

I can't answer your question, but they are very popular amongst snooker players.
posted by Ferrari328 at 10:55 AM on March 16, 2021

Cross ties are common in women's uniforms for the U.S. military.
posted by NotLost at 11:13 AM on March 16, 2021

They’re also often part of choir/band attire for girls.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:51 AM on March 16, 2021

In my Catholic school, the boys wore the cross ties. Ours were a boring chocolate brown. I don’t recall the girls wearing any sort of tie.
posted by Thorzdad at 12:16 PM on March 16, 2021

Thorzdad: in my catholic school, boys were punished by making them wear the girls crossover tie, and yes the nuns would taunt them by calling them "little girls". Gosh, I hope some of those nasty women got their comeuppance.
posted by james33 at 8:02 AM on March 17, 2021