Pratt Knot

The Pratt knot is a method of tying a tie around one's neck and collar. It is also known as the Shelby knot and the Pratt-Shelby. The knot was invented by Jerry Pratt, an employee of the US Chamber of Commerce. He had been wearing his tie in the Pratt knot for some twenty years before it became popular after TV personality Don Shelby wore it on air. The New York fashion press then promptly attributed the invention of the knot to Shelby.

The Pratt knot is unusual in that its starting position is 'reverse side out', like the Nicky knot, a self-releasing variant of the Pratt. It uses less length than the Half Windsor or Windsor knots, and so is well suited to shorter ties or taller men. Unlike the Four in Hand knot, the Pratt method produces a symmetrical knot. It is of medium thickness.

Although these "reverse side out" knots have been attributed to various recent "inventors" ("Pratt", "Shelby") or given fanciful "dedicatory names" ("Nicky" is supposed to derive from the visit of Nikita Khrushchev to Milan), the Pratt knot has actually been quite commonly used among Milanese tailors since at least the 1920s, having the advantage of being quite easy to tie a perfect knot on a shop-window mannequin. In Italy, it is simply referred to as the "nodo alla milanese" (Milan style knot).

Using notation from and according to The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie, the knot is tied

• Lo Ci Lo Ri Co T (knot 5)

The Nicky is tied

• Lo Ci Ro Li Co T (knot 4)