A chink in the armor.

After a long, hard day.

Crooked. Something seems off kilter. A chink in the corporate armor.

I have spoken to nearly 100 suit and tie fetish guys over the past few years. I would estimate that about 85% of them prefer their ties to remain high and tight at all times: to them, the constriction of the silk around the collar, and the collar around the neck, form a perfect ring of pressure, a perfect ring of pleasure. The tie knot remains high and proud, phallic silk blade arching forth, offering itself as the extravagant adornment to the viewer, a calling card to fellow fetishists.

I'm not like most of those guys. Not from what I can tell, at least. The loosened necktie has always gotten me going. It's the single most erotic thing a guy can do while wearing a suit and tie: a symbolic striptease, a hint of loose conduct in public. Something subverting the propriety of the tailored ensemble. Even hotter when the guy who loosens his tie starts off the day perfectly dressed, every detail in place—as though his fine clothes are making him want to react all the more violently against the confinement, making him want to loosen up more. One button open, then two, then three, all the way down—the anticipation of every inch of his chest revealed.

For many suit and tie fetishists, the state of a guy's tie reveals something about the power dynamics of the situation. High and tight means high and mighty: dominant, indomitable, the boss whose tire remains immaculate throughout the encounter. By contrast, then, the loosened tie becomes a signal of surrender: submission, wrecked and used by a domineering executive. I suspect, then, that most suit and tie guys' aversion to the loosened tie stems from their own insecurities about power, their unwillingness to have power over their attire taken from the. These symbolic dynamics fascinate me.

That throughline of dapper to disheveled, suited to slutty, formal to feral—that narrative, that mounting progression of horniness—that, to me, is the ultimate expression of the suit and tie fantasy. As the world grows more casual, I wonder whether the suit with the loosened tie will carry that connotation anymore: suits are worn now chiefly for weddings, perhaps courtroom appearances. As our dress codes change, our sense of occasion, or expressing respect through clothing, will likely fade out along with other forms of etiquette. So, if the whole appeal of the loosened tie depends on its contrast with the respectability of staying high and tight, and if high and tight is vanishing by the wayside, will any of this appeal stick around?

I'm unsure. I suppose I've always been fascinated with watching a silk knot slip away.