A tie bar sits between the third and fourth buttons of your shirt, and should never be wider than your tie. A lapel pin goes on the left lapel, through or beside the buttonhole. Those two rules cover most of what men get wrong.
The rest is worth knowing, because these are small pieces that look deliberate when they are right and slightly off when they are not.
Tie bar, tie clip, tie pin or tie tack?
The names get used interchangeably in shops, which does not help. The mechanics are different:
| Type | How it works | Fabric risk |
|---|---|---|
| Tie bar / tie slide | Slides on sideways with tension. No moving parts. | None. Safest for silk and knits. |
| Tie clip | Sprung jaw that bites down. | Low, but a strong spring can mark fine silk over time. |
| Tie pin / stick pin | A pin passes through the tie. | Leaves a permanent hole. Only for sturdy weaves. |
| Tie tack | Short pin with a butterfly clutch behind. | Same. Puts a hole in the tie. |
If you care about the tie, use a bar or a clip. Pins and tacks have a genuine vintage appeal, but understand you are committing the tie to it.
Where exactly does a tie bar go?
Between the third and fourth buttons of your shirt, counting from the collar. That lands it just above the natural line of a buttoned jacket, so it stays visible when you are standing.
Too high and it looks like a bow tie. Too low and it disappears under the jacket button, which defeats the point.
The bar must clip the tie and the shirt placket together. A bar that only grips the tie is decoration, not a fastener, and it will slide.
How wide should it be?
Narrower than the tie at the point where it sits. Somewhere between two-thirds and three-quarters of the tie's width is the sweet spot. Never flush with the edges, and never overhanging.
Standard bars run around 45 to 55mm. If you wear slim ties, look for something closer to 35 to 40mm.
Which lapel takes the pin?
The left, always. If your jacket has a working buttonhole, the pin goes through it or immediately beside it. If there is no buttonhole, place it in the same position on the lapel roughly level with the armhole.
One pin. Not a pin and a pocket square in the same colour, and not a pin competing with a boutonniere at a wedding.
Matching metals
Keep your hardware in one family. Silver-toned tie bar with silver-toned cufflinks and a steel watch. Gold with gold. A rose gold tie bar against a stainless watch is the sort of thing nobody can name but everybody notices.
Belt buckles count. So do glasses frames, if they are metal. Our cufflinks collection and lapel pins, tie bars and tie pins are worth browsing together for that reason.
When to leave them off
- Black tie. A bow tie needs no bar, and studs are doing the work on the shirt. See our guide to choosing cufflinks for what formal shirts actually require.
- Knitted or heavily textured ties. A bar struggles to grip and often looks fussy against the texture.
- Funerals and anything sombre. Plain and quiet is the brief. Skip decoration.
- When you are not wearing a jacket. A tie bar without a jacket is fine and practical. A lapel pin without a lapel is not.
A note on braces
If you wear braces, the tie bar becomes more useful, not less, since there is no waistcoat holding the tie down. Keep the metal on the brace clips in the same family as everything else. Our braces collection sits in the same formal wardrobe as the rest of this.
Common questions
Should a tie bar be horizontal or angled?
Horizontal. The angled look is a style choice some people make deliberately, but it reads as a mistake far more often than it reads as intent.
Can I wear a tie bar with a waistcoat?
You can, though the waistcoat is already holding the tie in place. If you do, it needs to sit above the lowest button so it is still visible.
Do lapel pins go with a buttonhole or beside it?
Through the buttonhole if it is a working one. Beside it if it is stitched shut, and leave it stitched.
Will a tie clip damage a silk tie?
A well-made slide or a clip with a moderate spring will not. Avoid anything with sharp edges on the inner jaw, and avoid pins entirely on fine silk.
