This article is about the neckband. For other uses, see Cravat (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with ascot tie.
Croatian baroque poet Ivan Gundulić; the oldest known portrait with a cravat, 1622[1]
The cravat (/krəˈvæt/, krə-vat) is a neckband, the forerunner of the modern tailored necktie and bow tie, originating from 17th-century military unit known as the Croats.[2]
From the end of the 16th century, the term band applied to any long-strip neckcloth that was not a ruff. The ruff, a starched, pleated white linen strip, originated earlier in the 16th century as a neckcloth (readily changeable, to minimize the soiling of a doublet), as a bib, or as a napkin. A band could be either a plain, attached shirt collar or a detachable "falling band" that draped over the doublet collar. It is possible that cravats were initially worn to hide shirts which were not immaculately clean.[3] Alternatively, it was thought to serve as psychological protection of the neck during battle from attack by a spear
History