The one rule every man should follow when buying a tie

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Gone are the extremely wide ties of the '80s. Gone too, is the early 2000s fad of extremely skinny ties (thank goodness).

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So where have we landed in 2015 and what width tie should you really be wearing? There's an easy way to tell.

In fact, it's a simple and widely recognized rule of thumb. It goes like this: The widest part of your lapel should match in width the widest part of your tie.

That's it. Here's a graphic from our friends at Black Lapel that further explains it:

Not that complicated, right? For most ties and lapels, this will end up in the 2.5 - 3 inch range. Anything narrower, and you're headed into '50s fad territory.

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According to GQ UK, some tie materials require special consideration. For example, a knit tie should err on the skinnier side, while one with a print should be wider.

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