If these requisites are not carefully attended to, the Cravat immediately fades and becomes yellow, whilst on the contrary, if properly prepared, it presents an elegant and recherché appearance.
Starch gives a combination of substance, elasticity, and suppleness to the handkerchief, and by filling up the smallest holes effectually excludes the cold air in winter. In summer it also possesses the incalculable advantage of preventing the Cravat from adhering too closely to the neck, and thereby producing an uncomfortable heat.
Whatever style may have been adopted in putting on the Cravat, when the knot is once formed (whether good or bad) it should not be changed under any pretence whatever.
In the duties of the toilet, we may compare the tie of the Cravat to the liaisons de sauces blanches of the kitchen; the least error is fatal to the whole composition of either, and as a new sauce must be prepared, with entirely fresh ingredients, so must a new tie be produced by a fresh Cravat.
When the Cravat is satisfactorily arranged, the finger must be passed lightly along the top, to smooth and thin it, and cause it to coincide with the shirt collar.
A small iron, with a handle, made expressly for the purpose, and moderately warm, is the best instrument for producing a thin and equal edge to the Cravat; it will also serve to smooth the tie; but great care must be taken that it is clean and glossy, as without this precaution spots will be inevitable.
When a Cravat has not been previously folded by the laundress, and you have prepared it yourself, of the exact height required by the style you intend to adopt, particular attention should be paid to the folding the ends, one of which must be folded down and the other up, as it may be, the right or left end.
The great advantages of this method will be immediately perceptible, in the prevention of that disagreeable prominence which is generally produced at the back of the neck by the junction of the ends; which being brought to the front without being soiled, or tumbled in the slightest degree, are more easily formed into an elegant tie.