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They were initially intened to cover shirt buttons, which were seen as utilitarian and unattractive

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The functionless, decorative, least comfortable of mens attire is of military origin.

The first recorded neckwear appeared in the first century B.C. In the heat of the day, Roman soldiers wore focale -- scarves soaked in water and wrapped around the neck to cool down the body. This completely utilitarian garment, however, never caught on sufficiently -- in either a practical or a decorative sense -- to become a standard article of menswear.

The origin of the modern necktie is traceable to another military custom.

In 1668, a regiment of Croatian mercenaries in the service of Austria appeared in France wearing linen and muslin scarves around their necks. Weather the scarves were once functional, as were focale, or merely a decorative accent to an otherwise bland military uniform, has never been established. History does record that fashion-conscious French men and women were greatly taken with the idea. The began to appear in public wearing neckwear of linen and lace, knotted in the center, with long flowing ends. The French called the ties cravates, their name for the "Croats" who inspired the sartorial flair.

The fashion quickly spread to England. But the fad might have died out if the extravagant, pleasure loving British monarch Charles II had not by his own example made neckwear a court must. And had the times not been ripe for a lighthearted fashion diversion. Londoners had recently suffered through the plague of 1665 and the devastating citywide fire of 1666. The neckwear fad swept the city almost as fast as the flames of the great conflagaration.

The trend was reinforced in the next century by Beau Brummel, who became famous for his massive neckties and innovative ways of tying them. In fact, the proper way to tie neckwear became a male obsession, discussed, debated, and hotly argued in conversation and the press. Knots and ties were named for famous people and fashionable places, such as the racecourse at Ascot. Since that time, neckwear in some form -- belt-long or bowtie-short, plain or fancy, rope-narrow or chest-broad -- has been continually popular.

The bow tie, popularized in America in the 1920s, may also have originated among Croatian men.

For many years, fashion historians believed that the small, detachable bow tie developed as one of the many variations on longer neckwear. But that was opened to debate by the discovery that, for centuries, part of the costume of men in areas of Croation consisted of bow ties. They were made from a square handkerchief, folded along the diagonal, pulled into a bow knot, then attached with a cord around the neck.