Is it time to be tie-free?

US President Barack Obama addressing a college crowd in Ohio without a tie. Photo: Reuters

David Koch does it in the morning, Mark Zuckerberg's been doing it for years and Barack Obama does it on the hustings.
Going tie-less, once considered daring, is now de rigueur for many CEOs, politicians, and across our TV screens where often commentators and presenters appear with their necks exposed.
The look that's slowly evolved as the IT industry has loosened up the workplace, is a way of getting personal but without dropping the patina of authority.

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What not to wear: top tie rules
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Where the tie once symbolised the separation between work and home, its absence suggests a bloke at ease with himself, like he's lounging around at work.
It makes men on TV appear much more like us, as if we're all on the same level, bringing the relationship between the presenter and the audience a bit closer, says Dr Helen Caple, a lecturer in media, communications and journalism at the University of NSW.
Caple sees the informality as suggesting a more familiar, but not a more casual, relationship with the audience.
"You can still look smart and formal without wearing a tie. I wouldn't associate the tie with being a symbol of authority and control," she says. "Its absence doesn't detract from that authority, but I would baulk at them wearing a T-shirt."
Professor Theo van Leeuwen, Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences at Sydney's University of Technology, says the absence of the tie is actually a new uniform, not a breakaway from the old one, and its purpose is to draw us in.
"It is a strategy to lure you in, to make us more comfortable about (the presenters') role and make them feel one of us. Anybody who has power has to try and legitimate it in some way."
Van Leeuwen says TV news is increasingly being personalised with its official voice downplayed, but the relationship with the audience hasn't changed.
"The newsreader is still the newsreader and brings with them the authority of the news," say van Leeuwen, who, like the university's senior management, lawyers and investment bankers, still wears a tie to work.
Sporting an open neck is a show of power, van Leeuwen says, and CEOs dispense with ties because they can.
"If you're more powerful you might have a choice. But it creates a lot of confusion because if you have a lower role you might have to wear the uniform."
At the request of more than 60 clients, workers at Adelaide sales and marketing consultancy Patrick Baker and Associates now meet with clients without wearing ties, and with their jackets slung over a chair.
"The exchange of ideal flows much more; everyone opens up much more," says marketing director Steve Davis.
"The tie does create a formal atmosphere like a priest wearing robes to separate them from the flock, and that's not conducive to a client opening up," he says. "But we're still in crisp business shirts and cufflinks - we still wear pants."
In a world where how you wear your tie is highly nuanced - undo the top button and you may look a little undone, playful or rebellious, or even hard at work - van Leeuwen says it's no wonder it's being increasingly rejected by younger men.
David Jones spokeswoman Dianna Young says the focus in the last 12 to 18 months has shifted from the blue and grey-striped corporate tie to a fashion tie with more patterns and colour.
"People are wearing ties differently because there's not just a corporate focus, there's more a fashion focus, particularly with the younger customer and their interest in skinnier ties."
Leith Testoni, managing director of men's fashion label Zanerobe, agrees, explaining that men are dressing down the suit by taking off the tie, while dressing up their streetwear by putting it back on.
But for Testoni, there's no choice.
"If you want to look your best, a tie still looks fantastic."
FACTBOX
From Sunrise to the White House, men are ditching the tie. Here's who following the trend:
- US President Barack Obama
- US presidential contender Mitt Romney
- Seven Sunrise presenter David Koch
- Ten presenter George Negus
- ABC presenters Steve Cannane (The Drum) and Michael Rowland (ABC News Breakfast)
- Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg
- Apple CEO Steve Jobs
- Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer
- Boeing CEO Jim McNerney
- Coca-Cola CEO John Brock
 AAP