By Joy Kraft
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Ties on women have come a long way since Diane Keaton's quirky character Annie Hall paired them, haphazardly knotted, with baggy pants in the 1977 Woody Allen film (which lists Ralph Lauren as one of the costume designers).

Melanie Balasa (left), an Oak Hills High School senior who designs ties, and friends Jenny Madix and Missy Smith show off some of Melanie's designs. (Tony Jones photo) | ZOOM |

Today's ties don't even need shirts - or collars - to wrap around. And you won't see these colors in the board room.

The traditional navys and reds have been punched up to knockout scarlets, sizzling pinks, purples and rainbow stripes ... and cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse.

Rocker Sheryl Crow wore a red-and-black striped tie to the Oscars sans shirt with black vest and slacks.

Pop punker Avril Lavigne wears ties with sleeveless T-shirts and tube socks on her arms.

Celeb rocker Kelly Osbourne's ties have skulls and crossbones on hot-punk pink. Or she strings ties through the belt loops on her jeans.

Pop punker Avril Lavigne wears ties with sleeveless T-shirts. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

The thought of fine silk ties, usually dimpled Windsor or four-in-hand knots, being twisted and pulled through belt loops makes tie-man Corwyn Thomas cringe. But at the same time, the co-owner of Corwyn Apparel at Kenwood Towne Centre is tickled that women are turning to ties.

"I heard about women wearing them from friends visiting New York in October," he says. "And I just saw an Ellen Tracy ad in Vogue showing a model wearing a tie.

"Women are taking a second look" when they pass his kiosk, he says, which counts Britney Spears and Lavigne as Internet customers.

Last weekend, he took a trio of models wearing ties to the Have A Nice Day Cafe on Main Street, and a couple of days later, a woman came in who had seen them and bought five ties.

Len Goldman, owner of House of Shirts, 902 Main St., downtown, has been selling novelty prints and cartoon-character ties for the past year to students at the School for Creative and Performing Arts and women 35 to 50.

"They're buying them, along with tuxedo wing-collar shirts I carry in several colors and wearing them with designer jeans, high heels and cowboy hats. It's a very smart look," Goldman says.

"Women wore bow ties for a long time, but the novelty ties are a big movement now. It's getting stronger all the time: ties becoming unisex."

"There are a lot of young kids wearing ties as belts. We saw some last summer when the trendy celebrities started, and now young girls, especially the 13- to 16-year-olds, are catching on," says Margie Voelker-Ferrier, associate professor of fashion design at University of Cincinnati.

TYING THE KNOTS

FOUR-IN-HAND 1. Situate tie so A is longer than B and cross A over B. 2. Turn A back underneath B. 3. Continue by bringing A back over in front of B again. 4. Pull A up and through the loop around your neck. 5. Hold the front of the knot loosely with your index finger and bring A down through the front loop. 6. Remove finger and tighten knot snugly to collar by holding B and sliding the knot. 7. Tighten the knot and draw up to collar. WINDSOR 1. Situate tie so end A is longer than end B and cross A over B. 2. Bring A up through loop between collar and tie; then back down. 3. Pull A under B and to the left, and back through the loop again. 4. Bring A across the front from left to right. 5. Pull A up through the loop again. 6. Bring A down through the knot in front. 7. Using both hands, tighten the knot and draw up to collar. Source: www.tieguys.com

Melanie Balasa of Covedale is one of them.

"I'm obsessed with ties - completely," says the Oak Hills High School senior who has turned a spare room in her home into a design and sewing studio.

"I saw a Ralph Lauren ad showing a girl in a tie, so I got a pattern and started making them for myself and my friends. They are kind of like fabric jewelry."

Balasa picks feminine prints - sunflowers, checks, bandana patterns.

And wearing these ties doesn't require a collared shirt.

Melanie and her friends knot them around their necks over tube tops and bare-shouldered blouses, or wear them dangling over bare midriffs with knotted blouses.

"When I first started wearing them people kind of looked at me funny," she says. "But it's like any trend. When it first starts people are hesitant. But I've actually got lots of my friends wearing them now."

Learning to tie a proper knot was a bit sticky though.

"I finally got my grandpa to show me how to tie one the right way in December," Balasa says.

E-mail jkraft@enquirer.com