Is it okay to wear a tie at college/high school?
So I have a friend who wears primarily American Eagle clothes and doesn’t consider himself preppy. He’s a little unique but thinks he has a sense of style (which is essentially just wearing American Eagle clothes). One day he comes into class with a short sleeve shirt much like the one to the left from American eagle, only white, with a nice red tie. He looked like an IT guy or some nerd who was there to fix the system mainframe. People asked him “Why are you wearing a tie today?”mostly assuming that it was for some sports event later that day.He responded to this question always defensively, saying “I like to look nice and wanted to wear a tie.”
Frankly he looked rediculous and obviously this kind of dressing just looks silly. If you are going to wear a tie, it should always be with a nice shirt, with perhaps a sweater covering it in an informal situation. American eagle short sleeve shirts just look ridiculous this way.
But I was wondering, is it acceptable to wear a tie in an informal situation, like high school, college or going out? Guys are always wearing ties in J Crew ads, or Ralph Lauren models, but if you are not a successful businessman who is used to wearing a tie every day of his life, doesn’t it look a little silly? I really don’t know where I stand on this, because on the one hand, it makes what you are wearing look classy, whereas on the other, if your in college where most people just wear t-shirts and polos, you look like you have over dressed to the extreme. Is this sort of thing only acceptable at places like Yale or Harvard?