Every time I try to do the Japanese fold... this is how it ends up: https://i.imgur.com/FBYu2Ry.gif

That Full Windsor - it's a revelation to me that it looks good even without the top button of the shirt buttoned. I also thought I had to button the top button of my shirt, which I hate.

I honestly never find that folding technique better than just.. fold it thrice using the exactly same three folding lines:

https://i.imgur.com/CRxFYwS.png

The end result is identical, not really slower, it's easier to adjust the "proportion' during the process, and it works better with long sleeves with minor adjustment.

Half Windsor is still more in fashion and still produces a neat, symmetrical knot. Beware, though, after learning a good knot you will see the four in hand knot everywhere and it will annoy you.

I've been using the Full Windsor since my dad taught it to me when I was 13. I'm not much one for fashion, but I think it's a timeless knot. Apparently James Bond didn't think much of it though. :-)

> Also, tie wearers, take the time to learn a Full Windsor

I mean, if you are into attempts to simulate the look of a four-in-hand knot used on a wider piece of material as popularized by a particular celebrity Nazi sympathizer, sure.

Unless you are particularly tall, in which case finding ties long enough to wear with a full windsor is enough trouble that you might as well find something wide enough to achieve the effect the authentic way with a four-in-hand.

The Windsor looks nothing like the four-in-hand. It's a symmetric, full knot. The four-in-hand is asymmetric and skinny. I happen to think the Windsor is the best looking knot here:

https://www.ties.com/how-to-tie-a-tie/windsor

(Scroll down to Explore More Knots.)

I've been using it since I was 13. My father taught it to me. His father taught it to him. I've taught it to my son.

I haven't tied the the Pratt knot before, but it looks like it's a nice nearly symmetrical knot that doesn't use up much of the tie.

> the Windsor looks nothing like the four-in-hand

The Windsor is an attempt to simulate, with a common tie, the look of a knot the late Duke of Windsor was known to wear, which was, in fact, a four-in-hand tied on a much wider (and, I suspect—though I have seen no documentation on this point—differently shaped) piece of material than common ties.

> I've been using it since I was 13. My father taught it to me. His father taught it to him. I've taught it to my son.

I’m not sure what relevance that has; I learned it about the same age, also from my father (who I suspect didn’t learn it from his father, whose personality, age, and socioeconomic background probably would not have inclined him to jump on that particular newfangled fashion trend.)