Cravat (the Croatian mercenaries' neckerchief)
Corbata (pañuelo de los mercenarios croatas)
- Date
- c. 1630-1660 · confidence low
- Place
- Zagreb, Croatia
- Credited to
- Croatian soldiers in French and Imperial service
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A knotted neckerchief worn by Croatian troops and adopted by the French court around the mid-17th century. Its French name, cravate, derives from 'Croat'.
The etymology is accepted, but the causal chain (a Croatian military accessory becoming Parisian fashion) rests on anecdotes and late sources; neckcloths already existed in other periods and cultures. Croatia celebrates Cravat Day on 18 October. The place is indicative: Croatian troops fought in the Thirty Years' War and the fashion spread from Paris.
What it led to
- men's neckwear fashion and the origin of the modern tie
- Louis XIV's Royal-Cravate regiment (1667)