In View 1 of the Advance 2899 pattern envelope you see above, that little 1960’s Ken doll is wearing a red jacket and under that jacket, he’s wearing a type of neckwear called an “ascot.” But what is an ascot? And why don’t we see people wearing them these days?

Along with my explanation of how I sewed an ascot for my vintage 1960 Ken doll, I’ll take a look at the history of the ascot, and before this blog post is over, I’d love to hear all your thoughts on this tiny piece of men’s neckwear. So be sure to leave your opinions, thoughts, and personal experiences in the comments!

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June 12th is the 95th birthday of Jim Nabors, an actor and singer with a very kind heart and gentle nature. I’m going to dedicate today’s blog post to the memory of Jim Nabors… And today’s blog post is all about the ascot, a type of gentleman’s neckwear.

Let’s begin with a quick definition. According to Merriam-Webster (online), an ascot is “a broad neck scarf that is looped under the chin.”* I created the one my vintage 1960 Ken doll is wearing in the image above by using a sewing pattern that was published in 1962, Advance 2899.

I followed the directions to create this long, lightweight scarf-like garment, by simply turning the ends of the scarf in, folding the whole thing in half “like a hot dog” (as the saying goes), and sewing it together on three sides.

For this sewing project, I used very lightweight jersey fabric. A person could use a lightweight polyester instead, but I didn’t have any on hand that would look good with Ken‘s little black-and-white checkered jacket which I’d sewn to go with this outfit.

However, the jersey fabric turned out to be a little too thick. I had a tough time getting his jacket to close over the folded ascot in a way that looked attractive.

So instead, I had him wear it more like a winter scarf, tucked into the jacket at the front.

So if you’re going to make an ascot for your Ken dolls, I highly recommend using a lighter-weight fabric than the one I chose. I think a very scarfy polyester would be good.

Okay, now that we’ve talked about how I created this ascot using my vintage Advance 2899 sewing pattern for Ken, let’s address the elephant in the room…

Why did the ascot go out of style?

Men of the Western World have often sported neckwear, as you can see in the image of George Villiers, the second Duke of Buckingham, in the painting shown above.**

I did quite a bit of online research to try to figure out why it’s called an ascot. Several websites cite the Royal Ascot raceway as the place where men first wore what we now call an ascot (as neckwear), but none of the websites I found cited their sources. So I can’t be sure of the trustworthiness of this “fact.”

They may all be referencing Wikipedia, which states that “The Royal Ascot race meeting at the Ascot Racecourse gave the ascot its name, although such dress cravats were no longer worn with morning dress at the Royal Ascot races by the Edwardian era. The ascot was still commonly worn for business with morning dress in the late 19th and very early 20th centuries.”***

So when did it go out of style?

Well before I address this question, let me point out that in terms of military formal attire, the ascot is still very much alive in several branches of the military. I have a daughter who is an officer in the United States Navy, and I’ve seen enlisted personnel wearing an ascot as part of their military regalia during parades here in the States.

So it’s not entirely out of vogue in terms of formal attire, for both male and female members of the US military (and other countries’ militaries as well).

However, when I go to a store that sells clothing, I’m hard pressed to find a single ascot among their wares. Why is this?

I’m going to be frank here, and I hope I don’t offend anyone (but I probably will).

Let’s set the stage. I grew up in the 1970’s. I remember people wearing ascots on TV, but never in real life. The people who wore ascots on television were people like Jim Nabors and Andy Warhol.

If, like me, you grew up in the 1970’s, you’ll know exactly what we associated with Jim Nabors. It wasn’t his incredible musical talent. God bless him!

And what would the world be like today, if it wasn’t for Andy Warhol? Art wouldn’t be the same without his amazing and unique style. But Andy Warhol and Jim Nabors had something in common that everyone in the 1970’s was fully aware of.

So I think you know what I’m getting at here. If you asked my father — a western country auctioneer with old-fashioned cowboy ideals — why he wouldn’t have been caught dead in an ascot, he’d mutter something about “Tooti Frutti” and use a mild curse word. Prejudices like that were common in the 1970’s, far more common than they are today.

But most families sat down to watch the news after dinner, back in the 1970’s, and on the news, Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, David Brinkley, Robert MacNeil, and Jim Lehrer were seen wearing a business suit with a tie. Never an ascot.

So when men dressed up to go to work or to church or to a party, their choice of formal attire looked a lot like the newscasters of their time. In my humble opinion, therefore, it was prejudices against homosexuality, coupled with the popularity of the suits and ties worn by newscasters that set the stage for the dominance of the tie over ascots in the 1970’s.

Some websites today are touting a resurgence of the ascot, which to no one’s surprise, accompanies advances in science that help us understand the nature of non-binary sexuality at a biological level, and in turn, members of the LGBTQ+ community are being embraced by the broader community online in ways they never have before.****

So people like my dad who grew up in a dogmatic Christian community will have to learn to wrap their heads around what Jesus said in Matthew 19:12… “For some are eunuchs because they were born that way.” If Jesus believed it, and science backs that up, why is it so hard for my dad to accept?

[Heavy sigh…] My dad will probably never be seen wearing an ascot, but hopefully he’ll stop hating Jim Nabors before he (my dad) dies and has to go meet his maker. I mean, Jim Nabors was a genuinely nice guy! He never deserved Dad’s hatred, or anybody else’s for that matter.

And in my humble opinion, neither did the ascot. But now it’s your turn. What are your thoughts on the ascot as an item of men’s neckwear? Why did it go out of style? And do you see it making a comeback in your part of the world?

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Please note: when you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include Amazon, Etsy, and the eBay Partner Network. As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. To learn more about how my website uses affiliate marketing, please visit the website’s Privacy Policy page.

Chelly Wood and the ChellyWood.com website are not affiliated with the pattern company or companies mentioned in this blog post, but Chelly finds inspiration in the doll clothes designed by these pattern companies. To purchase patterns from Simplicity, McCall’s, Butterick, Vogue, or other pattern companies shown and discussed in this blog post, please click on the links provided here. These links below the “Disclaimer” section do not help raise money for this free pattern website; they are only offered to give credit to the company that made these patterns.

Formal Citations:

*“Ascot.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ascot. Accessed 9 May. 2025.

**Wikipedia contributors. “George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 16 Mar. 2025. Web. 10 May. 2025.

***Wikipedia contributors. “Ascot tie.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 6 May. 2025. Web. 10 May. 2025.

****Green, Hank. “Intersex Across the Animal Kingdom.” YouTube, SciShow, 10 Oct. 2016, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxs2yHP6K2E.