I long for the day when the male of the species no longer have to wear them to be deemed smart
I doubt you’ll have to wait long – tie-wearing is dying out at an incredible rate – heads of state don’t even seem to feel the need to wear them very often. JFK killed the hat, Obama has done a pretty good job of killing the suit.
Remember when not wearing a suit was something people in authority had real difficulty doing? The wilderness years for the tory party in opposition when they decided to present themselves as ‘one of us’ by having a dress down friday and just revealing themselves as not actually knowing how to dress at all.
Some people still can’t do it. Nick Clegg would occasionally appear tie-less in order to be frank and ernest but the result was always that he looked like he’d slept through his alarm.
There’s not really any circumstance I’d wear a suit to look smart for work purposes – I only wear mine for partying.