The knot illustrated here was invented by Mr Jerry Pratt, who used to work for the United States Chamber of Commerce. Before announcing it to the world, he had been knotting his tie this way for most of his working life.
What's interesting about this knot is that you start with the tie inside out. That means turning the pattern inward inside your collar, and having the front of the tie facing backward underneath the tail end. Sounds very strange, yet it all works out as you'll see from the diagrams.
It's not often that a new necktie knot comes out. The Pratt knot that's illustrated here was first officially mentioned right at the end of the eighties. It was the first new knot reported to the Neckwear Association of America in fifty years. They are momentous events, these comings of new knots. As a result, in 1989, this knot was featured prominently in the New York Times in the US, and in the Daily Telegraph in the UK. In case you missed it then, here are step-by-step instructions for you to try it now. Place a mirror above your computer monitor (after you've shaved), and follow along.
Here are the full instructions which you have to memorize in order to taunt your work colleagues by having an inside-out tie come out the right way round. Incidentally, the tail end of the tie stays the wrong way round if you follow these instructions to the letter. If you don't want this, you should twist it the right way round before doing the final tighten. The resulting knot should be tidy and fairly wide but not so wide as a Windsor knot.
Incidentally, if you ever hear this knot referred to as the Shelby knot, well it's knot quite true. Don Shelby featured it on TV, and in the time-honored tradition of TV, received all the acclaim instead of its true inventor. To be fair to Don Shelby, it was the New York City fashion stylists, rather than Shelby himself who misdubbed it.