Back in the Seventies, the fashion was for ties as wide as Arthur Daley. The idea was to get the knot as big as possible, which, if I remember correctly, involved winding the fabric round on itself a couple of times and positioning the ends so that you were left with a short dangly bit. It went with the big hair, big trousers and big shirt collars.

Of course, following the pendulum swings of style, what goes wide must go narrow — and by the end of the decade, with the trend for all things mod, schoolboys were wearing their tie-knots tight, and their ties as narrow as possible.

Well, that pendulum is still swinging, although these days it’s more like an oscillating quartz crystal as fashions seem to come and go faster and faster. Witness the announcement from John Lewis of “a dramatic inch-loss of nearly 25 per cent in width over the past six months” in its bestselling ties.

For John Lewis, this is clear evidence that the width of your tie reflects the thickness of your wallet. “The bestselling John Lewis tie, the 3½in design (which accounted for 90 per cent of sales last year) is becoming less popular, with an 18 per cent increase in sales of the slimmer 2½in design over the past six months,” says the retailer.

Charlie Allen, the bespoke tailor, comments further: “The impact of economic turmoil on tie design can be traced back through the previous recessions of the 20th century. While postwar Britain and the Swinging Sixties embraced exaggerated prints and widths of up to 5in, the downturns of the 1930s and 1980s saw sizes reduce to as little as an inch.”

It’s a nice idea, but I’m not sure I really believe that tie manufacturers are scrimping on cloth to the extent of trying to claw back savings inch by inch. But who knows? John Lewis also reports “inch loss” in other products. Its formal city and casual shorts have had an average of 2in lopped off their length, and its latest polo shirt is slimmer by an inch in the chest and shoulder. Maybe this is the fabric equivalent of “look after the pennies . . .”

Where ties are concerned, though, I prefer to see this as the continuation of a trend that has been bubbling away for a while — a trend for slimmer-fit, sharper tailoring, which brings with it narrow lapels, trimmer shirt collars and thin ties. Perhaps the look’s most high-profile outing has been on the red carpet, where for a couple of years now A-list dudes have been modelling black suits, white shirts and long, thin black ties.

The look, known as “Hollywood black-tie”, is a relaxed alternative to the traditional penguin suit and bow tie combination, but also reflects a revival of the Sixties trend for slightly pronounced shoulders, waisted jackets and tapered trousers, with tapered ties to match. And what looks great for evening can translate into daywear — keep the silhouette, just shift the fabrics and colours and you’re there.

If the economic barometer theory still appeals, though, you may be interested to hear that John Lewis’s most popular slimline tie (£15, 08456 049049) comes in a cost-cutting two-in-one style: one side has a strong pattern, the other a plainer design, so you can wear it two ways. Now that’s what I call effective budgeting.