Ties came from Croatia - in 17th century, Croatian army, specifically cavalry officers - wore a colourful shawls. French king, Louis XIV had in his army a regiment of Croatian mercenaries. He noticed they were wearing those color shawls and he liked it, called them Royal Cravattes, that is where actual proper name came from - cravate, or cravat. He started wearing one, then this fashion started to be popular in Britain and then in whole Europe.