Moderators of the news journal no longer have to wear a tie, André Schünke made the unconstrained and tie-free start. Is the male body now liberated?
Manuel Almeida Vergara
Look – you see nothing: Lightly dressed, André Schünke moderates the news.ARD/Screenshot
It remains unclear what Hegel thought of the tie. The suit as her companion, as her base, however, he hated. The men’s suit declared a uniform with industrialization was something “brought about by external practicality, something cut to size that is sewn together here, pulled over there, fixed there, absolutely non-free forms and folds and surfaces laid back and forth according to seams, buttonholes, buttons”. wrote the philosopher in 1842. “Indeed, such clothing is mere covering and enveloping”—a straitjacket.
180 years after Hegel’s “Lectures on Aesthetics” the “Tagesschau” puts an end to vestimental constraints. At least part of it. It is not the suit that is at issue here, but the tie as its decorative accessory: the moderators of the news journal were previously required to wear such a textile, but they are now free to choose whether they want it or not.
With restrictions, however: the free men’s neck is only allowed during night broadcasts, André Schünke informed Bild that ties are still compulsory during prime time. Schünke dared to appear in front of the cameras on Sunday at 1:40 a.m. – that is, at night – casually and without a tie: dark blue suit, light blue shirt, the top two buttons not fastened. What has the world never seen before? Almost: Jens Riewa also appeared in the “Tagesschau” two years ago without a self-tie. Inadvertently.
Seriousness and status are no longer decided on the neck decoration
Spontaneously he had to improvise a farewell for his longtime colleague Jan Hofer – the tie was left behind in a hurry in the cloakroom. For his part, Hofer also staged his departure with the help of the classic men’s accessory, which he ceremoniously removed in the last minute of his 36 years of service. As is well known, the moderator did not retire, he now gives the news journal RTL Direkt a face. One that goes without embellishment down the chin, mind you.
The liberation of the male body, the complete unleashing of fashion is a long way from it. But it is a sign that public broadcasters are now also taking into account the ever-changing fashion: in a present in which respectability and status are no longer decided by neck decoration, in which the richest men in the world wear hoodies shuffling through the tech boardrooms and the Soho House hotel chain has announced a tie ban rather than a tie compulsion, the ARD has finally caught up. At least at night.