My First Bow-Tie

“Bow tie around my neck, fox fur on my back” – Big Boi of Outkast

Today is #FNO, Fashion Night Out, and since I’m not going to be in New York where I need to be I figured I’d at least drop a fashion related post. This weekend I took a trip to Philly to celebrate one of my best friends’ 30^th birthday. While I was there I figured I’d drive up the street to King of Prussia Mall and do some shopping. Of course I entered through Neiman Marcus and before I could even take in all the fantastic clothes I ended up in a 30 minute conversation with a store salesman.  He was a really cool older Black gentleman named Greg who seemed impressed by a young Black in the men’s suiting section oppose to the Gucci and Prada shoe displays. He talked to us about all sorts of things…politics, spirituality and of course clothes. He put me in some Tom Ford and Paul Smith suits which ruined all my future business for places like H&M. Our convo began by me telling him that I’m turning 30 and I’m giving this great party where all the guests must dress up and I think I want to wear a bow tie. He showed me some ascots but that’s not my twist. He put me on to a great brand that I’ll share later in the post.  First I’ll share some background on the bow tie.

According to most research it seems that bow ties originated from the scarves Croatian mercenaries used during the Prussian wars in the 17^th century. They used the scarf to hold together the opening of their shirts. That soon became the cravat. The bow tie was derived from the cravat and later spawned the birth of neckties.

Self tie with four button adjustable neck

It seems that bow ties tend to evoke some kind of stereotypes and emotion from many people. You either love them or hate them. Warren St. John of the New York Times suggests that “the bow tie hints at intellectualism, real or feigned, and sometimes suggests technical acumen because it is so hard to tie”. I totally agree with this. As a kid I didn’t like bow ties. They required too much skill for real ones and I despised how cheap those clip-ons made me feel. As I began to develop my own style and taste in high school, college and in recent years I’ve been reluctant to embrace bow ties because of the stereotypes I fed into. I felt that men who wore bow ties were attention seekers and to be honest many of them that I came across were. Like St. John suggested much of it is a facade, the attempts at brilliance and even their confidence, all fake, and all of that tied back to the choice of neckwear. (No pun)

Then I grew up, started thinking for myself, learned more about style and became more confident and experimental with my wardrobe. Once I learned the basics I figured I could venture out and try some different things. A few of my good buddies jumped out there with the bow tie look and I didn’t mind them being the guinea pigs. It works for some and not for others. I’ve been pretty successful in the past few years putting together outfits and trying new things so I think my confidence and wardrobe are now suitable for the addition of a bow tie or two. This one photographed here is by Carrot & Gibbs. I purchased it from Nordstrom and not Neiman Marcus. Greg, the guy from Neimans, put me on to Edward Armah. He’s an African designer who came to the states with his passion and designs. Greg used to help Armah sell his pieces in department stores. When I returned home I had to check out his site. His bow ties are great and I plan to purchase one pretty soon. This purple and olive bow tie that I purchased completes a look I’ve been working on for about a week and a half. You’ll get to see the whole thing in a later post. Let me know your thoughts on bow ties or the bow tie I’ve purchased.