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Bow Ties

post #1 of 16
10/2/11 at 7:18am
Thread Starter 

I understand this is a very simple question and I will get flamed for this, but I'm going to ask anyway since I don't know much about them:

 

Can someone talk about bow ties and when they are appropriate to wear, besides for formal black tie events?  I've been seeing them more and more paired with jeans/chinos/cords an OCBD and a sweater (see ralphlauren.com sweater section for example, or walk into any ralph lauren store and look at the manikans).  So I'm trying to find out when they are appropriate to wear and if they are interchangeable for regular ties.

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post #2 of 16
10/2/11 at 8:01am
It's contextual. Not what you wanted to hear, but the truth.

Complicating factor is that they are back in fashion.

In general, they are slightly less formal than a four in hand neck tie. Wearing them with a coat or suit used to suggest an Ivy/tweedy/professorial look, but lately in the Tom Ford F/W lookbook the only ties are bow ties, so there are new associations.

Google "bow tie lookbook" and you will find many options.
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post #3 of 16
10/2/11 at 9:48am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mack11211 View Post

It's contextual. Not what you wanted to hear, but the truth.
Complicating factor is that they are back in fashion.
In general, they are slightly less formal than a four in hand neck tie. Wearing them with a coat or suit used to suggest an Ivy/tweedy/professorial look, but lately in the Tom Ford F/W lookbook the only ties are bow ties, so there are new associations.
Google "bow tie lookbook" and you will find many options.


Thanks for the advice!  I really appreciate it!

 

Whats everyone else's opinions?

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post #4 of 16
10/2/11 at 11:59am

Prior to last year, the only previous time in my life I owned a bow-tie was when I had to wear white tie in my university days. But there seems to have been a trend over the last couple of years that was associated with hip manufacturers like The Hillside and Engineered Garments to promote bow-ties of a less formal nature, mainly plaids, tweeds and so on. It's sort of a crossover area between that Ivy League professor look mentioned by Mack (above) with the whole higher-end revisioning of traditional US workwear that RRL, many Japanese denim firms, and others have been pushing. I like this a lot. But, as Mack also notes, the bow-tie is now spreading back into tailored wear too, and whilst it certainly isn't CBD yet (and may never be), if Tom Ford is doing it, you are going to see plenty more bow-ties around.


Edited by FlyingMonkey - 10/2/11 at 2:32pm
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post #5 of 16
10/2/11 at 1:48pm
Bow ties are a classic ivy/preppy look. I have several bow ties that I wear once in a while to events other than black tie.

FlyingMonkey we may be cut from the same cloth.
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post #6 of 16
10/2/11 at 8:13pm
They are a sign that the wearer wants attention but otherwise are neithe more or less formal than a four in hand. A wool challis is less formal, as is a wool challis fih, and a midnight blue satin is more formal, just alike a midnight blue fih.
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post #7 of 16
10/3/11 at 12:22pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Will View Post

They are a sign that the wearer wants attention


Perhaps a rather unecessary comment?

 

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post #8 of 16
10/3/11 at 12:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by FlyingMonkey View Post

Quote:

Perhaps a rather unecessary comment?

 


Maybe more an observation on how people will perceive you?

e: Alright, make that a "might perceive you".
Edited by Axel Ferguson - 10/3/11 at 12:45pm
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post #9 of 16
10/3/11 at 12:58pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Axel Ferguson View Post


Maybe more an observation on how people will perceive you?
e: Alright, make that a "might perceive you".

 

Well, sure, and I hope that's all the previous poster meant. But I think that anyone who pays the kind of attention to their appearance as people on this forum do runs the same risk. Okay, bow-ties are less common even than other forms of neckwear (I very rarely wear one myself), so are likely to attract more attention, but this doesn't mean that this is the reason why people would wear them. Like most things here, it will be a combination of observation of 'the rules', the context and personal style.
 

 

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post #10 of 16
10/3/11 at 1:53pm
I'm against bowties. nod[1].gif
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post #11 of 16
10/3/11 at 3:07pm
Bowties are definitely making a comeback. I think this is a good thing. I like to see any kind of neckwear enjoying a revival. Nonetheless, something of a stigma against them has developed in the past four decades or so: The bowtie as the mark of the nerd, dweeb, eccentric intellectual and whatnot. This is curious in light of the fact that many of the deadliest gunfighters of the old West wore bowties, nor do I think many would call that great bowtie wearer Winston Churchill a "dweeb."

I personally don't find them very becoming on me, at any rate, when worn with a suit or sport coat. I rather like 'em with a sweater, however.
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post #12 of 16
10/3/11 at 3:36pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by JLibourel View Post

Bowties are definitely making a comeback. I think this is a good thing. I like to see any kind of neckwear enjoying a revival. Nonetheless, something of a stigma against them has developed in the past four decades or so: The bowtie as the mark of the nerd, dweeb, eccentric intellectual and whatnot. This is curious in light of the fact that many of the deadliest gunfighters of the old West wore bowties, nor do I think many would call that great bowtie wearer Winston Churchill a "dweeb."
I personally don't find them very becoming on me, at any rate, when worn with a suit or sport coat. I rather like 'em with a sweater, however.


Could you post some pictures of how you wear them with sweaters?  That's the look I'd ideally be going for but I'm quite sure how to pull it off.

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post #13 of 16
10/4/11 at 1:42am
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post #14 of 16
10/4/11 at 2:14am
There are a few good bow tie shots in "The speedy, unfair but never vicious, Bowties-in-WAYWRN Review Thread" still, though many more have been subject to Vox's ".." treatment. I particularly like Oldog/Oldtrix's selection on page 3.

I like this one as well, of Patrick Grant, who runs Norton and Sons (pic from GQ UK). It's a bowtie look that avoids the usual tweedy/professorial thing (not that there's anything wrong with that). As Will said, I don't think he looks any less smart/formal than he would with the equivalent FIH. (Will wears bows very well himself - check out his blog).

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post #15 of 16
10/4/11 at 2:30am
Also, there a few bowtie & sweater shots, such as the one below, on the Cordial Churchman website. I've had a couple from them - nice people.

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