Bow Ties

[cck]

There is no reason to pay high prices for bow ties. Dillards is featuring them now and the price is in the $30 range. Nordstrom's Rack has loads of them for around $17 and I have even bought several there for under $9 when they had a special. Does wearing a kilt make you frugal?

[NewEnglander]

One of my most recent bowties comes from The Tie Bar and I believe it cost me just about $15.

[Sgt Lucky]

I second NewEnglander - tiebar has tons of lovely bows. I find some of their long ties have a bit too stiff an interlining sometimes, much as I love them, but not so much the bows - and when they are stiffer, it actually helps tie the thing up neater.
As to acceptability - it may be fashionable at the moment, but bowties will never be quite mainstream. If you can pull it off, have fun! I'm only 28 so I was a bit nervous when I started wearing bowties, but as with a kilt, if you act like it's perfectly normal for you to be dressed that way, things tend to go well. True, some guy scared the bejesus out of my wife the other night because he thought the appropriate response to my neckwear was to scream, "Hey, Pee Wee Herman!". But... pretty sure he was a vagrant and not so well in the head, either.

[tulloch]

I wear bow ties more than long ties. I have about 20 - all the kind that I have to tie in order to wear. For a long time I was one of three here in North Central Massachusetts that I saw regularly in court. Then about five years ago our regional newspaper did an article that featured me and now quite a few others have donned bow ties in our community of lawyers. Some of them have bow tie Fridays. I decide based on the jacket, shirt and pants which tie I wear.

A great thing about bow ties is that they don't get into things.

One day I dressed, thought which tie I would wear and chose, then left. At lunch, (Rotary Club), a friend said it was an interesting look - buttened up shirt but no tie. OOPS! I couldn't stop laughing. I had thought all morning that I was wearing my blue patterned bow tie.

[usonian]

I started wearing bow ties after seeing a gentleman wearing a self-tied one at a conference; it wasn't a cartoonishly big Tucker Carlson job, but it wasn't a super skinny one either; just right. It looked quite dapper, and thus began my quest to find a self-tie bow tie. This was in 2007, and at the time you couldn't find self-tie bow ties anywhere except wedding shops... and even then you'd only find black. I wound up ordering one from someone on Ebay, and then happened across several more in a thrift shop.

They've become a little easier to find, but are often expensive when you do. I took matters into my own hands and started making my own... much to my surprise a lot of people began asking about them, and I've actually started selling them... they really do seem to be making a bit of a comeback.

In general, I get nothing but positive comments when wearing a bow tie, especially when people notice that I actually tie them; I think that bow ties have developed a bad rap partly due to cheesy-looking clip-ons. I'm sure there are those who think I'm a prat, but so far they've kept their thoughts to themselves.

I think that being able to pull off wearing any anachronistic garment or accessory is about 10% fashion sense, and 90% self-confidence... if you wear something because you simply like it and like the way you look in it, most people can somehow pick up on that vibe.

[Jack Daw]

I have to wear suits to work and bow ties add to the variety. I mix it up all the time between long and bow.

[Chas]

Of course, the one downside to wearing a bow tie is that there is a lot of chest/stomach left only covered with a shirt. On a thin man that is not too bad, but on someone who is more 'man-sized' there can be a lot of belly on display. The way round is to wear a waist coat or V necked jumper to break up the vastness - ideally 5 button plus.

The knitted V necked jumper has its own minefield. Anything other than a plain weave and the wearer looks like a wartime or 50's refugee.

Regards

Chas

[creagdhubh]

Of course, the one downside to wearing a bow tie is that there is a lot of chest/stomach left only covered with a shirt. On a thin man that is not too bad, but on someone who is more 'man-sized' there can be a lot of belly on display. The way round is to wear a waist coat or V necked jumper to break up the vastness - ideally 5 button plus.

The knitted V necked jumper has its own minefield. Anything other than a plain weave and the wearer looks like a wartime or 50's refugee.

Regards

Chas

Or one could go for a run?

[NewEnglander]

Today I'm wearing a bowtie as well as a charcoal grey waistcoat and matching jacket...and I'm afraid the dark colors, white shirt and black and orange striped tie makes me look a bit like a magician. I'm just waiting for the first of my students to point it out. Just shows me what happens when I combine Waistcoat Wednesday and Bowtie Friday on a Tuesday. ;)

[creagdhubh]

I wear bow ties quite a bit, as I have always been fond of the classic, American preppy look...since I was a wee lad actually (ask my parents, lol)! However, with Highland dress, the only time I wear a bow tie is for either black or white tie affairs.

Cheers,