Bow Ties

[Historyteach24]

Simply put when is a bow tie appropriate? I have been flirting with the idea of wearing one for about a year or so now. I am a teacher so it is shirt and tie 4 days a week and think a little change up would be nice. If it helps my suit colors are brown pinstripe, black with faint pinstripes and solid navy. I usually wear two suits a week with the rest of the week being just shirt and tie.

 

[Bugsy]

Simply put when is a bow tie appropriate? I have been flirting with the idea of wearing one for about a year or so now. I am a teacher so it is shirt and tie 4 days a week and think a little change up would be nice. If it helps my suit colors are brown pinstripe, black with faint pinstripes and solid navy. I usually wear two suits a week with the rest of the week being just shirt and tie.

I think you can wear a bow tie anytime the fancy suits you. I'm a teacher too and it's a wonderful change. You can really wow your students when they discover that you can tie your own.

 

[avedwards]

I wear a suit or sport coat with a necktie to college every day out of choice, so I sometimes wear a bowtie when going out on weekend to differentiate from my day to day clothing and look a bit more dressed up.

 

[Torpedo]

A bow tie would nicely fit any of your combos. Bow ties are available in a variety of materials and patterns (and various shapes and sizes, too), much like ties, so you can choose the ones most suitable. Being a teacher, you will sort of enforce the stereotype, but nothing wrong with that. Bow ties are mostly regarded as an eccentric choice these days, but no doubt you already know that, too .

I would personally recommend the self-styled variety, of course.

 

[brspiritus]

Simply put when is a bow tie appropriate?

Anytime. I've been thinking of getting a couple myself just to mix up the ties a bit. It's also nice to not have the tie getting in the way. Around here I think I'd drop over if I saw someone wearing a bowtie. This town so desperately wants to be cosmopolitan but comes off pedestrian. I don't even know if there's any truly black tie events around here.

 

[Historyteach24]

I just think they scream pizazz lol. That may be a good thing or a bad thing but I picked a few up off of ebay to give em a try.

 

[Benzadmiral]

My memory says that a certain (in)famous Dr. Jones wore a bow tie when he dressed for dinner in "Temple of Doom," but I can't find a pic on the 'Net. I'm pretty sure, though, as up to that point I hated bow ties, which my father preferred and none of my TV heroes did.

There are pics of Ian Fleming wearing a bow tie -- for instance, in the B & W author's photo of him holding a revolver on the back of the Signet paperback editions from the early Sixties. And here's another: http://commanderbond.net/5964/literary-007-reviewed-ian-flemings-thunderball.html

 

[Edward]

That jives with my memory. In fact, I believe the good Doctor Jones also wore them while lecturing his students at the University (Stanford? My memory is faulty on that point...).

Simply put when is a bow tie appropriate? I have been flirting with the idea of wearing one for about a year or so now. I am a teacher so it is shirt and tie 4 days a week and think a little change up would be nice. If it helps my suit colors are brown pinstripe, black with faint pinstripes and solid navy. I usually wear two suits a week with the rest of the week being just shirt and tie.

Bow ties are often nowadays thought of as only something for "formal" occasions, I suppose because the average person is only likely to wear one on the once-in-a-blue-moon occasion when they wear black tie. I have maybe fifteen or so bow ties, and I wear one maybe once or twice a week - whenever the mood takes me, really. They can be worn on any occasion on which a four in hand tie would be appropriate. You will have to accept that a lot of folks will comment on this, though if you're comfortable with a fedora in public, I doubt this will be an issue. As is the normal pattern, the naysayers in my experience are almost exclusively men; women tend to love it (not to mention they are typically very impressed to discover you are wearing a real bowtie rather than some pre-tied confection - well, unless they're a bit odd like a girl I went out with years ago who was mortified when I learned how to tie a real bow tie for her black tie graduation ball. [huh] No, me neither...).

I would suggest you pick up two or three in a good basic style to begin with. I tend to prefer a patterned (contrasting colours or 'self patterned') bow for loungewear, as a plain satin or silk one, even in a colour, rather than black or white, can look a bit like a misappropriated "tuxedo accessory" if you're not careful (YMMV on this, of course). IMO, the most flexible option is a simple solid colour with fine, contrasting polka-dot spots. Especially small white spots on a colour. A rich red or burgundy base colour would probably be the best option for you to begin with, as it would go with all the colours of suit you mention.

I have purchased about a dozen new bows from this eBay seller over the past year or two:

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Famous-Men...34351011&_sid=988522581&_trksid=p4634.c0.m322

Very pleased with all of them. As I said the other day in another bow tie thread, if you are patient enough to wait maybe a day or so more you can typically pay no more than minimum bid for these, meaning that with postage they come in at just under five UK pounds apiece. The quality is superb; they are claimed to be silk and I believe this to be so (unlike some of the synthetic alternatives often passed off as silk). Lovely woven silk with a nice texture to it. You'll find the holes for length adjustment aren't in exactly the same place in every one, but once you have one set to length, it's very easy to use that as a measure for more from them. I'm not sure if these auctions sell to the US (link is to ebay.co.uk store) BUT I have also seen the same bows on ebay.com with an almost identical sellername ('au' at the start instead of 'us'; I suspect it to be the same person). When I find some time this week, maybe the weekend, I'll post a couple of photos of mine.

If it's of help to anyone, this is a particularly good instructional video on how to tie one:

[video=youtube;ws0g31zufr0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws0g31zufr0[/video]

 

[Haversack]

Bow ties are also a sensible alternative to a long tie is you have use any sort of fed mechanical machinery, i.e. shredder, plotter, large format copy machine. This is why they have often been favored by architects and drafters. Also, you don't have to worry about your tie interfering with your drafting. The latter is less common of a problem now.

 

[Big Man]

I wear a bow tie from time to time and always receive complements. Like everyone else has said, anytime that a tie is appropriate, so is the bow tie. I like the larger size bow ties, but then I'm a rather big guy. If you are a "normal"size, then I would recommend the smaller size. To me, it looks more "proportional".

I have an interesting bow tie story. Back in the early 1970's, our county was going through property tax revaluation. There was a very heated County Commissioners meeting at our local high school gym. The Chairman of the County Commissioners was a supporter of the revaluation process. While the Commissioner was talking at the meeting, one of the irate citizens jumped up and grabbed the Commissioner by his neck tie, pulled out a straight razor, and clean as you please cut the Commissioner's neck tie off right at the knot. From that day until today, the man will only wear a bow tie. The bow tie has become his "trademark" and the story is still remembered after all these years.

 

[Argee]

My memory says that a certain (in)famous Dr. Jones wore a bow tie when he dressed for dinner in "Temple of Doom," but I can't find a pic on the 'Net.

http://www.theraider.net/showimage.php?ImageUrl=http://www.theraider.net/films/todoom/gallery/dvdscreenshots/194.jpg

 

[AntonAAK]

That jives with my memory. In fact, I believe the good Doctor Jones also wore them while lecturing his students at the University (Stanford? My memory is faulty on that point...).

The fictional Marshall College, I believe.

A

 

[Tomasso]

http://www.theraider.net/showimage.php?ImageUrl=http://www.theraider.net/films/todoom/gallery/dvdscreenshots/194.jpg

 

[Torpedo]

Dr. Jones Jr. does indeed wear a bow tie in the first movie, when teaching at the fictional Marshall College, at the beginning of the movie - he wears it with a smart tweed-like suit with a pleated back jacket. He wears a bow tie again in the second movie, as already illustrated. He looks more slovenly, presumably because of most of his baggage having been lost previously; he is shown with just the bow tie and the jacket added to his usual "adventure" attire in an improvised attempt at dressing for the occasion.

 

[Edward]

The fictional Marshall College, I believe.

A

That's the one. Maybe I read somewhere it was based on Stanford?

Dr. Jones Jr. does indeed wear a bow tie in the first movie, when teaching at the fictional Marshall College, at the beginning of the movie - he wears it with a smart tweed-like suit with a pleated back jacket. He wears a bow tie again in the second movie, as already illustrated. He looks more slovenly, presumably because of most of his baggage having been lost previously; he is shown with just the bow tie and the jacket added to his usual "adventure" attire in an improvised attempt at dressing for the occasion.

He did still have the black tie wear that he sports in the opening Shanghai sequence with him; Willie Scott changes into it in the plane, and remains in it until they arrive at Pankot Palace, by which point in time it is pretty mussed up...

 

[Edward]

Found a couple of photos of two of the bows I bought from the eBay seller referenced above:

This third shot is a different tie than the one above - a shade or two darker.

And in black:

 

[MikeBravo]

Bow ties are also a sensible alternative to a long tie is you have use any sort of fed mechanical machinery, i.e. shredder, plotter, large format copy machine. This is why they have often been favored by architects and drafters. Also, you don't have to worry about your tie interfering with your drafting. The latter is less common of a problem now.

For the same reason they are popular with surgeons. One doesn't want one's tie dipping in the blood and guts

 

[MikeBravo]

Plenty of other characters apart from Indy. A couple of Doctor's Who have worn them. Bogart wore them quite often off set as well as on

 

[AntonAAK]

Found a couple of photos of two of the bows I bought from the eBay seller referenced above:

Thanks for the heads-up on that seller, Edward. I've just bought four bow ties from them. A bargain!

A

 

[avedwards]

Plenty of other characters apart from Indy. A couple of Doctor's Who have worn them. Bogart wore them quite often off set as well as on

Out of the pictures you posted I think only Bogart manages to look natural in a bow tie. As well as off set he exclusively wears one in the "The Enforcer" where he plays a DA, perhaps because it was appropriate for the character.