Let me speak from personal experience first, then move to more abstract and external explanations. In the course of my professional work at the Carter, I catalog and shelve many books. Quite frankly, a traditional necktie really gets in he way of looking at and dealing with books - I was so pleasantly surprised by this the first time I wore a bow tie to work that I decided to wear them more often. I only had one, but fortunately I picked up a few more while we were in DC. I think personally I look good in a bow tie - unlike many other people. Maybe it’s my hair. I don’t know.
In a quest to figure out why I like them so much, I have been doing a bit of light research about the bow tie. My first reference was the Esquire Handbook of Style, which on p. 151 says this about the bow tie:
The bow tie: for college professors and good lo’ boys, right? Charles Eames - with his wife, Ray, the alpha and omega of modern American design - didn’t think so. In fact, he never wore anything else around his neck, except a bandanna in the great outdoors. ... Eames understood that the avant-garde doesn’t break from tradition but evolves from it. The Cat in the Hat, another adventurous - nay, mischievous - figure of the same era, sported his red bow tie with floppy abandon. There are many more notable bow tie wearers, but we’ll get to that later.
The next article I referenced was the Times article titled A Red Flag That Comes in Many Colors, by Warren St. John. For the most part, the article disparages the wearer of the bow tie, but I found this part to be pretty good, and revealing:
Though most wearers say that they prefer bow ties for aesthetic reasons, devotees also argue that there are some practical reasons for wearing them. Because they don't flop around, bow ties are better suited for, say, work that involves looking in a microscope, or anything in a kitchen. They also work well for man who rides a bike or motorcycle to work.
"The biggest advantage to wearing a bow tie is when you spill your coffee, it just gets on your shirt and not your $90 tie," Mr. Freedman said.
If there's one thing nearly everyone agrees on, it's that people who cannot tie bow ties have no business wearing them. "A clip-on bow tie is really a cop-out," Mr. Freedman said.
Another Times article I read yesterday, about John Paul Stevens’ last day as a justice of the Supreme Court, pointed this little fact out, which I thought was interesting:
At the close of the session, the chief justice said goodbye to Justice John Paul Stevens, who is retiring at the age of 90 after almost 35 years on the court. Many in the courtroom wore bowties, his sartorial signature, in his honor.
And, finally, I consulted the wikipedia article, as I think one must do anytime you are looking things up online. Here is the best statement, I think, from that:
Such people may not be economic conservatives, he argues, but they are social conservatives. In Smith's view, the bow tie is "the embodiment of propriety," an indicator of fastidiousness and intelligence
I think that’s the best one, and perhaps the best reason I have seen as to why I would like a bow tie - being the embodiment of propriety, politeness and appropriate behavior towards others. And it’s fun being a contrarian!
What do you think? Let me know in the comments. Also, as promised, here is a curated list of bow tie wearers:
Louis Kahn
John Paul Stevens
Le Corbusier
Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
Fred Astaire
Karl Lagerfeld
Winston Churchill
Theodore Roosevelt
Alfred Kinsey
Vladimir Horowitz
Steve Jobs
C. Everett Koop
[...] he seems to me the character with the least baggage (and thus the smallest storyline) and he wears bowties. I look forward to seeing more of him this season with his new underdog attitude. I do miss the [...]
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