# Bow ties: Yea, or nay? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 7, 2016, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-ties-yea-or-nay/751446 "2016-04-07T14:58:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Periwinkle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Periwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Periwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-ties-yea-or-nay/751446/41 "2016-04-07T20:54:35Z")
I think there’s something cheerful about them, and I like it when people are confident enough to wear what suits them and could not care less if it is “in style”. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-ties-yea-or-nay/751446/42 "2016-04-07T21:21:34Z")
James Mason wore a bow tie throughout _Bigger Than Life_. He looked terrible. Any article of clothing that could make James Mason look bad, I keep away from. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-ties-yea-or-nay/751446/43 "2016-04-07T21:23:05Z")
Also, if you’re the only man wearing a bow tie in a room full of men in neckties, there is the “dick chopped off” visual factor. ---
**Author:** ![Dickerman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8baadc/32.png) [@Dickerman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dickerman)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-ties-yea-or-nay/751446/44 "2016-04-07T21:39:52Z")
My kids like them, but that’s because they’re big Doctor Who fans. They also want me to get a fez. My boss would take the office out for a Christmas dinner every year and would almost always wear a bow tie and attempt to get the gentlemen in the group to wear one too. One year I relented and got a nice tartan one. As we were leaving the restaurant and waiting on the sidewalk for a valet parking attendant to retrieve our car, someone in some sort of fancy sports car drove up and the seemingly tipsy woman handed me the keys, mistaking me for a valet parking dude. I was tempted to drive away (being a bit tipsy myself - wife was designated driver), but gently explained the situation and we all had a good laugh. ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-ties-yea-or-nay/751446/45 "2016-04-07T21:49:36Z")
They look silly. Just say no. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-ties-yea-or-nay/751446/46 "2016-04-07T22:02:29Z")
> [@Periwinkle](#): > > I think there’s something cheerful about them, and I like it when people are confident enough to wear what suits them and could not care less if it is “in style”. Exactly. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-ties-yea-or-nay/751446/47 "2016-04-07T22:12:04Z")
I own one bow tie. I was on vacation near Acadia National Park about 20 years ago, made a dinner reservation someplace fancy like the Asticou Inn, and hadn’t packed a tie, so I bought one on whim in a Northeast Harbor haberdashery. I also own a fez, but I keep in on the Phrenology Head. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-ties-yea-or-nay/751446/48 "2016-04-07T22:45:07Z")
No. Just no. The only time a bow-tie works is with formal wear, or on a little kid. Otherwise, you look like Orville Reddinbacher. ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-ties-yea-or-nay/751446/49 "2016-04-07T22:51:14Z")
I use to like them, until I had to wear one for three years during my restaurant stint as a bartender. Yet, still a fun job when you’re a young adult. ---
**Author:** ![Dickerman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8baadc/32.png) [@Dickerman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dickerman)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-ties-yea-or-nay/751446/50 "2016-04-07T23:06:21Z")
I just did a Google image search for “men wearing bow ties”. There were quite a few where the look worked rather well, but it wasn’t nearly the majority. It takes a certain combination of shirt, tie, jacket, face, body perhaps, etc., to look good I think, much more so than with a modern necktie. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-ties-yea-or-nay/751446/51 "2016-04-07T23:39:31Z")
I own several and wear them regularly. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-ties-yea-or-nay/751446/52 "2016-04-07T23:48:05Z")
I voted Other. Basically I’m indifferent. During my military career I had to wear one with naval mess kit on a few occasions. I’m a tad lazy when it comes to fashion, however, though I have no problem dressing as required/appropriate for the occasion and I don’t like to look like a bag o’shit the rest of the time. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-ties-yea-or-nay/751446/53 "2016-04-07T23:55:30Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Other. There are maybe 2-3 guys in 100 who can make them work. Are you self-aware enough to know you are one of those 2-3? If you aren’t _sure_, then No. Definitely. As with most fashion statements, you have to punctuate it with a definitive period. If you’ve got a question mark, just don’t. > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Besides, at the end of the evening you can do that thing where you untie it and just let the ends hang down, classic cool. Hawt. So hawt. Seriously, if you want the girls to swoon, wear the bow tie…but don’t tie it. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-ties-yea-or-nay/751446/54 "2016-04-08T00:08:45Z")
> [@Dickerman](#): > > I just did a Google image search for “men wearing bow ties”. There were quite a few where the look worked rather well, but it wasn’t nearly the majority. It takes a certain combination of shirt, tie, jacket, face, body perhaps, etc., to look good I think, much more so than with a modern necktie. OTOH, a necktie makes a lot of guys look like used car salesmen. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-ties-yea-or-nay/751446/55 "2016-04-08T01:26:40Z")
I do like the battery-operated ones that spin around. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-ties-yea-or-nay/751446/56 "2016-04-08T02:18:52Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I have it on good authority that bow ties are cool. > > So are fezzes. 22 posts for a Doctor Who reference? The Dope is slipping. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-ties-yea-or-nay/751446/57 "2016-04-08T02:22:47Z")
I like them (real, ties yourself ones) but don’t wear them because I don’t want to stick out and have it be a talking point. It would be nice if wearing them as everyday wear was more common, then I might do it. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-ties-yea-or-nay/751446/58 "2016-04-08T04:25:43Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > They remind me of Sen. Paul Simon and Tucker Carlson. I met Sen. Simon in 1988 and purposefully wore a bowtie to the meeting. We complimented each other on our fine taste in neckwear. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-ties-yea-or-nay/751446/59 "2016-04-08T14:09:33Z")
Bow ties (and all other ties for that matter) are _NOT_ cool, I will never wear them, wouldn’t be caught dead in one. ---
**Author:** ![Doyle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doyle/32/439_2.png) [@Doyle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doyle)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-ties-yea-or-nay/751446/60 "2016-04-08T14:48:31Z")
Only with a tuxedo. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-ties-yea-or-nay/751446.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-ties-yea-or-nay/751446.md?page=4)