# So, bow ties: dressy or done? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 13, 2012, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bow-ties-dressy-or-done/640925 "2012-11-13T22:55:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bow-ties-dressy-or-done/640925/1 "2012-11-13T22:55:10Z")
I purchased a couple of handmade bow ties from a very nice fellow at an arts festival, and ever since I’ve been looking for an excuse to wear them. Job interview? Date? (Bwahahah!) Are they fashionable? ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bow-ties-dressy-or-done/640925/2 "2012-11-13T23:00:40Z")
Bow ties are pretty cool if you can pull them off. I’ve got a buddy that has a real 1950’s sort of thing going on, he wears bow ties, and makes it work. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bow-ties-dressy-or-done/640925/3 "2012-11-13T23:04:03Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > I purchased a couple of handmade bow ties from a very nice fellow at an arts festival, and ever since I’ve been looking for an excuse to wear them. Job interview? Date? (Bwahahah!) Are they fashionable? You don’t need to try too hard to come up with an excuse: just throw on a blazer and wear the bow tie to the theater, or a concert, or dinner, or a conference. However, I probably would not wear one to an occasion where one is making a first impression, such as a first date or job interview. Not because bow ties are bad, but because they have a connotation (of perhaps a not wholly practical academic demeanor) that usually is not the first message one wants to send. ---
**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:** [November 13, 2012, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bow-ties-dressy-or-done/640925/4 "2012-11-13T23:10:01Z")
I wear mine on dates with The Wife, but she’s used to me by now. We have a business casual office, so no one wears any type of tie during the day. As to whether they are fashionable, well, I wear them. So they can’t be fashionable by definition. [http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/385050\_2432737210668\_593193287\_n.jpg](http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/385050_2432737210668_593193287_n.jpg) [http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/314513\_229223203809376\_551000510\_n.jpg](http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/314513_229223203809376_551000510_n.jpg) [http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/401410\_406989239366104\_1583831741\_n.jpg](http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/401410_406989239366104_1583831741_n.jpg) [http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/404610\_406988982699463\_1060740500\_n.jpg](http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/404610_406988982699463_1060740500_n.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bow-ties-dressy-or-done/640925/5 "2012-11-13T23:10:15Z")
> [@Winston\_Smith](#): > > Bow ties are pretty cool if you can pull them off. They’d be a literal pain in the neck if you couldn’t. 😃 I think the bow tie option is accepted now, whereas 5 or 10 years ago it was a statement, at least if you weren’t of a certain age and didn’t wear them all the time. The statement was “I am effete, elitist, flighty yet stuffy. I probably also own a fountain pen.” ---
**Author:** ![Diamonds02](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Diamonds02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diamonds02)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bow-ties-dressy-or-done/640925/6 "2012-11-13T23:18:29Z")
Totally sexy. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bow-ties-dressy-or-done/640925/7 "2012-11-13T23:26:54Z")
There is a better than 99% chance that wearing one will make you look like Pee-Wee Herman. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bow-ties-dressy-or-done/640925/8 "2012-11-13T23:31:22Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > They’d be a literal pain in the neck if you couldn’t. 😃 > > I think the bow tie option is accepted now, whereas 5 or 10 years ago it was a statement, at least if you weren’t of a certain age and didn’t wear them all the time. The statement was “I am effete, elitist, flighty yet stuffy. I probably also own a fountain pen.” I own both a bow tie _and_ a fountain pen. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bow-ties-dressy-or-done/640925/9 "2012-11-13T23:32:36Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > There is a better than 99% chance that wearing one will make you look like Pee-Wee Herman. If you’re white, skinny, hyperactive and wear short tight clothes. > [@Casey1505](#): > > I own both a bow tie _and_ a fountain pen. I’ve got several of each. Come the revolution, I’ll put in a good word for you at the gulag. We can sing Gilbert & Sullivan duets while we break rocks! ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bow-ties-dressy-or-done/640925/10 "2012-11-13T23:37:43Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > I wear mine on dates with The Wife, but she’s used to me by now. We have a business casual office, so no one wears any type of tie during the day. > > As to whether they are fashionable, well, I wear them. So they can’t be fashionable by definition. > > [http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/385050\_2432737210668\_593193287\_n.jpg](http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/385050_2432737210668_593193287_n.jpg) > [http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/314513\_229223203809376\_551000510\_n.jpg](http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/314513_229223203809376_551000510_n.jpg) > [http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/401410\_406989239366104\_1583831741\_n.jpg](http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/401410_406989239366104_1583831741_n.jpg) > [http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/404610\_406988982699463\_1060740500\_n.jpg](http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/404610_406988982699463_1060740500_n.jpg) Hmm, so my next investment: a vest! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bow-ties-dressy-or-done/640925/11 "2012-11-13T23:48:22Z")
Careful consideration required. Those of us into our difficult middle years may look like the opposite of Pee Wee in vests. A good off-the-rack article has a distinct, and unforgiving, hourglass shape, in keeping with its history as a kind of masculine corset. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bow-ties-dressy-or-done/640925/12 "2012-11-13T23:49:43Z")
Hmmm. I’m female, straight, 32, and live in central Illinois (i. e., Not Chicago). While you might spot one here at a wine bar on New Year’s Eve, it would still make you look either (a) like you’re trying too hard or (b) gay. I wouldn’t hit on a guy in a bowtie. Either way, I don’t want to try that hard. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bow-ties-dressy-or-done/640925/13 "2012-11-13T23:49:51Z")
I wear a bow tie now. Bow ties are cool. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bow-ties-dressy-or-done/640925/14 "2012-11-13T23:54:37Z")
Done. Unless you’re wearing a tuxedo or some other costume they just look silly. ---
**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:** [November 14, 2012, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bow-ties-dressy-or-done/640925/15 "2012-11-14T00:09:57Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > Careful consideration required. Those of us into our difficult middle years may look like the opposite of Pee Wee in vests. A good off-the-rack article has a distinct, and unforgiving, hourglass shape, in keeping with its history as a kind of masculine corset. I prefer to think I cut a prosperous figure, like President Theodore Roosevelt. ---
**Author:** ![tomcar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tomcar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomcar)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bow-ties-dressy-or-done/640925/16 "2012-11-14T00:17:13Z")
Go for it dude. I hate the midwest mancode: all men must dress the same or you’re gay! If you can’t pull it off wear a Packers jersey or something equally insecure 😉 ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bow-ties-dressy-or-done/640925/17 "2012-11-14T00:21:31Z")
> [@Diamonds02](#): > > Totally sexy. Only if they’re [not done up into a bow](http://www.kickette.com/images/uploads/boysweekdi.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bow-ties-dressy-or-done/640925/18 "2012-11-14T00:35:29Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > I wear a bow tie now. Bow ties are cool. Beaten to the punch. Ah, well. Allons-y! ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bow-ties-dressy-or-done/640925/19 "2012-11-14T01:46:56Z")
> [@tomcar](#): > > I hate the midwest mancode: all men must dress the same or you’re gay! As a midwesterner, I feel I must speak up for my people. We don’t believe you’re gay if you don’t dress like a man, but only gays will _associate_ with you. And we do have our basic tolerance. If a man wants to dress in drag, we’ll understand and reserve judgment. But if a man wants to dress _piss elegant_, we have nothing but contempt for him. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bow-ties-dressy-or-done/640925/20 "2012-11-14T02:44:06Z")
Bow ties are so common in the South that I don’t even particularly notice them. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-bow-ties-dressy-or-done/640925.md?page=2)