August BTB News Round Up

So, after all the summer weddings, regattas and garden parties, those right-on BowTieBanditz in America have very sensibly designated the end of August National Bow Tie Day. So, really, the whole month is just 27 days of build up...

Mrs BowTie proudly tweeted their most prestigious RT  to date - their great bow tie give away by HRH The Duchess of Cambridge:

Still, we wouldn't be doing our job if we didn't update you on the latest happenings in the cute and slightly weird Bow Tie FAN-tastic Movie by Aphids Kaboodle. August began with Scene 14

 

Follow the links for Scene 15, Scene 16 and scene 17.

We had to admire Big Cat @BarStoolBigCat's unapologetic public admission of his ineptness at Bow Tying, posting this wonderfully pathetic picture of his first attempt.

 

Just 19 minutes later, he posted an admission that he, "Just called the front desk and said, "hi can you send someone up to tie my bow tie", not even close to ashamed."

!

Last month, we warned you that teen bow tie retail mogul Mo Bridges was about to launch a How To Video. It launched on August 4th, and we have to say... it's FUN!

Meanwhile, People Magazine carried the story of 79 year old Trygve Bernhardsen who eschewed a Rolls or Classic Sport Car as his wedding transport for something a little more people-powered and original. The day he married Ellen Hertzberg, he swam a 2,600 foot (867m), 53◦F fjord in trunks and a bow tie to get to the bride who had already waited 15 years. She didn't find this last potentially fatal stunt prior to tying the knot at all suspicious of the avid swimmer. We believe in true love, but were not so sure....

Attorney Corbett Parker made the local news sporting a piece from a designer we brought you back in March. Robert LeQuire's South Haven Wood bow ties are made from wood reclaimed from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. His initial purchase was followed by so many compliments, he bought 5 more! The light blue slim fit Tallia suit is a bit of a departure for the usual Houston litigator, but he is determined to flex his fashion chops after losing a few pounds a few years ago.

We have brought you bow ties in a range of fabrics and materials, 

but we have to say, we really enjoyed the really FUN, large crocheted bowtie from Bessie's Creations, which can be used traditionally at the neck or to decorate any piece of fashion. The pattern is downloadable, and is suitable for all, being pitched at a beginner's level. 129 people have rated it on average 5/5 stars!!

The Saville Row Society generously endorsed Gents & Co.'s latest campaign for their already celebrity-endorsed caps. The new campaign features tuxedoed men wearing dark caps. SRS say a gentleman can still wear a cap, as long as it's top notch! Were not so sure since the campaign also features barely clad women - not so classy!

However, we did like Howard C McEwen's post for Bow Tie Aficionado, which also taught us something new. Bow Ties are the Wave Runner of the Men's Fashion World. The Wave Runner is a 'personal water craft' which is so cool and so much fun that it is, apparently, utterly impossible to frown when mounted on one!

He goes on to explain how a the vivid red Excelsior diamond point from the Bow Tie Club did just that after a disastrous week-long break which, "... sucked so hard it actually bent time to make it feel like long three weeks." Apart from the wonderful turn of phrase, he also points out that whilst people tend to glare at the person on/owning the Wave Runner, they (especially women) tend to smile at bow tie wearers. Love it!

The humble bow tie was the reason that Newcastle made the London news in the Metro, because Chancel Mbemba turns up for Newcastle United debut in full tuxedo rather than tracky bottoms. Now Belgium may not be considered one of the fashion capitals of Europe, but it may have had a bearing on Mbemba's fashion choice, since he was just signed from Anderlecht for £8m.

August saw the release of what must at least be considered for our collective anthem.

Diego Gomes's apparently long-awaited summer single Bow Tie dropped mid-month. Fans and friends have been tweeting in anticipation for at least the last 6 weeks! Turns out, it's a song to a girl who makes him want to put on a suit on and shine his fancy shoes... because she makes his bow tie spin! Hmmm, maybe not. There's nothing about class, fashion statement, self-expression, distinction or intelligence in the lyrics. We might be wrong, but we suspect this teen is using the spinning bow tie as a metaphor...

Next delighted us with this tiny blue cotton four-piece bowtie set for 0-18 month olds for just £24.

We LOVE this, but wouldn't it have been fun to have offered a range of fun colours...? It's for babies - toddlers, at best...!

 

The Keppler

The Mobius

The Pascal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also love the Huffington post, but even they had to eat BTB dust as they 'introduced' the concept of the 3D printed bow tie that we brought you back in MAY and further covered in June. In 3D Printed Bow Ties Are A Thing And They're Awesome, they labelled the range of four 3D printed bow ties by Oliver Smith for WonderLuk , 'the coolest style (they'd) ever seen,' of this, '(definitely underused) menswear trend'. 

The Escher

Named for innovators of art, science and maths, the HP gleefully embraced the unisex fashion accessory.

We discovered Mr Talented's Bow Ties which have already been donned by celebrities like Nick Cannon and Adam Sandler. He seems to have a lot of energy , but we're glad he has directed just a smidge to enlarging the BT Universe with innovative designs like these:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back in the UK, Yorkshire County Cricket Club debenture holder Dr Philip Dunn embarked on a Bow Tie-Athon to raise funds for the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation. In Bow Tie challenge raises funds for the Yorkshire cricket foundation the goal of a Century Bow Tie Challenge meant that Dunn had worn 80 just prior to National Bow Tie Day (NBTD) by donning four bow ties per fixture.

The first 40 were specifically based on cricket bow ties.

Things went kinda quiet after that until the week of August 28th...National Bow Tie Day (USA), then everybody got in on the act.

E-online's Kendall Fischer went with the traditional It's National Bow Tie Day: See Justin Timberlake, Jay Z and More Stars Rocking the Trend. We liked the anecdote involving one of our favourite Timberlake tunes Suit and Tie (PLEASE take note, young Diego!)

It not only pays homage to one of the coolest band of BowTieBanditz EVER - the Rat Pack, but also features genuine bow tie choreography - we kid you not!

CNN put together a slide show of 19 Photos of Famous Bow Tie Lovers, including uber cool Afrofuturistic entertainer Janelle Monae, Hugh Heffner with English bunny girls attired in the iconic black bow tie/ white collar uniform; Col. Harlan Saunders in his iconic Western Southern style;  The Nation of Islam's Louis Farrakhan; The Wire's Brother Mouzone (Michael Potts); Popcorn king Orville Redenbacher (1988); Glee's Blaine Anderson (Darren Kriss);

and The Rat Pack (1988).

The National Bow Tie Day website was full of fun facts like, "The number of Google searches for bow ties outpaces that of neckties and is trending up while in fact the number for necktie is trending down. Just today bow tie comes up at nearly 31.4 million in Google Search and the necktie a mere 12.3 million." (In your FACE, neckties!) and "The fastest time to tie on a bow tie is 13.59 seconds. The record is held by Dhani Jones, NFL player who retired in 2011 with the Cincinnati Bengals..."

Social Media was full of tributes

We thought this one from Mr Beau Tie absolutely ROCKED!

The rest were highlighted by UPI: Bill Nye the Science Guy tweeted a picture with his massive collection, Donald Duck wished everyone a Happy NBTD from Disney; The Philadelphia Museum of Art tweeted the beautifully classy picture of a 19th Century bow tie...

But, our favourite was NASA publishing the beautiful Hubble Telescope picture of the Bow Tie Nebula.

Planetary Nebula NGC 2440 is 4000 light years from Earth and wonderfully represents a central dying star casting out ionised gases and debris as it becomes a White Dwarf. They have published two more in the past:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 As if the UK were taking up the celebratory spirit, our Bow Tie Eye had a bumper month for spotting BowTieBanditz around London.

Bow Tie Eye

Singer and musician Lemar

@Lemar

Event official Nosa Dag

@NosaDag and @BlessEtain

 

Africa Fashion Week London opened at Olympia on August 7th and 8th and was the biggest yet!

 

Every year since it's inception 5 years ago, it has grown in reputation and continues to attract global, sophisticated brands.

 

 If you haven't already guessed it, African print has finally been recognised as the means to a whole untapped market,

Model Amina wears designer

Heat's ensemble. This bow tie

matches the head wrap, skirt

and bag!

The fashion house is Zanjoo

@zanjoostore instagram

and twitter

as well as opening designers to a fresh fashion forward approach to

style,

creative expression

 and unadulterated JOY.

Meet some of the wonderful BowTieBanditz we met walking around the old exhibition space... 



This artist bought his BT in

he Africa Centre in Accra,

capital of Ghana.

@Dolabillz and @Dolabillz_Rapstar

 

Pick of The Pics

This month, we have a tie, jut because these two Fashionistas managed to embody the (all-too-brief) summer wearing a bow tie with fabrics that you wouldn't normally associate with keeping cool.

Musician and designer

Aaron Bernard-Wilson, wearing wool

and still looking dapper with a grey

ASOS BT.

@Atmosphereking

Glamorous David Allen wearing a cotton

H&M BT

@officialdavidallen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, Matt Smith said goodbye as the Patron Saint of BowTiesAreCool, the 11th Doctor by removing his beloved bow tie (Copyright BBC)

We are simply disrobing after some hard and hearty partying, celebrating National Bow Tie Day!

See you all next month!

 

Reviewing Big Bow Tie News of 2014

As BowTieBanditz, we love the dickey bow – specifically, the bow tie worn with a dickey dirt (“shirt” in Cockney rhyming slang), and not to be confused with ribbons or “… brown paper packages tied up with string”. 

The natural offspring of the cravat, the bow tie has been with us since the beginning of the 19^th century – in and out of style but always associated with class.

Think about it!

An outfit might have the hat, the jacket, the pants, the shirt and have a little something to say. But, add a bow tie and you ARE suave and sophisticated, learned and intelligent… something special!

As far back as 2010, the 11th Doctor coined the phrase, "Bow ties are cool!" (Bow Ties Are Cool!) and, as if he could see the future (!), slowly, over the next 4 years, the bow tie has regained it's place in the world of the fashion accessory and rocked!

Leading men’s fashion magazine GQ and internet news provider The Huffington Post led waves of numerous bloggers declaring that the 11^th Doctor was right. And fashion houses from the high end of Lanvin and Gucci through to small start-ups have responded in kind.

There was a strong lead-in from 2013 with Blogger “Beau” Brummell's Bow Tie History affirming that not only was the accessory back in the lives of men, but that women were following in the über glamorous shadow chic of Marlene Dietrich, Audrey Hepburn and Princess Diana and re-joining the fashion movement too - Rihanna, Drew Barrymore, Janelle Monáe, Kloe Kardashian, Diane Kruger and Lady Gaga (click number to follow link to the original article 2)!

Janelle Monae re-creates an iconic Marlene Dietrich pose

The late Princess Diana, ahead of her time!

With an infusion of Sporting Cool in November from across the Atlantic, news broke that US basketball superstar Dwyane “D-Wade” Wade was collaborating on an accessory line with The Tie Bar, which included 26 silk bowties. Select pieces of florals, patterns, paint-splattered camo’s, muted block colours and plaids previewed at the end of that month, with the remainder premiering in time for Christmas 2013 (click number to follow link to the original article 3). 

2014 began by The GQ Eye's Juan DeLeon piling on bowtie appeal with Idris Elba pictured in a classic black slim line in January and a little flutter on twitter. 

Lanvin

Alexander Olch

The piece was accompanied by mainly daily-wear dickies - interesting diamond points and batwings,  plaids, muted block colours and patterns from Alexander Olch, Paul Stuart, AMI, Drake's, The Hill-Side, The Tie Bar, J Crew and Band of Outsiders. Two evening wear ties in classic textured black also featured from Lanvin and Ralph Lauren (click number to follow link to the original article 4)

 

12 year old Moziah Bridges
poses with a selection of Mo's Bows

A few days later, news that 12 year-old businessman Moziah Bridges built his Mo's Bows empire worth $150,000 after building on his personal sense of style, penchant for the bow tie and wanting to make the world fun and colourful since he was 9 years old!

The Gentle Manuals Jennifer Samuel produced Bow Ties 101: An Introduction to Bow Ties in early February (click number to follow link to the original article 5) with a history lesson, a distinction between self-tied/pre-tied and clip-on, sizing advice, a step-by-step How-To and, perhaps the most essential, a shaping guide. 

In a BowTieBanditz World, size and shape more consistently define your personal statement rather than colour and pattern.

July was the month that 10 Ways To Rock A Bow Tie (click number to follow link to original article 6), courtesy of United Arrows, Japan, clearly agreed the BTB Ethic, stating, "The classic neckwear piece is the easiest way to add singular personality to your everyday rigs." 10 ways contrasted neutrals vs patterns/prints for novices; infinite jacket options - denim, sports, suit; ensemble focus - dramatic bow tie with subdued shirt/jacket or vice versa; varying your signature shape; mixing stripes and spots. Featured brands were Todd Snyder, Band of Outsiders, Steven Alan, Bespoken, Alexander Olch, The Tie Bar, J Crew and United Arrows themselves.

Favourited by United Arrows, Japan

Jupe by Jackie was July's GQ Editor's Pick (click number to follow link to original article 7). A champion of the detail so important to Pitti Uomo, Jackie Villevoye not only wears the hell out of a bow tie, but produces works of art with her hand-embroidered pieces.

Signature fine embroidery from Jupe by Jackie

     Bow Tie Summer Fun

Men Style Fashion's Gracie Opulanza then suggested Bow Tie – Stay Cool & Wear Them In Summer? (click number to follow link to original article 8). She was completely inspired by the range of colour and style becoming increasingly available to reflect personality and potentially to be worn by women too! Metallics, florals, cheques... by London Liberty and Dolce and Gabbana amongst others.

Monties of Chicago wood grain with fabric

The Huffington Post's Nick Norton introduced the one-ounce wooden bow tie by Monties of Chicago in August during the lead up to the most important day of the year for BowTieBanditz and like-minded Brethren. Founder Montgomery St. Peter, "... combines the resilience and charm of wood with the versatility of fabric..." Ten styles cleverly marry the linseed oil-finished wood grain "wings" of  black-stained cherry, bamboo, Indian rose, Mora, Bubinga, Katalox, Bolivian Rose, Black Plum, Zebra, and Walnut to a central fabric "knot" (click number to follow link to original article 9).

 August 28th, National Bow Tie Day (USA), saw the 2nd birthday of the official website (click on the number to visit the site 10) featuring the 11th Doctor's maxim, containing 'fun facts' and tributes to such great American bow tie connoisseurs as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Humphrey Bogart, Colonel Sanders and Charlie Chaplin.  

The rest of the year saw bloggers, tweeters and start-ups such as US-based Bow Tie Club, BoTyZ.com, Silent Designs, North Country Bow Ties, J'Sphë Bow Ties, Empire Bow Ties , The Whatknot, Boots and Bow Ties, Carolina Cotton Bow Ties, Complete Bow Ties (textured wooden ties) King Kravate, the Bow Tie Afficionado, the Bowed Tie, Mark Reeves and UK-based Bowtieclub, BowTieBanditz really gain momentum and join the more established The Tie Bar, Lazyjack Press, Mrs Bow Tie, Mule Ties, Boldties, OoOTIE Bow Ties, Ella Bing Bow Ties, Beau Ties Ltd. and Bow Tie Cause.

And what better way to end 2014 than with rumours abound that Elba, Idris Elba, could be gracing the big screen as a global BowTieBanditz Icon, when Bond 26 comes around...

So, check back with us as we do a monthly roundup of Bow Tie News in 2015.