"Most men wear bow ties because most other men don't." - Can't remember who said that & it comes from an English POV, but it feeds into the comments above I think. It's a deliberately 'different' tie, is it not?
I guess the daytime bow tie fell from grace in England at some point... Post war? And yet not in the US. - I bet there's some sort of cultural thesis in that somewhere!
The only place I've ever seen bowties worn with any frequency is in the southern U.S. The line in the sand is drawn there, although there are certain professions that seem to have a weakness for it.
I think the Southern US is like Northern England - Things linger longer there.
Is it because they are (miles) away from where the action is, baby! Or just because they are provincial and tend to be mistrustful of moving forward?
You know, small 'c' conservatives and all that.
???
j.
(OK - Yes. This is a troll post. Happy now?)
Hardly ever see a gent sporting a bowtie these days. It can make you stand out in a bad way if you can't carry it off.
I would never wear a bow tie. On my frame, it would look ridiculous.
I doubt people take seriosusly the wearers of bow ties. What exactly do women think about bow ties? I would be interested to know.
Does wearing a bow tie 'always' make a statement?
Was there a time in the last 75 years when the bowtie was considered no different a choice than the four in hand one?
There is so much confusion about how men should approach clothing that the bowtie may be close to a counter culture tool. Men are interested in clothes but they have to pretend they arent, so they flock to labels to be different but end up the same but it's alright because the designers know better and at least it involves money/success which absolves just about anything here. Taste and individuality need to be handled carefully and with supreme confidence. I have mentioned that even when I think I am wearing my dullest things, I get sniffed out as interested in clothing; probably not a good thing.
It would be interesting to get results of how people react to a bowtie wearer.
On the few occasions I have met with someone Id never met before who was wearing one, i admit I found it odd enough to be a disruption which can be a positive or a negative depending on what's taking place in the meeting. I cant easily express what was going through my mind about one particular wearer's bowtie but it wasnt good. It's unfortunate because he was well dressed and I shouldve given him points both for that and his independent stance in wearing a bowtie but i didnt. In fact, I had serious issues about his authority, something along the lines of an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks...
The US is too big to make generalizations.
I recently spent a week in Kansas visiting family, and I literally saw not one man in any sort of jacket or tie. Lotta polo shirts w/ pleated khakis, shorts, or hideous pale acid-washed jeans. And those were the men who made an effort.
Much different story in NYC. I think a bow tie here is seen as a dandyish affectation, and that's about it. In LA, it probably signifies conservative/Republican.
Ironically, I've been asked by deli cashiers and dry cleaners and receptionists if I'm English when wearing a bow tie. If I wore one in Wichita, I would likely be beaten and/or killed.
And he died in '65.
Even by then the bow would have been an eyebrow raiser in everyday life over here.
T3B is right - Not like in America it would seem. And Arthur is also right - The US is probably too big & diverse for any meaningful talk of the 'mainstream' USA. England is smaller so you can generalise more.
Can America have a zeitgeist therefore? Or is it too diverse for even that?