The Perfect Gentleman Issue 9 - Christmas | Page 41

Uncle Henry
Tying the Dastardly Bow Tie
Question:
Dear Uncle Henry,
I want to wear proper Bow Ties especially for the variety of Black Tie events and yet I find it difficult
to tie bow ties and get consistency, How Do I achieve this?
From Several Tongue Tied Readers
Answer:

Gentleman,
Another great question. I love a good Bow Tie, even not around this time of year when everyone
needs to. Even before Matt Smith as Doctor Who declared that “Bow Ties are Cool” they were a great
piece of neckwear. I wear them damn regularly. 1PG and I have frequent debates over the which
neckwear is best, he is an ardent Cravat (Ascots for our US friends) and I an ardent Bow Tie wearer.
We both end up agreeing that they are both stylish.
Bow ties have a number of great advocates, from Winston Churchill, James Bond, Indiana Jones,
Doctor Who’s Matt Smith and Stan Laurel (from Laurel & Hardy for the Youngsters out there!)
So onto tying the damn things, which I have to say does take a lot of practice. Indeed, I think it took
me a few years to get consistent and especially without a set of dexterous fingers on my person. I
think some of the charm is the fact that they are not always consistent and can be a little ‘off kilter’.
My other tip is to choose thinner Bow Ties, they are easier to tie and form a bow. We shall be
shooting some ‘How to Videos’ later this year but in the meantime, I had a trawl on the Interweb
thingy and found some great instructional videos to help!
The Perfect Gentleman’s good friends Augustus Hare (www.augustushare.com) have shot a beautiful
video teaching you how to tie a bow tie.

Uncle Henry

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