Nothing can separate a man from Classic Bow ties because it is one of the special accessories which make the ultimate panache to your black-tie attire. Either you are a teenager who is looking to attend his prom, a groom looking to wear a tuxedo, or a waiter who wants to complete your look with a custom bow tie. If you are those guys who are finding how to make them work for you and are desperate to discover their classic styles then you are at the right place indeed. Just like the necktie, there are Classic styles for men to tie a bow tie which we are going to highlight in the later part of our article.
SHAPES OF BOW TIE:
BUTTERFLY BOW TIE
The butterfly tie is probably the most famous bow tie around the globe, which works great for all occasions because it perfect starting and ending point. The butterfly shape is also known as thistle style, and it is around 2.3 inches which looks good on almost all faces.
JUMBO BUTTERFLY
As the name suggests it has a bigger silhouette and shape than an ordinary bow tie. A Jumbo bow tie is frequently worn with Formal attire including a tuxedo. It is must be greater than three inches and Perfect looks on men with larger necks and don’t mind looking bit a cheeky.
THE SLIMLINE
The slimline bow tie style is the most stylish and trendiest one also with batwing shape style tie. Bow tie casual style is also popular for its shortest height, it is would be less than two inches and has a rectangle shape at its end. The James Bond Daniel Craig had worn a slim line bow tie with his midnight blue tuxedo in Skyfall.
THE DIAMOND POINT
These bow tie tying styles are found quite rarely, they are also slim but there end edges are pointed to a diamond shape not flat, unlike batwing bow ties. If you have the confidence to try different things, then a diamond point bow tie is a good option.
THE ROUNDED CLUB
Just like their name, this time of bow tie has an elegant round shape neither pointed nor flat shape. They are more than 3 inches and are highly acceptable in black-tie events.
TYPES OF BOW TIES:
THE SELF-TIE BOW TIE
It is also known as freestyle, it means that it all depends on you how you want a bow tie to complete your looks. If you don’t know how to tie a tie step by step then just follow these instructions. First of all drape tie around your neck with one inch more on the left side, then cross the longer side of your tie over the shorter end. Now fold the shorter end at the widest part after making the simple tie knot by wrapping the longer end behind the shorter end. Hold your bow tie in the middle of two fingers and place the longer side of your tie between two wings, after that side around your bow tie and shove it in the loop just at the right backside of your tie.
THE PRE-TIED BOW TIE
The pre-tied bow tie pattern style featured the knot sewn in its fixed place, it also has an adjustable neck strap that allows you to wear it easily and effortlessly. It is not time taking like a self-tie, you can wear it in seconds if you are in hurry. But it looks stiff, tight, and won’t give your tie a free look. Although it is a great starting point that’s why we recommend it for a newbie only.
THE CLIP-ON BOW TIE
It is the least convincing style, preferable only for children. It also has a prettied bow with a metal clip hook directly on the collar of your shirt.
BOW TIE FABRIC:
COTTON
Cotton is one of the most common fabrics used for bow ties, essentially for innovative bow ties where the range of themes available is much greater than with other fabrics. The main advantage of cotton fabric is that the different designs and patterns can be printed very easily without any hurdles and the Cotton tie has become a popular choice for most of the man who loves to wear a bow tie of different patterns and designs.
SILK
Mostly fashionable or stylish bow ties are made from silk fabric, while you will also find some in the other fabrics, rather than silk. The bow ties in a silk fabric are made from Italian silk, which is considered higher quality silk, rather than the bow ties are made from Chinese silk, so look out for the bows that specify Italian Silk in the name or description if that’s what you’d desire.
POLYESTER
Many bow ties in styles are made up of polyester, which is somewhat harder than cotton and silk, but this kind of fabric is also cheaper than other fabrics. The texture is usually quite soft or smooth, so a good quality polyester bow tie may look and finish slightly similar to some silk bow ties. Most of the polyester or silk bow ties have a satin finish which increases the look and feel of the bow.
VELVET
One of the expensive fabrics in bow ties, although you will find a very limited range of velvet bow ties that are available in markets and you usually found in a handful of plain colors. Velvet bow ties always come in a pre-tied style because the nature of velvet makes assembling and lashing a self-tie velvet bow tie tricky to some extent.
OTHERS
Some of the self-tie bow ties may be made up of acrylic or mixed fabrics like a mixture of cotton and polyester. This is because the designs and patterns might be not suitable for cotton or, polyester or skill.
TYPES OF FASTENING:
Neck strap: You will usually find this fastening in a pre-paid bow tie style in which the ties come with the neck strap, you need to wrap it around your collar and fasten the hook at the back of the bow tie. If you are wearing of wing collar shirt where you don’t wear your collar can’t fold then the neck strap works for you as it always comes in a metal sliding adjuster to allow you to change the length of the strap to fit your neck. In some cases, the slider will be noticeable. While others have the slide adjuster under the fabric of the neck strap that is not visible, so should look out for this according to your needs. In most cases, it’s hidden by your collar anyway, that’s not very important then.
HOOK & CLASP FASTENING
One of the most common fastening methods of bow ties simply has a clasp on one end and a hook at another end of the neck strap. The time you want to use it then you simply need to put your bow tie on it and fit your hook into the clasp and adjust the size of your neck.
LADDER FASTENING
This type of fastener also has a hook, but instead of having single hook closure at the end of the neck strap, it has multiple small cuts in it which indicate varying neck sizes. You can adjust and put it in any slits in which your bow will fit around your neck comfortably.
SELF-TIE ADJUSTMENTS
This is one of the difficult fastening a bow tie because here you are going to tie a bow by yourself and the length of the entire bow should be adjusted on your neck before you start tying. This may be either the slide adjuster or ladder modification.
CLIP-ON
This is similar to the per-ties bow tie, it doesn’t need a neck strap but required a small clip at the back to clip onto the top button of your shirt.
BOW TIE DESIGNS:
FASHION BOW TIES
Mainly available in a silk fabric, but also you will find it in a variety of other fabrics. Bow tie in style contains everything which you will not find in just one single color or novelty/theme. The ranges are usually quite significant, from polka dots to stripes, and glitter to floral. Fashion bow ties are most versatile as they can be used casually at a workplace or for some gathering in the evening, and for smart casual and formal wear as well.
Mainly available in silk fabric, but also you will find it in a variety of other fabrics. Style bow ties contain everything which you will not find in just one single color or novelty/theme. The ranges are usually quite significant, from polka dots to stripes, and glitter to floral. Men's fashion bow ties are most versatile as they can be used casually at a workplace or for some gathering in the evening, and for smart casual and formal wear as well.
NOVELTY BOW TIES
Novelty bow ties typically follow a particular theme, such as a country’s flag, star wars bow tie, or an animal of sorts. This makes them exclusively suitable as gifts, as well as representing your interests in a fun way.
PLAIN BOW TIES
A plain men’s bow tie has a single-colored bow tie without any pattern, design, or theme like a Black bow tie. The same color is steady all over the bow tie, it is particularly useful for wedding occasions or for formal gatherings where we need to match the color with either our pants or belt.
ALTERNATIVE DESIGNS
There are some bow ties that don’t fit into one of the standard groups listed above, including Western Bow Tie and Crossover Bow Ties.
NECK SIZES:
Now, this is one of the critical things that you need to understand carefully. How to measure the size of your Neck.
- To measure your neck size, you need a standard clothing measuring tape.
- Measure your neck by putting the measuring tape nearby your neck in line where your shirt collar would be.
- Keeping the tape to the base of your neck, so the tape should meet with the shirt’s top button.
- Put the finger on the tape where the ends meet at the front of your neck to allow a bit of space for comfort.
- At last, read the measurement from the tape to get your neck size.
