Bow Tie Tutorial

By Timothy J. Steiner

I often wear bowties to work. In Boston, they are not so out of the ordinary. However, someone today asked me how I learned to tie one. I learned to tie on when I was a teenager; taught by my grandfather. My grandfather once said to me, "The mark of a gentleman is the ability to tie a bowtie." He would have never worn one of those "Clip-on" ties. Of course, wanting to please him, I learned.

I thought it might be helpful to post a tutorial on how to tie a bowtie. It's a good skill to know. -Remember the best part of wearing a black tie bowtie to a formal function is that at the end of the night you can pull off that disheveled look with the two ends of your tie casually undone.

So, here it is:

Step 1. Thread the tie through your collar and make the end on your right-hand side longer by an inch and a half or so.

Step 2. Take the right hand side and thread it up and through (Exactly like a regular tie) and pull it tight against your neck.

Step 3. Form half of the bow in your left hand (Shorter end) with the left side of the bow doubled up, and lay that side of the bowtie across your collar points, center the thin part of that end of the bowtie between your collar points.

Step 4. Maintain the form of the left side of the bowtie; Now take the right side of the bowtie and bring it up in front of the left side of the bowtie (pointing up toward your chin), tuck it in behind the entire bowtie and pull it straight down.

Step 5. This is the part that feels wrong, but it's not! Maintain the left side of the bowtie and take the bottom part of the hanging end and bring it up and around to the front of the bow and stuff it into the front center loop, laying it on top of the left side of the bowtie. At first it will look like a mess.

Step 6. Even all of the ends and straighten it out. If you need it a little tighter, I found it is best to pull on the righthand side end (meaning the loop that is pointing toward your right), then straighten it out. It should look like this:

It is OK if it is a little off, a little sloppy; that's how people know it's a real Bow Tie.

Practice, practice, practice and it will become second nature. I hope this helps.

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