Budrevich: Knot your average neckwear

As most of you are aware, this past Saturday UT hosted its fifth-annual “Tie One On” fundraiser during the Bowling Green vs. Toledo men’s basketball game, to raise money to fight against prostate cancer. A large amount of the money earned by this fundraiser comes from the selling of limited-edition UT bowties, which sport a new, custom UT design each year. In honor of this event, I have dug up some interesting facts about bowties, as well as a bit about their history, to share with you.

The tradition of wearing fabric around your neck first dates back to the early 1600s, when Croatian soldiers would wear neckties, known as cravats, to hold the collars of their shirts together. After the Thirty Years War, French soldiers brought this fashion statement back to their home country, where it became widely adopted by the rich upper class. During a ball at the Tuxedo club in New York during the October of 1886, Pierre Lorillard designed and wore a completely new type of neckwear — the black bowtie. Gone were the days of long coattails and white bow ties, as Lorillard ushered in the new standard for formal wear in the black bow tie and matching tuxedo, which is still the most formal men’s attire in use today.

While the black bow tie is still considered the most formal of the bowties, thanks to celebrities like Charlie Chaplin, Frank Sinatraand even Bill Nye the Science Guy, the bow tie has branched out from purely formal night attire into the realms of business and even casual fashion. The bow tie is no longer a just purely male accessory. We have the likes of Marlene Dietrich and Katharine Hepburn to thank for paving the way of acceptance for women to wear previously “masculine” garb, including bow ties, button-down shirts and tailored suits.

The bow tie continues to be a popular fashion accessory today, and has even become increasingly popular in the last few years. Trend-setting celebrities such as Johnny Depp, Rihanna, Drew Barrymore and Justin Timberlake can often be spotted wearing this stylish neckwear, both formally and casually.

Bow ties come in many different sizes, patterns and styles, making them perfect for all occasions. Bow ties can be self-tied, pre-tied or clip-ons and can vary in size and shape from the massive Big Butterfly with a whopping height of three inches to the slim and sleek Batwing standing less than two inches tall. The shapes can vary from the traditional butterfly to the asymmetrical diamond point to the unique rounded club.

With the bow tie’s many quirky looks and patterns, it is only fitting that I share with you some of the many peculiar facts that I have found about ties and bow ties alike. The world record for fastest time to tie on a bow tie goes to former American linebacker Dhani Jones with a time of 13.59 seconds. In 1993, a man named Marv Beloff invented the wooden bow tie, which is available in nine different homemade styles. Over 300 years ago, the English developed neckwear so thick that it could stop a sword thrust and similarly there is a tie available today that can stop a 9mm bullet. This protective neckwear seems less absurd when you consider the fact that at one point in history, merely touching another man’s tie knot was considered just cause for a duel.

During the height of their popularity, Americans spent more than one billion dollars each year to buy approximately one million ties. As good quality tie requires approximately 110 silkworm cocoons, during peak times roughly 110 million silkworm cocoons were used solely for the production of ties. The most expensive tie in existence is the $220,000 tie created by Satya Paul Design Studio and contains 271 diamonds and 150 grams of gold.

Now that you know more about ties and bow ties and their rich, colorful history, you yourself can become a grabatologist (someone who collects ties). Because of their wide ranges of styles, colors and sizes, bow ties can be fitting for nearly all occasions for men and women alike. So go out and be bold; make a fashion statement by putting on your very own bow tie. Remember, as bow tie aficionado Fred Astaire once said, “Do it big, do it right and do it with style.”

Jordan Budrevich is a first-year majoring in bioengineering.