The Bow Bows Back

A few of the faithful never strayed --men like G. Mennen ("Soapy") Williams, Arthur Schlesinger and Bobby Short, who made the bow tie their individual badge regardless of the moment's fashion. Now they have plenty of company. The bow tie is once again popular, and not only among middle-aged fellows who are trying to recapture the campus spirit of the 1930s.

Stores across the country report a strong demand for bows from customers of all ages and varied stations. At times this summer in the display cases of Chicago's Frank Bros, store there were no long ties at all. Early last year, the bow accounted for less than 1% of tie sales nationwide; now the figure is between 8% and 10%, and growing.

The bow has always had a strange versatility--conveying a certain jauntiness for otherwise staid professors, say, while bespeaking formality in evening clothes. That split image still exists.

Nightclub Entertainer Short says that the bow gives him a "classic and nifty" look. Lawyer Cox changes his bow for a four-in-hand when he argues a case because he thinks that the bow makes him appear frivolous.

Both notions seem to be contributing to the present revival. The bow boom received most of its energy from the Gatsby-look promotion that began some months ago--the whole cardigan sweater, floppy flannel pants, '20s thing (TIME, March 26). But instead of fizzling the way the women's bow tie fad did, bows for men became bigger this summer--in design as well as sales.

They will get still more push for the fall and winter because of the much publicized "layered look."

The bow that classifies as modern today is not the tacky, pallid, narrow tie that waiters and theater ushers wear.

Rather it is the wide, colorful butterfly version. A man can decorate his Adam's apple with anything from a variegated stripe on peau de soie to a jacquard design on woven silk. A few of the old bowmen, like Soapy Williams, have made the switch. Having turned in the skinny bows he wore as Michigan's Governor (1949-60), Williams, now a state supreme court justice, sports butterflies instead. He insists that they are "more handsome and comfortable than the other kind."

With the butterfly, however, knot making is a bit more difficult. The material is bulkier, wider, more difficult to pull through a knot. Many stores offer illustrated instructions on the proper method--which is not much different from tying a shoelace or anything else tied in a bow shape. Still, retailers say, younger men wearing bows for the first time prefer the already-tied clip-ons.

Older customers still go for the tie-your-own, recalling a sartorial skill many learned years ago. Perfect symmetry is not the goal anyway. There is a certain virtue in a tie that is slightly askew.

Some retailers feel traditions must be defended. At Brooks Bros, in Los Angeles, Manager Ray Dwinell carries only the tie-your-own kind.

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