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366 Bow Ties: Day 34

So I've been doing this silly thing since about September where I take photos of my socks. Why? I don't know. These are supposed to be pink flamingos, but they look more like velociraptors. This is probably me writing a blog post in Ellie's studio.

The bow tie is a new linen from the forthcoming Spring/Summer line, to be released soon. We're trying to make it so you can't stand the wait. Is it working?

100% linen--chalk full of texture and plaid awesomeness. I wore the classic butterfly, so that's the one up for grabs. I've shown these images here with diamond-point cut so you can see the texture.

Get one before anyone else. Get one before the thing even has a proper name. Get a bow tie and send $29 to Haiti. Get this bow tie!

PS--many of you have been after us to re-list the Maxwell neckties. By popular demand, they're back on in our store, available in point-end or square-end varieties. Pictured just above.

Your business supports our children's developing passions. This one has a loud developing passion.

366 Bow Ties: Day 33

Due to the encouragement of our friend and southern style photographer and writer Caroline Fontenot of Back Down South, I've been reaching for the denim jacket pretty frequently during this crazy bow tie-wearing run. It really only works with khakis, in my opinion. Denim head to toe would be a little too ... I don't know ... too much denim.

I know I sound like a broken record, or a One-Note Johnny as one of my professors used to say, but I like the way you can casual-ize things when you throw in a piece like a denim jacket. Khakis and penny loafers (and some would argue, even a bow tie) are already technically "casual". But it's all relative these days.

I could be mistaken, but it appears from Caroline's Instagram feed as though her husband Mark has grabbed a pair of Oak Street Bootmakers penny loafers just like mine. I'm going to be vain and assume that she's coaching Mark on his wardrobe purchases and daily ensembles with a bookmark in my blog series. Yeah right. That guy's got a great personal style.

I should mention that the visual identity of Caroline's blog was created by my neighbor and colleague in all kinds of mischief, Mr. Stephen Crotts. Pretty snazzy logo, don't you think?

I'm looking forward to meeting Caroline next weekend in Charlotte. They've been gracious enough to do a post or two about us on their blog. I might have to throw the Levi's jacket on again in hopes that she snaps a photo of me. (Vanity! All is vanity!)

Not all is vanity. I'm glad to have friends like Mr Cameron Bunce, bona fide artists, who keep it real for us. Here Mr Bunce is giving a handful of us our fortnightly impromptu art history lecture. Compelling. We were gathered for The Dead Preachers Society of Ebenezerville, and it spilled over into a critique of pop culture superficiality as exemplified in movie posters and DVD covers.

Oh yeah! The bow tie! This is a sold-out Vito, easily my favorite bow tie of this last summer. Ellie found two orphaned halves and reunited them. And now that I wore it, I have to sell it. Buy it, love it, thank me later.

Cordially,

Andy

PS--I mentioned Stephen Crotts. In grabbing the link to his portfolio, I saw this poster that he just produced. And I all but wept. Very good work, sir. 

366 Bow Ties: Day 32

We've talked a good bit about bow tie attitude. The discussion is really a bit overblown, actually. Bow ties don't really communicate all that much, inherently. And yet there is a certain amount of chutzpah required when rocking said piece of haberdashery.

I like to think of it like any other pursuit. You're an individual. You've got peculiar idiosyncrasies, a unique gift mix, particular passions, and a temperament all your own. You've got to take that 'self' with you into everything you do. Half the battle is convincing yourself that you're not a fraud. The other half is figuring out a balance between confidence and humility. It doesn't serve you or anybody if you're a punk; nor does it do anyone a favor if your self deprecation is not so much humorous as a perennially employed defense mechanism.

It's not so much about "image" or even "self-image". It's more about poise, countenance, bearing. How do you carry yourself? How do you respond to different environments? Are you uptight? Are you provocative? Are you pushy? Are you a pushover? Or have you learned to take yourself less seriously, and take others, and your calling in life, more seriously? There's the difference. You can wear a bow tie and still put everyone at ease. (So much for Tucker Carlson's funny line about a bow tie basically being a middle finger protruding from one's Adam's Apple.) Likewise, you can wear jeans and a t-shirt and still immediately demonstrate that you care about things, including your calling, and that you do in fact know what you're talking about. It's not the clothes that make the man (was it Alan Flusser that sort of said that?), but the countenance that makes the man. Same for ladies.

I think this idea goes a long way toward establishing the difference between vanity and personal style. Your poise should put people at ease, regardless of what people's initial reaction to your style may be. It used to be that a man's wardrobe in particular was about gentlemanliness--the art of wearing the right thing at the right time so as not to make people uncomfortable. But in our day, when everything is done with a high degree of self-consciousness, and in which there is no established "uniform" for the workplace, for dinner, or even for the Inaugural Ball, you're going to have to set people at was by your poise rather than your clothes. You're going to be "out of uniform" to someone in any situation these days. You'll have to let your bearing bear you along, and bear others along.

All this from a photograph where I'm looking like a punk. Huh.

At the end of the day, The Cordial Churchman can sell you bow ties. We can't make you cordial. You're going to have to look to another Supplier for that sort of quality.

But we'd still like to sell you this bow tie: a new Donegal Tweed in gray with subtle flecks of awesomeness. 100% wool. Diamond point. Poise not included. When you buy it, $29 goes to help change lives in Haiti.

As Cordially as Possible,

Andy

PS-- My comrade and distance mentor Steve Childers gives some sage advice on how to maintain poise and spiritual equilibrium. We thought it was so good that we put it on our chalkboard in the kitchen.

366 Bow Ties: Day 31

Lots of spring anticipation going around here. Hence the shades and the (formerly Brooks Brothers) berry bow tie. And, I suppose, the pink sweater.

It's funny how, since we deal mostly in non-traditional (read, non-silk) fabrics, wearing a silk bow tie feels odd. I'm going to be doing a bunch of it this year, though---and just yesterday I went through a box of about 200 neckties. I sorted them into 3 categories:

Category 1. "What was I thinking? This is a great necktie--perfect width (not too wide, not super modern-skinny), vintage, etc. Why would I ever demolish this and sell it so some dude on the internet?"

Category 2. "No one should ever, ever wear this tie, ever. But since I don't believe in legislating sartorial morality, these will go to Deacon's Kindergarten clothing drive."

Category 3. "Okay, this is a nice necktie. But we're in the bow tie business, and the cash is going to Haiti. It's maybe a little too wide, a little funky in this way or that, not perfect. Much better possibilities as a bow tie. Besides, these guys on the internet aren't that bad.

By the way, isn't this kid of mine cute? Doesn't he make you want to buy this bow tie? It'll be posted on the store as soon as I can wrest the computer from the Church Belles, who are frantically packing and printing shipping labels, trying to get lots of orders in the post before it closes in 10 minutes.

Cordially,
Andy

366 Bow Ties: Day 29

When you get a new pair of blue jeans, you kind of have to wear them every day for a good while. Even if it's Sunday. With a new pair of 501s, blue jeans were my Sunday's best.

Throw on a bow tie, some longwings, a sport jacket with a crisp, linen, TV-fold pocket square (hand-rolled by Ellie some 2 years ago), and you have a respectable Sunday swag going, regardless of what my former Presbyterian self would have told you.

Sunday's bow tie, known as The Jackson, is available in our store. This is the very last one left, unless we happen to stumble upon a stash of lost Jackson fabric in some recess of the studio (which, if it should occur, would probably be approximately a decade from now). In other words, if you like this (which you should), get it like right stinking now or you'll regret it for the rest of your life. Do you really want to live with that sort of regret? Think of the money you'll save from avoiding the therapy....

366 Bow Ties: Day 28

Saturday was (again) unseasonably warm, so I threw on a never-before-seen bow tie from our upcoming Spring/Summer line. It's luxurious. An organic cotton & hemp blend. It's got the texture of linen, and the look of seersucker, but without the pucker. As part of our premium selection of bow ties made with rare fabrics, this will be priced at $38 when it becomes available in late February. But for one privileged bow tie aficionado, this (and only this very one) will be had for $35.

I am straight-up loving my Oak Street Bootmakers penny loafers. In fact, I decided it was time to put the penny in penny loafers, literally. One shiny one, one weathered one.

I'm quite happy with how these look when paired with denim. Loafers are an essentially casual shoe, so it makes perfect sense that they'd complement a dark pair of 501s quite nicely.

And the great thing about the weather is, of course, that it was a sockless day. I love socks. But I love not needing them, either. I usually don't wear socks at all from April through September.

It turned out that this was the perfect chilled out bow tie for the occasion: Beneath the Surface | A Forum on Beauty. I pretended to be artsy for the day, and in fact did have a semi-sophisticated discussion with a professor from Appalachian State University about the evolving social and religious significance of tattoos.

With all my many talents, I was reduced to just one: Pastor...

...which of course is a great honor. It's just that, as usual, my wife is way cooler than me.

I leave you with some images from the event. A grand time.

Cordially,

Andy

366 Bow Ties: Day 27

I tried my darndest (sp?) to save this--my favorite spring/summer bow tie right now--for when spring or summer actually arrived. But since this January Carolina day has been about as springlike as a May Ohio day, I figured I'd go right ahead. After all, we've got lots and lots and lots of new linen coming up in our new spring lineup. (Sneak peak below!)

But back to this tie, which happens to have an exquisite name. A name that means "manly". Andrew. Fitting. It's a dollar off the regular price, just for this one, just until it's gone. Then you'll have to pay full price, which a'int so bad anyhow.

Had the opportunity to share lunch at Lell's Cafe with The Cordial Churchman's illustrator, the masterful Stephen Crotts, and one of our most talented customers, singer-songwriter and producer Jeremy Casella.   Stephen and his studiomates are putting on "Beneath the Surface: A Forum on Beauty" this weekend in Rock Hill, and Mr Casella is headlining the concert that opens this exploration of beauty. I'm running sound. Mr Kirk Irwin, theologian and arts advocate (not to mention dear friend and eventual bow tie wearer) is the keynote speaker, and the provider of beauty in the form of legal, tightly rolled Dominican smokable leaves for our friends while he's in town.

I usually walk to meet Deacon at school and walk him home. Today I was a bit early, so I enjoyed some reading underneath a barren (and, due to the unseasonably warm weather, very confused) tree.

It's Bow Tie Friday if you're not joining me in wearing a bow tie every day of 2012. Why not celebrate with this beauty?

Cordially,

Andy

366 Bow Ties: Day 26

The pressure of this project--to throw on a different TCC bow tie every day--has had the interesting effect of causing me to scour the archives. On Day 26, I came up with this: one of my favorite of Ellie's early neck-to-bow tie conversions. Medium-blue (darker than royal, lighter than navy) with red/white polka dots.

This is vintage silk. And by vintage, I mean really old. It also represents one of Ellie's first tries at making a bow tie. It's got quite a skeleton inside: it really stands up to be counted. It's a little misshaped here and there. The silk is a little uneven in wear. But this bow tie looks s-h-a-r-p.

We don't want to hype this bow tie as if it were the a Michael Jordan rookie card or Stan Lee's first issue of illustrating Spiderman. But it is pretty special. And that's one of the neat things about bow ties. Of course we pay close attention to the details--even the details that most no one will ever see. But it's how things look when you show up in the bow tie that counts. They hide their idiosyncrasies much better than neckties. They're all knotted and folded up and smushed together to begin with.

So, if you hold sentimental stock in The Cordial Churchman, and want to have one of our archival pieces, this bow tie is for you. If you're going to wear the thing, this bow tie is for you. If you're going to put this in a mirror-filled display case (not sure why you'd do that) with black velvet backcloth, you should balk. Available only until it's no longer available: get this archival piece for the TCC throwback price of just $23.

Blue bow ties, by the way, are really important. Blue, khaki or tan, and a little bit of red make up 90% of my outfits.

Speaking of khaki, my Bill's Khakis went head-to-head with my 4-year-old's muddy shoes as I pushed him on the swing today. Since these things were originally made for the military, I'm expecting that they'll hold up under these, and much more sartorially traumatic, conditions.

366 Bow Ties: Day 22

Today I went to hear my good friend Andrew teach Sunday School at Ebenezer Presbyterian Church. Dude knocked it way out of the park. So much so that I bought him pizza. (For those of you who're keeping score at home, that's pizza and beer for 3 consecutive days for me. There might be a problem that calls for an intervention. The pizza, that is.) Anyway, I was excited for a good excuse to bust out my new Bill's Khaki's Wool Donegal Limited Edition trousers. Ellie declared that they were "grown up without being 'old man'." Now, I'm no enemy of the old man look, but if what she said is true, sweet.

I reached for a bow tie Ellie made last winter: dark navy (or 'light black'??) silk with embroidered horns from a necktie on one side …

… tartan plaid on the other side. With all reversible bow ties, of course, you want a little of the back side peeking out for visual interest. You can twist and turn them to do whatever crazy stuff you want (like yesterday's tie), but when you're going to a Presbyterian church, probably the 'peeking out' thing is about enough. Never forget the first rule of bow tie wearing: You're Already Wearing A Bow Tie. This rule helps you know when it doesn't matter if you go bonkers with multiple sides and twists and turns and peekings out. And it also helps you remember when to cool it.  (I just made that rule up. Pretty good, huh? Just remember, I'm a professional.)

Ebenezer needed a mug of me for a conference at which I'm speaking there in March. Now, I'm usually pretty modest about being photographed, but for a good cause, I'll concede--but it won't be easy. Figured I'd have Andrew snap a photo of me out in the churchyard. Remember churchyards? All churches used to have them. Especially ones that are 225 years old like this one. That building in the background is one of the oldest structures in the county. An old schoolhouse, I think.

I really like the center court "E." You could play hoops in tweed and bow ties with an "E" like that on the court.

I've heard that there was a day when showing off one's socks was thought of as risqué. I guess because technically they're underwear. While I fully support the judgment that t-shirts are underwear and thus should not be worn (or seen 'peeking through') on the outside, I'm just going to go ahead and wear my foot-underwear for all to see, with the "go bold or go home" maxim being my guiding principle. It's a great way to add a little punch to an otherwise understated ensemble. Or more punch to a what-the-heck-why-not ensemble.

And of course, the socks seem to draw (at least my) eyes to my Oak Street Bootmakers penny loafers. George, the founder, said that the supple leather on these would stretch wonderfully to conform to my feet. They don't need "breaking in" like most leather shoes. They just kind of "make room." Love these shoes. I'm looking forward to some photos of George in our bow ties now. This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Okay, there you have it. Run on over to the store and grab this one-of-a-kind bow tie before it's gone. All of it goes to kids in Haiti. Happy Sunday.

Cordially,

Andy

366 Bow Ties: Day 21

Today Ellie grabbed a bunch of fabrics from this year's winter bow tie offerings and made a very random patchwork scarf. Then she got the idea to do the same for a bow tie. The result is Day 21's "What's Left of Winter" bow tie. You can wear it many different ways. You could wear it every day of the week and tie it differently. You know, if you wanted to do something like that.

Most importantly, you can buy it here. There's only one. Patchwork can be a pain in the neck to make, so if something like this is available in the future, you can bet that it won't be at the incredible price of $29.

I also sported a lapel flower that Ellie made out of the 'Addison' fabric. Dang, she's good. You have to jab a hole in the boutonnière 'buttonhole' on the lapel of your jacket in order to stick the button on the back of the lapel flower through. I've oopsed and sliced outside the lines on accident, but who cares. Since everyone already knows me as the bow tie dork, and the rain boots dork, I'm afraid I'm going to kind of make the lapel flower my thing. It's a good thing.

Ellie was with the ladies for a fancy birthday dinner tonight, so it was pizza and beer night again for the guys. It turns out that as long as the pizza is good, and the beer is good, pizza and beer taste just as good on Saturday night as they do on Friday night. We gents joined all the yuppie soccer moms in Charlotte in wearing rain boots. Transformers for Owen, camo for Deacon, Le Chameau for yours truly. (Somehow Cliffe didn't end up with socks or shoes on. Whoops. Like I said, it was guys' night.)

We ended up at the bookstore, of course, since a man needs a legitimate cup of coffee (and the boys need an M&M cookie) after dinner. The train table occupied them longer than usual, but then we had story time, which is always as participatory as possible.

Speaking of participatory: buy this bow tie. The cash goes to bless children in Haiti who are being helped the most cordial of churchmen and churchwomen. We can't wait to tell you more about how all that works when the details are ironed out. But we can tell you that these first 20 days of 2012 have brought in over $500 for this project.

Here are just three examples of how this baby can be tied.  I don't think we've ever made a more versatile bow tie.

Enjoy your Sunday. Be thankful for the luxuries you enjoy, the rest you're granted, and the opportunities you have to change the world in humble but significant ways.

Cordially,
Andy