FQR’s esteemed proprietor, Charles Finch, laments the lack of ties in the workplace and calls for the return of the bow tie

An American friend of mine asked me the other day what the dress code was to a black tie dinner. I replied, patiently, that it was, oddly enough, “black tie”.

“Black tie, black tie?” he persisted. “Does that mean bow tie or can I wear a black tie?”

This quite modest dressing dilemma may not be particularly fascinating to any of you given the serious state of world affairs in which we find ourselves, but to FQR it is a symbol of the causes for that decline in our great institutions which presently plagues us, and a likely factor in landing us in the merde. You could, of course, argue that in the Thirties they dressed appropriately but still had the World War and a terrible depression… Why, though, if asked by your host to wear a black tie would it not mean exactly what we all know full well it means? You wear a dinner suit with a black bow tie…

In this same vein, then, why, if you ask someone to invest your money wisely, would they not take the time to be diligent and do just that? Invest your money wisely. Perhaps the removal of the tie in the workplace and, even more so, the bow tie from formal events or the serious disciplines (law, politics, medicine) has led in a way to a general laissez-faire attitude, which in certain professions has had dire consequences.

Very recently I attended the Dresden Semper Opera Ball at which there were white tie, black tie and even red tie. I have no idea how I would have advised my friend had he asked me what to wear for that event and I can assure you the swell evening, in the beautiful opera house, would have been a lot easier on the eye if the dressing had been consistent.

In Los Angeles, that most informal of cities, I once – many years ago – turned away Arki Busson and Benicio Del Toro for being over half an hour late, which was quite a stupid thing to do considering their future success and the fact that in LA you are lucky if people turn up at all for a seated dinner. This last note has, of course, nothing whatsoever to do with ties and I mention purely to name-check a couple of our FQR Mavericks.

All this brings me to the most regal of all ties, the bow tie. There are several “musts” as regards the bow tie. The first and most important is that you actually tie your own knot and do not buy one of those ready-made things. Even if you wear your tie with the ends tucked under the collar, as Harold Macmillan did, or long and Western as John Wayne or Daniel Day-Lewis have been known to, you must still tie your own knot. And don’t tie it too big or too small; Pee-wee Herman might be an example of the latter, whilst Roger Moore of the former.

To sport a bow tie other than at a black tie event means that today a man must have either a little pluck or a lot of gall – one or the other, depending on the tie and circumstance. You are noticed when you wear a bow tie. Infinitely more so than you when you wear a regular tie. The little butterfly resting neatly at your neck says, “Look at me… I am happy or smart… or I park cars.” Personally, I say bring back the bow tie and people will behave a little more elegantly. After all, can you really imagine a youth wearing a bow tie and carrying a knife?

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