A bolo tie (sometimes bola tie or shoestring necktie) is a type of necktie consisting of a piece of cord or braided leather with decorative metal tips (called

aiguillette An aiguillette (, from '' aiguille'', "needle"), also spelled , or , is a cord with metal tips or lace tags, or the decorative tip itself. Functional or purely decorative fasteners of silk cord with metal tips were popular in the 16th and e ...

s) and secured with an ornamental clasp or slide.

Popularity

In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, bolo ties are widely associated with

Western wear Western wear is a category of men's and women's clothing which derives its unique style from the clothes worn in the 19th century Wild West. It ranges from accurate historical reproductions of American frontier clothing, to the stylized garment ...

and are generally most common in the western areas of the country. Bolo tie slides and tips in

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

have been part of Hopi, Navajo, Zuni, and

Puebloan The Puebloans or Pueblo peoples, are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Currently 100 pueblos are actively inhabited, among which Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Zu ...

silversmith A silversmith is a metalworker who crafts objects from silver. The terms ''silversmith'' and ''goldsmith'' are not exactly synonyms as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are or were largely the same but the end product may vary grea ...

ing traditions since the mid-20th century. Bolotie Navajo

The bolo tie was made the official neckwear of

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

on April 22, 1971 by Governor Jack Williams.

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...

passed a non-binding measure to designate the bolo as the state's official neckwear in 1987. On March 13, 2007, New Mexico Governor

Bill Richardson William Blaine Richardson III (born November 15, 1947) is an American politician, author, and diplomat who served as the 30th governor of New Mexico from 2003 to 2011. He was also the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Energy Secretary ...

signed into law that the bolo tie was the state's official tie. Also in 2007, the bolo tie was named the official tie of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, bolo ties are known as bootlace ties. They were popular with 1950s

Teddy Boys The Teddy Boys or Teds were a mainly British youth subculture of the mid 1950s to mid 1960s who were interested in rock and roll and R&B music, wearing clothes partly inspired by the styles worn by dandies in the Edwardian period, which ...

, who wore them with

drape suit Drape suits are a 1930s British variation of the three-piece suit, in which the cut is full and 'drapes'. It is also known as the blade cut or London cut. The design of the athletic aesthetic of the drape suit is attributed to the London tailor Fr ...

s. Bolo ties became fashionable in the 1980s with rockabilly revivalists and new wavers. The bolo tie returned as a popular fashion accessory in the fall of 1988 when male Hollywood stars would be frequently found wearing them.

Chain store A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...

s like Jeanswest and Merry-Go-Round sold multiple choices for all occasions. During the 1980s and 1990s bolo ties, some elegant and expensive, were sold in Japan,

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

, and China. Some had fancy, hand-made cords and unusual tips. Sales overseas skyrocketed post-1970s; this was due to the overflow from the United States, where it had fallen out of fashion in the 1980s. Author John Bloom (a.k.a. horror host and drive-in expert Joe Bob Briggs) is known by his trademark wearing of various bolo ties during his televised and live shows. He has helped popularize the wearing of bolo ties while hosting the

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

television series '' MonsterVision'' from 1996 to 2000, and '' The Last Drive-in with Joe Bob Briggs'' on Shudder from 2018–present. During the 2013 NFL season, San Diego Chargers quarterback

Philip Rivers Philip Michael Rivers (born December 8, 1981) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons, primarily with the Chargers franchise. He played college football at NC State and was se ...

captured media attention for his frequent use of bolo ties. He was noted wearing it again after defeating the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2013–14 NFL playoffs.

Origins

Victor Cedarstaff of

Wickenburg, Arizona Wickenburg is a town in Maricopa and Yavapai counties, Arizona, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the town was 7,474, up from 6,363 in 2010. History The Wickenburg area, along with much of the Southwest, became part ...

claims to have invented the bolo tie in the late 1940s and later

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

ed his slide design., filed May 24, 1954, issued July 28, 1959, to Victor Ceaderstaff According to an article in '' Sunset'':

References

External links

Montana Leader Defends Bolo Ties
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolo Tie Native American culture Neckties Western wear 1940s fashion 1950s fashion 1960s fashion 1970s fashion 1980s fashion Symbols of Arizona Symbols of New Mexico Symbols of Texas Symbols of California Rodeo clothing

Popularity

Origins

See also

References

External links