Hey everybody, sorry it's been a while since I've posted a blog. I got so wrapped up in midterms and midterm break, I haven't had time to sit down and put pen to paper, metaphorically. So since I'm coming back from a brief hiatus, I figured today's blog would be something light-hearted and fun. Today's blog is going to be a very slight autobiography and a moment to pay homage to some awesome people in my life, my sisters. All stinkin' three of them. (I say that with love :) ) (Sorry Maura, technically you don't make the cut, but I still love you too) Now let us travel a few years back and take a look into how I became BowTieChris.
It was the '00's. '08 to be exact. Times were changing, schools were becoming more technological, the White House was months away from becoming more diverse, and Michael Phelps was proving potheads though successful are still douche bags. (CHILL! That last one was joke, though HE IS a douche) I was entering high school. A scrawny white kid measuring in at 5'4" and weighing in at 135 lbs. and not much of a fashion sense. All I could really articulate was that I loved the classy look but had no qualms with the grungy look, which is what I rocked. But I attended a private Catholic high school, which is when opportunity knocked and I, at first, half-heartedly answered. We had the option of wearing either a button up with a tie or a polo both paired with a pair of khakis. So being a fan of the classy look, I did what I could by being the guy who wore his oxford (another term for a button up) and a tie close to everyday from freshman year to senior year. Something that wasn't really common. The only time anyone else was really seen wearing the button up shirt was on days that there was a school wide Mass.
Even though I was rocking this classy look at school, outside of school I was still rocking the grungy look, whether it was just minutes after school or on the weekends. Part of which because, as previously stated, I had no qualms with the grungy look, and also, because I didn't really have the wardrobe to be classier looking more often. Well eventually that changed. My sisters, mostly the eldest one, hated how dressed. Especially when it was when they had to be seen in public. So as time went on though my earlier years of high school my sisters banded together and bought me a new wardrobe, you could have called it "The Starter Wardrobe for the Classy/Preppy Man".
Now, I had the clothes to start looking classy more frequently. Basically, my sisters had provided me with the materials needed, but it was up to me to create the final product. It's not like I was going to put up a fight though, also as I previously stated, I loved the classy look too, and I was rocking that one at least everyday that I was at school. So, I started to wear these new closes. Not all day, every day, but I was incorporating them into my look more times then not. But I wasn't really doing the tie look, bow or straight, outside of school. This is when the story gets really good!
It was junior year, and I along with a few other students were being honored at a school wide assembly. Well I wanted to look good but I didn't really know how to take my look to another level. I thought my style had "peaked" if you will. Well, a few days before this assembly, some friends and I went to a local thrift store just for fun; to kill some time on a half a day. And that's when I saw it, A BOW TIE! It was hanging with a tuxedo on a shelf but did have an individual price tag that said $1. I was intrigued so I bought it. Fun fact: this bow tie, my first bow tie, was in fact a clip-on, or as we in the bow tie biz will say "pre-tied". The day of the assembly came; I woke up, got showed and cleaned, then put on my clothes, and finally I grabbed my new bow tie and I put it on. The minute I clipped it and folded down the collar and shot myself a glance in the mirror, I just got this feeling go through me, a feeling that said, "Oh yeah, this, this right here, this is right."
After that day I was hooked on the bow tie look. I was asking my mom where we could get me more, but REAL ones, and could we do it ASAP. She informed me that my Aunt had some of my Great-Grandfathers bow ties from the 1920's. So I begged her to take me to my Aunt's house after school like the next day, and she conceded. When we got there my Aunt informed me that she did in fact have them, she just was not sure where in the house she had put them. I felt slightly discouraged upon hearing this news, but after very little time of looking, we found them. I was stoked! My great-grandfather's collection was and still is so gnarly! There was probably 20 or so and I took ten to start me off in building my collection.
The next day I went into school and spent my entire first period (don't worry, it was a study hall) in the principles office learning how to tie a bow tie. He didn't know unfortunately, but we worked together to figure it out. That was so boss of him! He just stopped everything he was doing and spent like an hour or so helping me learn to tie a bow tie. Finally we figured it out. The wheels were set in motion. In the moment, BowTieChris was born.
Since that day, I have worn a bow tie basically everyday for the past four years, no matter what I am doing or what the occasion. I don't plan on stopping any time soon, either. And it's been pretty easy because I have received a lot of mental support for my style from others over the past few years. I've also received a fair amount of physical support from friends and family (specifically my sisters) in the form of them continuing to buy me classier/preppier clothes and bow ties. My school also got a new president my Senior year of high school who wears bow ties everyday that he has to look professional, at least. He takes the weekends off, which is allowed. But he's been wearing bow ties for years and hasn't worn a straight tie in 10 years. I'm trying to catch up to him. He's been a pretty big inspiration; he even gave me two of his bow ties for Christmas. I was honored.
Four years later, following the chain of events that occurred my Junior year of high school, I now have 35 bow ties and will have 37 by the end of the year. My collection is ever growing as is my wardrobe of "loud" attire. I owe a lot of thanks to my sister, so to them: THANK YOU! AND I LOVE ALL THREE OF YOU! I don't plan on stopping my look anytime soon. I'm confident in my look and I'm confident it's going to be my look for a long time. I am BowTieChris. And this is Behind the Bow Tie...LITERALLY!
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