Have you ever seen Texans or Arizonians wearing what looks like a thin leather
thong around their necks leading from a buckle at the shirt collar? If so you've
probably thought it dates back to the Wild West. That's what I thought until a
little research revealed quite a different story. This neckwear is called a Bolo
or Bola and proclaimed the official neckwear for Arizona , making it one of the
most original American styles, the Converse All Star being another; ironically
its advent was the outcome of an accident. Had it not been for the loss of a hat
in the wind and a quick thinking Arizonian, the style would never have come to
fruition? It's a bit like the story about the advent of the first school tie,
another accidental style, which also involved hats and hat bands and covered in
a previous article.
IIn the late 1940s, a silversmith named Victor
Cedarstaff went riding with friends in the Bradshaw Mountains outside Wickenburg
, Arizona . When the wind blew his hat off, Cedarstaff removed the hatband,
which had a silver buckle he did not want to lose, and put it around his neck.
When his friends complemented him on the new apparel, Cedarstaff
returned home, and wove a leather string. He added silver balls to the ends and
ran it through a turquoise buckle.
Cedarstaff later patented the new
neckwear, which was called the bolo because it resembled the lengths of rope
used by Argentine gauchos to catch game or cattle.
Now mass-produced,
bolos are usually made of leather cord, with a silver or turquoise buckle. They
are common throughout the west and are often worn for business. In 1971 Arizona
legislature named the bolo the official state neckwear.
Twenty years
before the advent of the Bolo, another innovation took shape, when a pioneering
Paris fashion designer, Jean Patou, invented the tie. He made ties from women's
clothing material including patterns inspired by the latest art movements of the
day, Cubism and Art Deco.
Targeted toward women purchasers, his were
highly successful. Today women buy 80 percent of sold in the US . Therefore ties
are often displayed near the perfume or women's clothing departments.
Designer ties made quite a splash in the 1960s, when designers from
London 's Carnaby Street devised the Peacock Look and churned out wide,
colourful ties in a variety of flowered, abstract and psychedelic patterns. Know
mod (for modern) styles were the forerunners of the hippie movement, which often
dispensed with neckties altogether, often favouring colourful scarves at the
neck, or wearing open shirts with chains or medallions.
Today, designer
ties abound. Designers create some themselves, while others are made by
manufacturers under licensing agreements. They are also popular with women, who
associate them with high fashion. In fact three out of four ties are bought by
women.
These fascinating innovations are what make the evolution of
style and the progress of fashion through the ages so unique. No experience
necessary; a man creates neckwear after his hat blows off in the wind. Another
man decides to make ties from women's clothing material and "hey presto" two everlasting styles
are created.
Patrick McMurray, a modest business man with a keen interest in the evolution of styles and
progress of fashion through the ages. In particular, the growth and performance of the
silk weaving and silk tie manufacturing industry in England and its continuing survival in the
face of the mass manufacturing revolution. Thanks to electronic communications we can publish articles on the wire, making them immediately available for people with shared interests to learn and respond.
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