A bolo tie (sometimes bola tie or shoestring necktie) is a type of

necktie A necktie, long tie, or simply a tie, is a cloth article of formal neckwear or office attire worn for decorative or symbolic purposes, resting under a folded shirt collar or knotted at the throat, and usually draped down the chest. On rare o ...

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, 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 garments ...

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

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

have been part of

Hopi The Hopi are Native Americans who primarily live in northeastern Arizona. The majority are enrolled in the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona; however, some Hopi people are enrolled in the Colorado ...

Navajo The Navajo or Diné are an Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their traditional language is Diné bizaad, a Southern Athabascan language. The states with the largest Diné populations are Arizona (140,263) and New Mexico (1 ...

, Zuni, and

Puebloan The Pueblo peoples are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Among the currently inhabited Pueblos, Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Zuni, and Hopi are some of the ...

silversmith A silversmith is a metalworker who crafts objects from silver. The terms ''silversmith'' and ''goldsmith'' are not exact synonyms, as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are (or were, at least) largely the same but differed in that t ...

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

The bolo tie was made the official

neckwear Neckwear is a category of clothing that is worn around or on the neck. Neckwear can be Utilitarian design, utilitarian in nature, usually to protect the neck from colder temperatures, or can be worn as a "fashion statement." Neckwear is distinguish ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

on April 22, 1971, by Governor Jack Williams.

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

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 (November 15, 1947 – September 1, 2023) was an American politician, author, and diplomat who served as the List of governors of New Mexico, 30th governor of New Mexico from 2003 to 2011. He was U.S. ambassador to ...

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 ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. 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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the 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 originating in the early 1950s to mid-1960s and then revived in the 1970s who were interested in rock and roll and R&B music, wearing clothes partly inspired by the styles worn by ...

, who wore them with

drape suit Drape suits are a British variation of the three-piece suit introduced in the 1930s, 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 th ...

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 Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * 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 many retail markets, dining markets, and service categories in many p ...

s like Jeanswest and

Merry-Go-Round A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (International English), or galloper (British English) is a type of amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders. The seats are tradit ...

sold multiple choices for all occasions. During the 1980s and 1990s bolo ties, some elegant and expensive, were sold in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

, and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. 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. During the

2013 NFL season The 2013 NFL season was the 94th season in the history of the National Football League (NFL) and the 48th of the Super Bowl era. The season saw the 2013 Seattle Seahawks season, Seattle Seahawks capture the first championship in the franchise' ...

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...

quarterback

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

captured media attention for his frequent use of bolo ties. He was noted wearing it again after defeating the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

in the 2013–14 NFL playoffs.

Origins

Victor Cedarstaff of

Wickenburg, Arizona Wickenburg is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, Maricopa and Yavapai County, Arizona, Yavapai counties, Arizona, United States. The population was 7,474 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, and was estimated to be 7,920 in 2022. H ...

, 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 sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

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

Sunset Sunset (or sundown) is the disappearance of the Sun at the end of the Sun path, below the horizon of the Earth (or any other astronomical object in the Solar System) due to its Earth's rotation, rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth, it ...

'':

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 Oklahoma Symbols of Texas Symbols of California Rodeo clothing

Popularity

Origins

See also

References

External links