Kruzlifix's History of the Bow Tie

Click on Image
to Zoom
During my residency (1980-86) at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore /USA, I did not only learn  things about Orthopedics. This  was the staff in orthopedics in 1955 when I was born. As you can note, only one out of the 8 physicians was not wearing a bow tie. jhh.jpg (2342 Byte)
I was also trained in wearing appropriate attire, especially bow ties. Here I am on  route to an official event, the bowtie is unfortunately sligthly out of focus. balto.jpg (7339 Byte)
One day Chuck Silberstein brought me an article from the 1976 Washington magazin about how to make your own bow ties. I started my own cottage factory. Luckily part of my rotations I spent in a hospital without active emergency departement. childrens.jpg (1984 Byte)
That way I had enough time during call to build up my bow tie collection. Of course, at first I had a hard time finding the right models for my creation. libby.jpg (1719 Byte)
But soon I had no problems finding collectors for my designs. This is again Dr. Silberstein wearing my first handmade bowtie. silberstein.jpg (2396 Byte)
I was curious about the origin of the bowtie. My research brought me to Louis 14 . louis1.jpg (1895 Byte)
Among his professional soldiers he also employed a batallion fo Croatian soldiers. All those soldiers were easily recognized by wearing a nice looking scarf around their neck. This was the birth of the Cravat. louis2.jpg (1794 Byte)
This was of course a most wellcome improvement for the orthopedic surgeons who had  always to wear their humongeous collars. rembrant.jpg (2826 Byte)
It was really a great releave for them to finally be able to operate with the practical bow ties. ana.jpg (2734 Byte)
Another fashion appeared shortly after the battle of Steinkerk in 1692. There, the French soldiers were surprised by the english army in the dawn  and they had barely time to stick their twisted scarfs into the trenchcoats. steinkerk.jpg (1545 Byte)
Nowadays this tradition is still kept alive during some battles in the cast room by our junior collegues. naiman.jpg (1641 Byte)
One can find traces of bow ties in the world literature like for instance Balzac, who thought the bow tie had not only a function as fashionable accessoire but was also an important factor for the health status of the owner. balzac.jpg (1409 Byte)
This was probably the reason why this young lady did not want to take her bow tie off when Manet took her portrait. beauty.jpg (2828 Byte)
At the beginning of the 20th century there were basically 2 types of ties, the long neck tie and one short bow tie. Here we see a foto of William Davidson and Bill Harley the two founders of a famous motorcycle brand after a successful fishing trip.  hd.jpg (2043 Byte)
In honor of the merits for modern Orthopedics and especially for the treatment of open tibia shaft fractures I used the abbreviation ORIF (Open Reduction Internal Fixation) as name for the licence plate on my Harley-Davidson. stgall1.jpg (2128 Byte)
Frank Sinatra popularized the bow tie during the 40ies and 50ies. frankie.jpg (1653 Byte)
Today if one reads about the bow tie in  books on how to dress one can find that a person in a bow tie has the air of not being trustworthy or even of being a thief. book1.jpg (2104 Byte)
The only positve aspect of wearing a bow is that bow ties are able to smooth the image of a person who seems to be otherwise a tough guy.

And at the end:   There is another nice bow tie page on the net! Please go and visit!

book2.jpg (1987 Byte)

The Cravate Webring
This Cravate Webring site is owned by Kruzlifix's History of the Bow Tie.
[ Previous Site | Random Site | First Site | List of website | Next Site ]
Join The Cravate Webring

Back to Kruzlifix's Homepage. Please address any questions to: kruzlifix@staehelin.ch.
© 1998 Andreas C. Staehelin, Basel, Switzerland