By Paul Fletcher
The Daily Record Newswire
A bar meeting never will be mistaken for a fashion show.
At most lawyer gatherings, the men there will be dressed in serious, professional attire. Suits, more than likely. Nice suits. Gray, black, dark blue, perhaps pinstripes - intended to convey gravitas, professional comportment.
The ties -- long, four-in-hand ties -- most likely will be muted, not chosen to draw undue attention.
Then you might see someone who looks different, a man with a tiny propeller beneath his chin -- a bow tie. You probably would smile.
The Bow Tie Guys -- the men who routinely and proudly wear their bow ties -- are a bit different. They aren't afraid to step to an alternative tune. They don't mind if they don't blend into the crowd. They aren't afraid to have a bit fun.
The Bow Tie Guys might tell you that they merely are carrying on a very proud legal tradition.
And indeed, a bow-tied attorney is a longstanding stereotype, and like many stereotypes, it has a grounding in experience.
"Traditionally, there were five professions associated with bow ties," said Circuit Judge R. Terrence Ney of Fairfax, Va. "Lawyer, judge, doctor, professor and architect -- the learned professions."
Ney would know -- he's been a Bow Tie Guy for more than 40 years. He noted that he is a member of the American Law Institute and has been attending their meetings for years. "It's a sea of bow ties" there, he said.
For some lawyers, wearing a bow tie manifests a willingness to strike a slightly different profile from the gray and pin-striped crowd.
Lawyer Eugene M. Elliott Jr. said he recalls the day when it was unusual to see a lawyer in a yellow tie. It would "set you apart," he said.
It became a matter of, "do you have the guts to wear a yellow tie?" Or perhaps even a pink tie?
Then, "do you have the guts to wear a bow tie?" Elliott said.
Attorney Frank A. Thomas III said he embraced that challenge early in his career, when he first started practicing.
"I figured if I had to wear a redundant piece of clothing, it ought to be unique," Thomas said.
He bought a few from a "trunk show," liked them and established a personal style.
Thomas said that at least one client took note of his signature look. The client brought in "six coat racks of bow ties" as a present of gratitude. He said he kept them in his office for a while, then ultimately sent them over to a nearby prep boarding school.
Indeed, several Bow Tie Guys noted that their love affair with the bow tie started in school.
Attorney Michael C. Guanzon started wearing the ties as an undergraduate and it has became a family affair -- he and his three brothers all were in college about the same time and they all were Bow Tie Guys.
"It was different, it was cool" at the time, Guanzon said. He continued the wardrobe choice when he entered law practice.
For others, it's a matter of watching senior colleagues and mentors and following their lead.
Daniel Ortiz said that after graduating from law school, he clerked for Fairfax Circuit Judge M. Langhorne Keith, a longtime Bow Tie Guy. Several of the partners at his firm liked them as well, so Ortiz enthusiastically joined the movement.
"I think they look good," Ortiz said, adding that the tie might give observers some insight into his personality -- that he is a creative thinker and even a bit quirky.
As Ortiz's example indicates, Bow Tie Guys will seek to convert others to that mode of dress.
"Prosely-tie-zing, as it were," said Ney, who said that his suitemate at the Fairfax Courthouse, Judge Robert Smith, has started wearing them.
Attorney G. Michael Pace was a sharp dressed man long before Z.Z. Top sang about same, but he said he didn't grow up wearing a bow tie.
But he likes the "little more finished" look a bow tie provides. He started with bow ties, he said, almost on a lark. He bought one and wore it as a bit of a joke on his wife. To his surprise, she really liked it. "I was just having a little fun," he said.
Other people seem to get the lightness or amusement factor. Every Bow Tie Guy interviewed for the this piece mentioned that invariably the tie prompts a compliment from a stranger.
Lawyer James V. Meath said, "I'll be travelling and in an elevator somewhere. Invariably another man will say, 'Nice tie. I wish I knew how to tie one.'"
Meath said that men shouldn't hold back from wearing a bow tie for that reason. "If you can tie your shoes, you can tie a bow tie," he said.
Elliott likewise said that the ease of tying a bow tie makes it more practical than a long tie. And "you can't spill anything on it," he said.
Thomas said that when he wore long ties, routinely he would drop something on a long tie and ruin it.
"Now I guess I drop it on my shirt," he said.
Guanzon said he found that "ranch dressing had an affinity" for every long tie he wore; with a switch to bow ties, he learned that if a spill happened, it was a lot cheaper to clean a dress shirt than to clean, or replace, a tie.
Bow Tie Guys never have to worry about getting a present they won't want. Parents and spouses and children all know what to buy.
Elliott reported that he has 130 of them, and he said, "I'm sure I'll get one for Father's Day."
Ortiz just celebrated a birthday and got two ties for his collection.
Meath said he has about two dozen, but he makes a practice of rotating his inventory of ties, seeking "to keep current."
He periodically takes a load of old ties to Goodwill or some other charity.
For one thing, he noted, the wear pattern on a bow tie is different from a long tie, and they wear out sooner. Long days of brushing up against a man's facial stubble take their toll on the tie, he said.
Men won't have the reciprocal luxury when purchasing for the women in their lives -- Women haven't wore bow ties as an accessory since the 1970s or 1980s.
Thomas said his young granddaughter told him that she wanted to wear one. "Maybe I should take her to see 'Annie Hall,'" he said.
While bow ties may be fun, there is a negative stereotype sometimes associated with the tie, several lawyers said: You can't trust someone in a bow tie.
Where that rumor came from is unknown, but even Bow Tie Guys are careful. Indeed, most of the Bow Tie Guys wear long ties in the pictures featured on their firm websites. Thomas said that Meath once told him that lawyers at his firm won't wear them to trial.
Other Bow Tie Guys showed the who-cares attitude that might prompt one to wear the tie in the first place.
Sen. J. Chapman Petersen, D-Fairfax, has been in politics since his first race in 2001. He has run for election a number of times since.
Petersen said that "in every campaign I've run, some consultant will say get rid of the bow tie and update the look."
But he refuses every time. "I'm used to it," he said. "My father wore a bow tie and that's good enough for me."
Lawyer Michael L. Rigsby uses his bow tie practically as a logo. Surf over to his website, www.rigsbylaw.com, and look for the favicon (the little graphic at the top of the browser, next to the URL).
There you'll find a tiny bow tie, Rigsby's statement of who he is.
Like Rigsby, the other Bow Tie Guys relish being part of an informal fraternity, but there is one way to get on the bad side of every single one of them.
What's the worst thing you can say to a Bow Tie Guy?
Elliott had the answer: "Is that a clip-on?"
Published: Wed, Jun 20, 2012
