We've been rocking bow ties lately to add some personality and character to our looks. (Hell, we've been doing that with accessories, bags, tie bars and other quirky pieces, too.) Something subtle or something with a statement—that's the key to finishing off an outfit. A bow tie is one such touch. Our Midwestern lady friend understands this and wants to help fellow gents (or ladies).
 |
| Shirting by Apolis Activism, cardigan by J.Crew and madras bow tie by AnnaRuna. |
Her name is Anna, and she's going to be a senior at Mizzou this coming fall. She and Cam and I grew up cannon-balling at the Willow Farms swimming pool, eating copious amounts of salsa deckside at the Hastings house and shooting off fireworks in the suburbs in front of the Flemings curbside detonation zone each Fourth of July. She's talented, sweet, tall/Icelandic and Midwestern. (Did we mention beautiful? If not, beautiful.) She makes bow ties and neck ties. She's not an East Campus dweller (yet) but she's a frequent dance party fiend at the 516 boys' house.
So here's the situation: We want to give you one of Anna's bow ties from her Etsy shop: AnnaRuna. Here's how you can snag something fancy for your neck...
Simply:
- Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and/or Tumblr if haven't already. Don't forget to tell us which one(s) you chose.
- Tell us who in your life needs a bow tie and why. If it's you, that's cool. If it's your brother, great. If you're a lady and want to rock some camo steeze with your chambray button down and floral skirt, that's cool too, Cary.
We'll pick randomly, (but really whichever one is the wittiest and makes us laugh the most). The giveaway will close on FRIDAY at 5 p.m. We'll announce the winner on Saturday via Twitter and a small blog post. Sounds simple, I know.
Pick one, any one. We'll send it to you.
I have followed on Tumblr and Twitter!
ReplyDeleteThe reason I need a bowtie is that the bowtie would allow me to take one more step towards being a Southern Gentleman. And as a future Southern Gentleman, I would proudly show that I am willing to accept the Midwest and wear one of their fine bowties. This would further heal the wounds of the War Between the States.
So, you should choose me if you love America and inter-state love. :)
I follow you guys on Twitter and I Like your fb page.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could say that my brother is the one who needs a bowtie, but he prefers Under Armour and baseball pants. I like to wear bowties to keep things fancy and channel the waiters in Hello, Dolly. Besides, I live in the South, and since Southern gentlemen have phased out the bowtie, it's up to us girls to bring it back.
Plus, how many teachers do you know wear bowties and bolos to school?
My favorite one is the Sublime Sunshine!
I'd love to win this giveaway because, for once, it would be nice if my boyfriend wanted to steal something from MY wardrobe. You see, I pinch everything from the poor guy... his aviators, wool scarves {knit especially for him by his grandma-I know I'm terrible}, t-shirts... you name it. I'd love to see him sneak one of these stylish bowties from me!
ReplyDeleteCheers
Following your tweets!
I "like" you on Facebook!
ReplyDeleteI need one of these fine bowties. As a southern transplant to rural Ohio I try to find the balance between my buckeye home and my southern roots. The bowtie would cap off my seersucker suit on those hot and humid summer days.
As an added bonus, the Judge I practice in front of has taken to calling me "professor," so the bowtie would help to cultivate that nickname.
I've given you the trifecta of social media love. Facebook, Twitter AND Trumblr.
ReplyDeleteI personally need a bow tie because I'm a one armed masochist, plain and simple. Of course I've also been described as a lying dandy.
I find the bow tie entitled Royal Emerald Plaid quite fetching.
Adieu.
Hi, I follow you on tumblr under sweatervestman.tumblr.com
ReplyDeleteI need a bowtie for many reasons, first I'm graduating high school and I want to update my wardrobe for college. Throughout high school I was known for wearing sweatervest, several times a week and I think a bowtie would help me explore more styles.
Thanks for the great oppertunity.
Ps. I really hope you guys can help me look boss in college next year.
I followed you on twitter under SMcSchorsch, and I follow you on tumblr under blacktiecasual.
ReplyDeleteThe bow tie would be for me. It's purpose, I'm ashamed to say, would be therapeutic. I suffer from severe bow tie-related anxiety. I desperately want to tie one on, but every time I go to buy one, I lose my nerve. So I collect pictures of braver souls with sharper neckwear than mine, too timid to join them in the real world. If one of these beautiful ties showed up in my mailbox, it would be the kick in the collar I need to get out there, bow-tied and beautiful.
I've followed on tumblr (I am top-queer.tumblr.com).
ReplyDeleteJust because I'm a lady doesn't mean I can't be a gentleman. I bought a new waistcoat and the brown blazer bow tie would match it perfectly. Winning the bow tie would help me make my transformation into one dapper young dandy.
I'm a pro at tying bow ties (I also can tie a buckaroo knot, which is not quite relevant but still pretty cool), so you could rest assured that your bow tie would receive many a compliment and your etsy would be given many a recommendation if I were out and about engaged in my usual debauchery while wearing your bow tie.
I'm following on Twitter.
ReplyDeleteAs a young teacher in Michigan I have the great responsibility to spread the word that, "Bow ties are cool." For the future will be lost without bow ties. Millennials must know that ties come in more than one long pointed shape. For the betterment of mankind I should be awarded this great reward.
And remember it's about the kids.
Following you on Twitter!!!
ReplyDeleteI am hooked on the latest Doctor Who. When I grow up, I would like to be a time lord. Help a young gent look the part with the appropriate bow tie. Pick me!
Hello. I'm following on Tumblr.
ReplyDeleteThe person in my life who needs a bow tie most is myself. Selfish, I know. But no one else I know would ever consider one (until they see mine!).
I have three reasons for needing a bow tie:
1: My wife thinks I'm nuts for wanting one (as well as my new found appreciation for style) and think's I'd look absurd. My goal is to prove her right. It WOULD be absurd to wear a bow tie in ND where all anyone wears are ill-fitting shirts that came boxed with a tie.
2: I'm looking to start a trend. I got all my friends started on pipe smoking a couple years back, and what could be a better follow up than bow ties?
3: I don't have the money to buy a new one, and have yet to find one at any of the local thrift stores.
Cheers from a fellow midwesterner.
Hello I liked you on Facebook and follow you on Tumblr.
ReplyDeleteI would like to have one of these bow-ties because I think bow-ties are really cool. I already have several and am the only person I know that can actually tie one. I would really like to expand my collection.
I follow you guys on Twitter and Tumblr, and one of these bow ties would really swag out my Peewee Herman look (just need some suspenders).
ReplyDeleteKeep the great stuff coming fellow (past or present) Columbians
I'm a Tumblr follower and I know how to tie bow ties. I don't have a male counterpart at the moment, so I might as well put the skill to use and tie it on myself. Bow ties are cool. Handmade is even cooler.
ReplyDeleteMy Husband needs a bow tie because he would rock it proudly (despite us living in guido NJ). Specifically, he would rock the preppy plaid bow tie... and perhaps I would borrow it as well ;)
ReplyDelete~Nicole
employed.panache@gmail.com
This giveaway couldn't have come at a better time! My parents said they would let me out of my cage if I got myself a bow tie. Please help me! I think the preppy plaid bow tie would look pretty snazzy on me.
ReplyDeleteBow Tie = Freedom
Imma let you finish, but the Cheery Chambray is one of the best bow ties of all time.
ReplyDeleteI spend all week in a uniform picking up trash in Indianapolis. The last thing I want is for the weekend to come and still look like I pick up trash. HELP! (I follow on Twitter)
ReplyDeleteThe Preppy Plaid looks very nice.
I've followed you on Tumblr.
ReplyDeleteI need a bow tie because I'm living in South Africa and I'm a poor missionary. My wife and I have a photo shoot (for free) when we get back to the States for the month of June and it'd be great to wear one of these great ties in the pictures. Great stuff guys!
I am following you on facebook!
ReplyDeleteI would like to get a bow tie for my boyfriend. During the course of our nearly year and a half relationship I have taken him from a slovenly, baggy t-shirt and baggy jeans kind of guy and managed to get him to dress better and find his own sense of style. He has talked about getting a bow tie for awhile, but the only ones I've seen have been really stuffy and/or overly preppy (Vineyard Vines, anyone?). These AnnaRuna bow ties are uber-cool and just what we've/he's been looking for! It is the perfect accessory to finish off my man's transformation!
i follow you guys all over the GD place... and love every minute of it. :)
ReplyDeleteas a fellow midwestern style blogger, i'd love to help promote annaruna as well, and what a better way than to give the bowtie to my hottie of a husband (who probably rock it with his irish setter redwings, j. crew 484's, a red chambray shirt + sportcoat), take some sweet photos of him and feature them on TCC! bam.
i follow you guys on twitter,
ReplyDelete'
the tie would be for myself. Im a Designer and always look to differentiate myself from those who are handed a high class life. My days are spent working 7 days a week, and slowly building up my own design/fashion empire
Love the site, frequent it everyday, love to see style on a budget.
elliottd.steven@gmail.com
I follow you guys on twitter...though I've been following you here a lot longer.
ReplyDeleteAs a grad student whose classes (and future career) require a lot of presentations, it would be great to have a smart bowtie that makes me look more intelligent than my words would indicate.
Help me fool the academic world by looking good!
I'm a follower on facebook and I check your blog daily.
ReplyDeleteI'm a midwesterner from Ohio--born and raised. I've always been into fashion and standing out among the crowd. I've also had a special place in my heart for bowties.
In fact, I used to wear one of my dad's plaid bowties (from the 70's) whenever I had to dress up for any occasion when I was a kid. I'm a brand new dad myself and my son, Westley James, will need a bowtie to borrow when he discovers how stylish they are.
Help me keep the tradition going!
Thanks.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete* I followed you on Tumblr and Twitter.
ReplyDeleteDear Staff at Midwest Style,
A friend of my introduced me to your website and I could've promised I went to heaven! Maybe that old man was right about the rapture!? Well anyway, I believe I am the most deserving to win this contest *epic statue-esque pose*. I am the most deserving because I am a poet. When I write my best and award winning works, a bowtie adorns my neck. Almost like a good-luck charm. As you can tell by my Tumblr http://originalsoutherngentleman.tumblr.com/ I love bowties (and Beyonce but that's not the point!) Having one of Anna's bowties as my own would be fantastic! I hope you choose me! Thanks again! My twitter is: twitter.com/AlabamaGrammar
*P.S.- I would LOVE the Candy Stripe Crimson! Talk about gorgeous!
These are such cute bow ties! I'm a stylist and I make all of the men I dress work their way into being bow-tie-friendly! I think every man should have the confidence to wear a bow tie and feel amazing in it. Most of them, are loving it.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to have one of these for myself. They joke at me that I get them all to sport a bow tie but that I don't wear them myself. I make a joke that I'm a girl, but I'd totally rock one. I just haven't found the perfect one yet! But I love the Brown Blazer Blue Stripe Bow Tie, Cheery Chambray Bow Tie and the Speckled Silk Bow Tie.
xoxo
http://www.thewrittenrunway.com
I come from the past before the invention of bow ties, and if you send me one of these, all bow ties would be born from this one! The TIdy Tartan could be the father of all bow ties!
ReplyDeleteI have managed to become friends of yours in the internet space you call social networks, both Tumblr and Facebook.
Much obliged, my dapper friends.
I followed you on tumblr as dia-dhuit.
ReplyDeleteAnd I need a new bow tie because I'm currently suffering a bow tie deficiency, caused by repeated sightings of the Eleventh Doctor. The symptoms are lack of dapper, fainting at the sight of fabulous bow ties, and hemorrhoids. It's such a terrible ailment to possess, and I would so grateful if you'd help alleviate my pain.
The Cherry Chambray, the Sublime Sunshine, and the Tawny bow ties are the ones making me faint the most (and the Regatta on her etsy is amazing too).
Liked you of Facebook. As a young archivist, my style is influenced by materials both contemporary and antiquated. A bow tie is both, a classic way of showing subtle individuality.
ReplyDeleteI followed you on Twitter and Tumblr, and seeing as how I’m a newly transplanted Chicagoan without many friends in the city, I might even have followed Seth and Jeff home on occasion. (Like the view from the back, bbs!)
ReplyDeleteGentlemen,
Your bow tie giveaway could not have come at a more opportune time, as I am in dire need of some established formalwear worthy of royalty. You may be thinking, “What? Prince Harry, upon feeling pressure from the American media to continue perpetuating our Anglophilic tendencies has decided to ditch his tacky on again, off again British girlfriend for a ~totally classy and sophisticated young lady from the States who needs our chambray bowtie* to sit atop her wedding gown as the ‘something blue’ in The Royal Wedding: Part Deux?” No, unfortunately not (though I see where you’re coming from with that one, and I love your vision). My needs for a bow tie extend far beyond that.
You see, I was recently contacted via E-mail by the son of an African prince, Diego Alejandro Vargas Borray (who, upon further inspection, might want to consider getting his paternity checked. The name has a decidedly Latin flair). His Highness has generously agreed to award me money in sums totaling upwards of (direct quote) “Nine Hundred Fifty Thousand Pounds in Benz uk Bonazza” in exchange for my name, address, country, telephone number, and bank information by the end of next week. I was flattered, naturally, that he chose to bestow this gracious gift upon me, as we hardly know each other. Then it occurred to me: he must be an adoring fan of my blog! I knew, at roughly 50 hits a day (not bragging!) that I was popular, but I had no idea that an opportunity like this would come to me. Yesterday I was just a small town girl, faithfully chronicling her passion for nail polish and Beyonce, but today I’m shattering the glass ceilings of upper-middle-class-dom and finally achieving my dreams of having my own chocolate sugar daddy!
What great taste this man must have adoring me. If he adores me, he’ll know I adore you, and I’m sure he’ll think it’s incredibly charming if I show up to meet him in my Midwestyle best. After all, how else is a girl s’posed to muster the courage to summon a prince lest she be properly outfitted? As Annie (Anna?) & I always say, you’re never fully dressed without a smile bowtie.
Thanks in advance for your understanding,
Meghan.
*Disclaimer: I’d actually really like the Candy Stripe Crimson bowtie, but for the sake of the pitch…you understand.
Crocodile on my feet
ReplyDeleteFox fur on my back
But no Bowtie `round my neck
I wanna be called the gangsta mack
In the Cadillac!! Yeah!!
Like you on De Eff'-Book.
Candy Stripe Crimson
I have followed you on Tumblr.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite of these fine ties is the Brown Blazer Blue Stripe. I can be a little bit of a sucker for anything tweedy.
I am, in fact, the person in my life that needs a bow tie. I have heretofore been bow tie-less and feel my life is lacking a certain, je ne sais quoi. I believe that acquiring my first bow tie will have me well on my way to grabbing all that life w/ that classy swagger has to offer.
followed you guys on the tumblrs, but have been reading your blog for quite some time now.
ReplyDeletemy girlfriend would love to rock that chambray b-tie and would look crispier than a bowl full o' steeze-its doing so. fit pics will prove it.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteListen, I don't have the Twitters or Tumblr, but I like themidwestyle so much on Facebook. I've been following the blog since its inception...I love Leo. Peep these nasty rhymes!
ReplyDeleteI like my bow ties like I like my rap music, “freestyle.”
If you don’t believe me, just check my fbook profile
That’s why I’m digging Anna’s ties so much
She be sewing them so you gotsta tie them and such
I just moved to the hood and I know for a fact
With a bow tie on, I won’t have to watch my back
People see a man with a bow tie and they know he got class
But subconsciously they also know he can whoop that…posterior
Shoot, they was started by Croatian Mercenaries
Just ask the Prussians, man, them dudes was scary
Teddy Roosevelt rocked one charging up San Juan Hill
As well as the Nazis' nightmare, Winston Churchill
I need this bow tie not just to look fly
But to let gang members know I’m a super tough guy
A man with a dope bow should never be crossed
‘Cause if you tangle with him, you gon’ get tossed
I don’t care which it is, but I need a fresh tie
If I don’t win, I’ll blame you if I die.
You might be thinkin’, “Man, you trippin’, what the heck?”
But I’m serious dude, a bow tie will save my neck.
Colin Warren
Newest Resident of the Roughest Part of KCK
Also...the sublime sunshine bow tie is my pick.
ReplyDeleteI Follow on twitter.
ReplyDeleteMy hubby's birthday is in June and this would be the best summery-manly-styling thing next to loafers with no-show socks! I would just love to win one for the man of my dreams!
http://twitter.com/#!/Saryboberry
I have followed on Tumblr.
ReplyDeleteHere's a brief story: My girlfriend lives in Pittsburgh PA, and I live in Springfield MO. She will finally, after nearly nine months of dating, be moving in with me down here next month. She is an art historian/museum curator, and I am a musician.
9 June is her birthday, and I am going to be flying up to surprise her. She has no idea that I will be coming up, but I can't let her spend her birthday alone; I'm just not that kind of guy.
I used to have a bow tie. It was my Grandpa's, and it was plaid, and when I was a kid I used to put it around my neck and tie it like one would tie shoelaces. I would strut around their house, and they would laugh and laugh. Grandpa loved that bow tie, and he gave it to me on my eighteenth birthday.
That bow tie is now in a suitcase, along with a lot of other clothes I really loved wearing. That suitcase was lost last year by an airline (I will not say the name, but it was Delta). I haven't had a bow tie since.
So. I miss owning a nice bow tie, and wearing one when I go up to surprise my girlfriend for her birthday would really complete the outfit I have planned.
Followed you on Tumblr.
ReplyDeleteI would like a bowtie because I am actually Porky Pig. I have been wearing the same red bowtie since 1935 and I believe it's time for a new one. I saw these while checking my blogs and they look dope. Would be awesome if you could hook a pigga up.
Tha-tha-tha-tha-tha-tha-tha-tha-tha much obliged.