Your own virtual butler

The Dinner suit team personally believe a self-tied bow tie really speaks volumes and as such we have pulled together a guide on best practice. Following is a visual and step-by-step guide on how to correctly tie a bow tie from scratch. If you are looking for info on how to tie a Windsor or Pratt knot then check out resource on how to tie a neck tie.

Tying a bow tie

Although more complicated than creating a cravat you shouldn’t be put off from buying and wearing a self tied bow tie. Simply follow these step by step instructions:

1/ Turn up your wing collar and place your tie into position around your neck so that the left hand side falls around 1.5 inches lower.
2/ Cross the left hand side over the right. Make sure the cross over point is close to the neck to give you enough room to make a bow then bring the left hand side up and under the loop.
3/ Fold back the section that falls below, so it doubles over on it-self, then pinch the centre where the knot will be.
4/ Hold the folded section in place and bring the other piece over the top.
5/ Bring the top piece down so that it lies directly in the centre of the fold.
6/ Loop the hanging piece back under, so that it wraps around the bow.
7/ Fold the top piece over as in number five. Then fold this back through the loop you have just created.
8/ Pull the piece through so that it matches evenly up to the under section.

There are multiple advertisers who sell bow ties online however no-one has a selection like Swagger and Swoon, in fact they have over 650 of them in all sorts of colours, fabrics and themes. You can see some example bow ties below.