My Father Wore a Bow Tie

There is no shortage of topics that bloggers write about. Travel, sex, cocaine and peace rallies, fashion and lifestyle are major themes in the world of bloggers, not to mention food, drink and cat pictures. Politics drives many people to write online, as does the attempt to explain the wonderful world of marketing. Politics and marketing are less fun topics, food and wine are considerably more enjoyable, cat pictures are great — but travel, fashion and lifestyle are the real hype subjects. Beautiful images, beautiful people and usually beautiful blogs to match. Reason enough for me to take a peek into the world of fashion.

I have no intention of becoming a fashion blogger — I wouldn’t have the time for that — but curiosity keeps pushing me to look beyond the edges of my own blog, and in doing so I keep stumbling across genuinely interesting things. Some time ago, in a blog post, I described Frankfurt as the „luxury call girl among German cities,“ because I believe that an unusually large number of well-dressed people walk the streets of Mainhattan. It is now almost a year since I first ventured onto fashion territory, and in the meantime I have learned quite a lot about the subject.

In his day, my father wore a bow tie and a suit — a dress code that came with his profession. Though even then, the bow tie hinted at what today would be called „self-staging“ in fashion. Bank employees, lawyers and senior civil servants wore suits and ties; that was simply what was done. Some banks even had dress codes specifying, above all, what female employees were required to wear. My father’s bow tie was his fashion statement in the seventies and eighties — the ordinary necktie evidently struck him as too mainstream. That is a good indication that it need not be the entire look; a single accessory can be enough to set a stylish accent.

In our office lately, the pocket square has been appearing more and more frequently — an equally expressive element, because it allows its wearer to make a statement. A colourful pocket square with a dark navy suit is far more than a mere splash of colour.

My father’s bow tie and the pocket square share the same source, as far as I am concerned. My father acquired his bow ties during his frequent stays in London; the pocket square found its way into our offices through a colleague who also spends — or spent — considerable time in the former empire’s capital. What Paris and Milan are to women’s fashion, London seems to me to be for men’s fashion. A question I intend to explore further.

But back to men’s accessories. Neckties, bow ties and pocket squares were swirling around in my head when I came across a Frankfurt-based fashion blogger in the blogging world. Xenia writes about fashion on her blog — and she does so in three languages. At lifeandfashionexplorer.blogspot.de she shares her fashion thoughts in her native Russian, as well as in German and English.

So when it came to fashion, I thought I’d ask Xenia for her view of Frankfurt as a fashion city, and what she appreciates in terms of accessories on men.

Xenia, you’re a Frankfurt fashion blogger. A while back I described Frankfurt as the luxury call girl among German cities, because the density of well-dressed people here is noticeably higher than in other cities. Do you see it that way too?

Not really. In my opinion, you see far more luxury and far more well-dressed people in Munich, for example, than in Frankfurt. Frankfurt is the city of suits. No other city in Germany is home to as many bankers and lawyers. That is why, at first glance, you see so many well-dressed people — especially at lunchtime. But it is partly just the uniform.

It is often the small details that turn a well-dressed man into a very well-dressed man. The pocket square seems to me to be playing an increasingly important role — it is certainly pushing itself to the forefront right now. Would you agree?

Oh, absolutely. You are completely right. It really is the small details that make the difference: the belt, the bag, the wristwatch, the pocket square — the accessories, in other words. And the pocket square is one that many men underestimate. It offers the opportunity to individualise and complete a look. You don’t necessarily have to wear a pocket square with a suit or a tie — it works beautifully without either. With a casual blazer it even looks sexy.

Colour is also a topic in men’s fashion. Pocket squares and socks in classic colours only are out; colour is in. At a recent meeting I spotted orange, yellow and patterned blue on the feet of my colleagues. Is it important to stand out through colour? What effect does an orange sock with a dark suit have on women and female fashion bloggers?

Colour is good. For months I have been thinking about the fact that our men lack the courage to embrace colour. Dark blue, black and brown — that is the colour palette of the male wardrobe. The boldest men venture into red or green. That said, it is worth bearing in mind that professional dress codes often call for restraint. I rather doubt that a lawyer wears orange socks to the office. In their free time, however, even a lawyer is allowed to go colourful. When I see a man who has the courage to wear orange socks that actually work with his whole outfit, that makes my day. I smile to myself and think — we fashion bloggers are doing something right, and we’re encouraging people to be more adventurous offline.

Necktie or bow tie? My father wore a bow tie to the office almost every day — I simply don’t know him in a necktie. Bow ties don’t really suit me, I think. Does the bow tie work with a business outfit, or does it carry a whiff of the eccentric professor?

For me, the bow tie signals that the wearer is a self-confident intellectual who is not afraid to swim against the mainstream. And yes — the bow tie works and is worn with business attire. However, one has to handle the bow tie with great care. If it is not chosen to suit the type, the person or even the face, you can very quickly end up looking like a waiter — and nobody wants that. In that case it is better to reach for a necktie. As for the reputation of the eccentric professor — I once knew a university professor who was indeed very fond of wearing a bow tie. He was and is a very pleasant man, and by no means eccentric.

Frankfurt men — have the courage to be stylish! From Xenia’s answers, for which I am most grateful, the male world can take away the message that it is not only about the right suit or the fashionable blazer — the little details also contribute to making men’s fashion enjoyable. For the wearer and for the female onlooker alike. My father’s bow tie is now even more of an inspiration for me to pay attention to the small things. With a little more sartorial courage, Frankfurt may yet become more colourful and even better dressed than Munich apparently already is. There are certainly more than enough good clothing shops in Frankfurt. It is quite enough that the Bavarians are at the top when it comes to football.

This English version was created with the help of AI (translated from the German original) and may differ slightly from a professional human translation.