Barbaro By Mail

In an even more personally touching chapter in the unfolding relationship between our "Derby Line" tie and the late great champ Barbaro, I recently received a lovely postcard from the horse's owners, thanking me for the "kind words" about Barbaro in our Late Spring catalog. I'd just like to say in return that the pleasure was all mine, and I too am delighted and honored to have been a little part of the positive things that have come from his all-too-brief life.



The postcard is a reproduction of Nick Martinez' magnificent painting Barbaro (check out his site nickmartinezart.com for more).

Remembering Barbaro

Several weeks ago, a fundraiser celebration was held at Delaware Park for the late Barbaro, the beloved winner of the 2006 Kentucky Derby. A painting by Nick Martinez entitled "Fearless Vision" (inspired by Barbaro's fighting spirit) was unveiled. The painting itself was donated to The University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine at New Bolton Center's "Laminitis Fund" (Laminitis is the illness the claimed Barbaro and Secretariat), and proceeds from a limited edition of prints were also donated to the fund.


Several hundred FOB's (Fans of Barbaro) were in attendance, and I've received numerous reports that more than a few of them were sporting our Derby Line bow ties and neckties. This news was great to hear - striking a personal chord for me, given that we'd just recently introduced the tie in our Late Spring catalog as a tribute to Barbaro. We'd received many requests from our Beau Ties Guys for a "Derby" tie (especially since Barbaro's victory last year), and I'm glad to hear that this tie was not only a hit with them, but moreover that it became part of a great cause and many memories of a noble racehorse.

Are Bows Taking Off Again?

It's always nice to open up one of the many fashion magazines I read and see a bow tie gracing a young gentleman on the first page. Actually, it turned out to be not one, but several bow ties that put in appearances in a multi-page spread from Polo in a recent GQ.

Of course, I'd prefer to see a ten page Beau Ties Ltd. ad spread, but this sort of extravagance is still a bit out of reach for our little homegrown Vermont company's ad budget. But, as the saying goes, there's no such thing as bad publicity, and to see Ralph pushing bow ties for spring can't hurt us.

Given that reading the trades was proving so enjoyable, I continued thumbing through other publications, only to discover that other designers were showing bow ties this season as well. DNR reported that the LA runways (at the LA Fashion Week, not LAX) were graced bow ties from Christian Audigier and Nautica.

Are these all signs that bow ties are taking off again in '07? We're always accepting advance bookings here at Beau Ties Ltd...

The Way I See Things

You've probably noticed from my "profile" picture (and any other pictures of yours truly) that I favor aviator-style glasses. I developed a taste for these back during my days working at Bausch & Lomb.

I recently received an interesting piece of correspondence from one of our catalog subscribers, wherein it was suggested that my glasses must be several decades old and that I should perhaps consider switching to a more current style to woo younger customers...

Being a man who has stood by the fashion statement of bow ties through thick and thin, I'm not one to lose sleep over the trendiness quotient of my eye wear. In fact, the glasses I'm pictured in are current, new frames - and I went to rather great lengths to obtain the "vintage" aviator style I prefer. Anyway, who's to say the aviator style won't be the next big thing in retro?

Brazilian Beauties!

No, this isn't post about sunbathers in Rio di Janiero... Got a great picture from one of our customers in Brazil. Turns out he had his picture featured on a billboard advertising the UNIEURO University in Brasília, where he is the Dean of Research and Graduate Studies. Professor Barros is also well-educated in matters of style, as his bow tie attests to.

My Snowy Valentine

In case you haven't checked out the national weather in the past few days - here's your intrepid correspondent's front line report from Vermont regarding our Valentine's Day nor'easter. (Finally, a proper snowstorm like we used to have!)

Beau Ties as it appeared from the parking lot on Thursday morning. Decided I'd be going in the back way.

Good thing this drift was a few feet to the right of the back entrance...

...But not so good if you were hoping for a view out of this window! (That's a bit of sky peeking through in the upper right corner).

The drifting wasn't quite as dramatic at the cafeteria door...

Here's a view out the front door over towards the shipping entrance. Looks like there's still some shoveling to be done!

Bloggers with class

I came across a nifty site (blogpulse.com) that let me explore the so-called "blogosphere" - an search for other bloggers writing about bow ties. While there weren't as many results for my searches as I'd hoped for, I found a few folks who'd recently become Beau Ties customers. Naturally, my curiosity was piqued.

Turns out both fellows are teachers (I've always suspected the smartest bow tie wearers choose Beau Ties). M. Sanford, a Canadian teaching French linguistics, was planning to wear his new ties with suits to lend "stylistic credence" to his "academic regalia" (I have to say I'm rather taken with his English linguistics...). The other gent, Fat Jack, had quite appropriately chosen our American Cursive and "wore it proudly with jeans and a sweater vest" as a "diversion from the biker me," as he puts it.


It's nice to know that bow ties are used for such disparate reasons in similar contexts - all part of what continues make to every day here at Beau Ties so engaging. Also, I was delighted to know that both fellows were happy with their ties: Thanks for your kind words, and links back.

Vive le noeud papillon!