Bow Ties Sydney, Australia - Le Noeud Papillon - Specialists In Self Tying Bow Ties


With over 2 million page views, Le Noeud Papillon's blog continues to provide lovers of bow ties with unique stories and content relating to menswear through interviews with industry icons and vignettes into topics relating to suits, shirts, shoes, ties, designers, weavers and much more.

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Thursday, July 28, 2011

Oskar Revisited

An old classic revisited. Available on www.lenoeudpapillon.com

Sevi - Fighting Octopi

This is a navy satin warp with red silk weft and features fighting octopi. It is a limited edition exclusive to Le Noeud Papillon Sydney and available on www.lenoeudpapillon.com .

Dame Edna Has Finally Arrived!

Introducing The New William B. Bow Tie From Le Noeud Papillon Sydney

Pretty cool no? This was requested by William Boehlke from A Suitable Wardrobe - so we named it after him. I think it looks brilliant. Sometimes you are an ideas man, at other times you are simply a conduit for other people's ideas. Nice thinking Will.

What Is James Wearing Now?




James Andrew really lives the life of Riley.... http://www.whatisjameswearing.com/

A lot of great content popping up at the moment.

The Style Blogger On Dressing Up Jeans & Nick Wooster









Dan Trepanier has done an excellent post on 'Dressing Up Jeans' which is I think is one of the most practical posts he's done and one of the few remaining approaches in this modern world to looking chic without having to don a suit - especially if you work in an industry where suits make you less approachable. I think this is some of Dan's best work. There is also a post on New York's fashion darling Nick Wooster. 

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Dashing Dandys



God is in the detail for sure....

Ben Pearson Loves His LNP Bow Ties


This is Ben Pearson from Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada. He sent us a photo of his Theodore bow tie. Thank you Ben. The Theodore, a limited edition, is still available on www.lenoeudpapillon.com and you can learn how to tie it here .

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Our Mailing List - We'd Be Delighted For You To Join


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The Sartorialist - Nice Work....

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Guerreisms - Now Showing

Guerreisms is posting some more interesting content on the men's trade fair shows as well as new street fashion content. Take a look. I particularly like the socks that are featured from Drakes . Incidentally, my A Suitable Wardrobe socks arrived from San Fran and they are probably the best pair of socks I have ever owned. 





4 New Designs To Be Released In 2 Weeks Time




Above you will see the result of a few new designs that we will be releasing shortly. The first is a tribute to Dame Edna Everage, the second is two fighting octopi and the third and fourth are striped mogador silks. If you are interested in securing one of these bow ties before they are released, please email me on bow@lenoeudpapillon.com. Alternatively, they will be available online in approximately 2 weeks time on www.lenoeudpapillon.com . Unfortunately the photos of these silks does not do the silk justice. They have turned out to be superlative silks and I envisage that they will sell quickly.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Wall Street Journal - On Bow Ties

We have been fortunate enough to be included in an article on the Wall Street Journal which appears this week in Europe and online.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304203304576447560795713374.html?mod=WSJ_EUROPE_LnS_MIDDLEPhotoFeature#printMode


  • The Wall Street Journal

A Return to Tying the Knot

Bow Ties Are Finding Favor as Day-Wear Accoutrements With a Younger Generation



By William Lyons

In the archives of Turnbull & Asser, the U.K. shirt maker and tailor known for dressing everyone from the Prince of Wales to a slew of James Bond actors, is a burgundy-colored bow tie. Made of satin, it once belonged to Sammy Davis Jr.—a sartorial keepsake from the Rat Pack era, when wearing a bow tie was the last word in Hollywood style.
BowTiesFoto0722
Illustration by Viktor Koen
"I suppose we really ought to put it on display," says Charles O'Reilly, the buyer for Turnbull & Asser who is responsible for purchasing the retailer's stock of brightly colored silks. Not that the tailor is short of neckwear; leafing through a tie rack replete with dozens of styles, Mr. O'Reilly picks out a royal-blue polka-dot number familiar to many as the preferred choice of Sir Winston Churchill. Due to a number of handwritten requests from customers over the past two years, the London-based tailor decided to reintroduce its Churchill Spot bow-tie range this year. "It's proved hugely popular," he says, adding that sales of bow ties at the company have increased as much as 25% in the past two years. Indeed, after years spent languishing in the evening-wear department, bow ties are finding favor with a new audience—a younger generation that takes its inspiration not from Oscar Wilde or Dean Martin, but from contemporary actors like Matt Smith of "Doctor Who" and musicians such as rapper Jay-Z.

Once worn with aplomb by personalities from Groucho Marx to Humphrey Bogart and the man who created James Bond, Ian Fleming, bow ties are no longer only paired with the smart suits or velvet smoking jackets favored by Davis and Churchill, tailors say, but with more casual outfits like polo shirts, sweaters and, in some cases, vintage tweed jackets. Evidence of their rising profile in the contemporary world of fashion was seen in the spring 2012 menswear collections. Labels such as Roberto Cavalli, Gucci and Viktor & Rolf all featured them in their shows in Paris and Milan last month, while Alexander McQueen regularly includes bow ties, including a tartan design, in its collection.
"A few years ago, wearing a bow tie would have been perceived as something that was really nerdy and undesirable," says Barry Tulip, design director of Savile Row tailors Gieves & Hawkes, which has dressed Sir Noël Coward and singer Bryan Ferry. "But that is exactly why people are wearing them today, as it goes against the norm and in that sense it is very desirable. We have seen a real resurgence of bow-tie wearing driven by a younger, more popular culture."
That view is echoed by Nicholas Fugler, director of retail at Jermyn Street tailor New & Lingwood, suppliers to Eton College, the private boys' school attended by Britain's elite, including Prime Minister David Cameron. "What we find in tailoring is a desire to bring back a look that hasn't been around for a while," he says. "Historically, the grandfather would wear something, the father wouldn't, but then the grandson wants to wear what the grandfather was wearing—it's an affection for something that has gone past, that was uncool for dad to wear but is OK for the next generation.

"I would say in the last three years we have experienced a 20% increase in bow-tie sales each year," he adds. "The renaissance is accompanied by a new technology-inspired preppy look, accompanied with narrow-fitted trousers, sleeveless tank tops, checked shirts, tweed jackets and, it seems, polka-dot bow ties."

Part of the bow tie's appeal has always been its sartorial efficiency. For around £35, one can purchase a handcrafted, woven silk tie that doesn't dangle in hospital patients' faces, get caught in doorways or peppered with the remnants of lunch. Designers say they can also be immensely flattering, as a bow tie sits symmetrically on the neck, throwing attention on to a person's face.
Nicholas Atgemis, proprietor of Sydney-based bow-tie boutique Le Noeud Papillon, says the roots of the bow tie stretch back to Croatian mercenaries who used cloth to tie their shirt collars shut during the Prussian wars. In France, the aristocracy followed, wearing silk neckwear they termed cravat, from the French word for Croat. The bow tie in its present form dates back to the 19th century. In his book "Gentlemen: A Timeless Fashion," Bernhard Roetzel says bow ties descended from the neckcloth—a square cloth folded into a triangle and then tied into a bow, which men wore until the late 19th century. The present shape hasn't changed much since 1870.

"At the beginning of the 20th century, there were a lot of bow ties being worn by storekeepers and just everyday people," says Mr. Atgemis. "Slowly that dropped off. Then, for a long time it was reserved for people in the medical profession, intelligentsia and musicians. As time progressed further, little hubs of bow-tie-wearing places emerged, such as the southern states of America, where they continued to be worn for a long, long time.
"From the 1960s onward, people stopped tying them and began to buy pre-tied ones. But now I find people want to tie their own bow ties again, as there is something very nonchalant and also idiosyncratic about tying your own, as everyone gets a slightly different knot at the end of it."

At its simplest, tying a bow tie is creating a knot—as straightforward as tying your shoelaces, except that the ribbon is round your neck and you cannot see it. But once mastered, designers say that tying a bow tie can be as quick and easy as a necktie.
Creating the perfect look requires looping the silk around your neck, leaving the longer end on your right-hand side. With a few swift moves, the longer end should be crossed over the shorter side, flipped underneath and then threaded through to the center. The shorter end should be folded horizontally, while the longer end is placed over the top before pulling it through the loop at the back, thus creating the distinctive knot. Various pulling and shuffling creates the knot to the desired style.

To a certain degree, the size of the knot depends on the style of the bow tie. Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack favored a slim batwing look, compared with a wide batwing—what some designers refer to as the Charvet cut, after the exclusive French outfitters. The style favored by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was a diamond point, while actor Cary Grant preferred a straight edge.
For those who cannot tie their own bow ties, there are plenty of clip-on or ready-tied versions on the market, including those made from satin and velvet. Although it is deemed the ultimate in panache to wear a tie that one has tied oneself, Mr. Fugler at New & Lingwood says there are no steadfast rules. "I know of people that buy two bow ties—a ready-tied version and a loose one which they keep in their pocket. At that point in the evening where everyone is a bit more relaxed, they nip out and put the loose one through the collar at the back so it is hanging loosely from either side of their open neck, which is the old Bond look, creating that after-hours, evening chic. But I don't think people should worry too much. If you are tying it yourself, make sure it is a little disheveled to personalize the look."
For some, bow ties may never move from evening wear to day wear, but tailors say the recent boom has had a trickle-down effect, fueling sales of traditional menswear styles, such as the polka-dot pattern.
"I don't think you have to be brave at all to wear a bold, spotty-colored bow-tie," says Mr. Atgemis. "That was, after all, Winston Churchill's trademark. The image of Churchill is synonymous with a navy-blue polka-dot bow tie and he is someone who most of us consider a man who was respectful of tradition but in terms of fashion was also out there all the time."
Write to William Lyons at william.lyons@wsj.com

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Gilly Hicks - An Australian Themed Spin Off From An American Company


My girlfriend swears by Gilly Hicks , especially their fragrances.

Gilly Hicks is an Australian themed spin off from Abercrombie and Fitch. It is funny that they call things after suburbs here that they obviously like the names of. Suburbs such as Woollahra (a gentrified old money suburb of Sydney) and then Kirrawee (a suburb in the Sutherland Shire which is dominated by industrial estates, factories and bulk goods stores). Then there is a model called 'Nowra' a beautiful coastal town 4 hours south of Sydney which is known for its ice addicts and skateboarders. Then 'Mona Vale' (a surfing beachy kind of suburb in Northern Sydney) and 'Potts Point' which is the closest thing we get to New York in Sydney. These stark contrasts are amusing but personally I am so happy to hear that Americans will know a little bit more about our city - I just hope they don't think that the fragrance Kirrawee is something which warrants a pilgrimage to the source or they might be disconcerted.

Regardless of whether the employees of Abercrombie and Fitch did their homework - or whether they should be allowed to use the word 'Sydney' when they don't have a store here - I don't care - because my girlfriend says they make great products and she has the shits because they don't ship their perfume internationally to Sydney. Unfortunately, Gilly Hicks 'Sydney' perfume can only be bought in the United States....

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Il Gattorpardo - A New Bow From Le Noeud Papillon Sydney

Il Gattorpardo was inspired by a tiled floor on the set of the Lampedusa manor house in the movie 'Il Gattorpardo ' (1963). This fantastic cinema remake starring Burt Lancaster still does not even come close to the original manuscript written by Guiseppe Di Tomasi Lampedusa of the same name. Recently, Lampedusa has become a topic of conversation with swarms of North African refugees clambering to it's shores in the wake of uprisings in Northern Africa. See more about Lampedusa here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lampedusa

Buy the bow online at www.lenoeudpapillon.com

Friday, July 15, 2011

Albert Thurston - Braces For The Purist




Albert Thurston braces are available online on http://www.albertthurston.com/categoryfast2.cfm?catid=1 - I would definitely recommend taking a look at these. They also have clip on buttons for the non-purists who want to join the club - well priced too.

A Suitable Wardrobe Is In Fact An Online Store

It is funny that as blog readers we love consuming information people offer us for free but seldom then look at the products they sell behind the blog. Such is the case with A Suitable Wardrobe which is an online haberdashery coming out of San Francisco, where it's owner, Will Boehlke, carefully chooses each of the items he puts for sale on his store. And, what is remarkably interesting about the way he sells is that he is totally not concerned with the branding, but focuses wholly on quality. I don't know another online retailer that does this - in a world of branding this is quite a refreshing quality to have. 

Whilst some of the prices of items are out of my reach - there are some excellent buys on there if you take the time to trawl the categories of products. If you get a chance, take a look 


Wednesday, July 13, 2011

One Of The Greatest Comedies - Dr. Strangelove
















Buy it here: Amazon . Kubrick's masterpiece is as enjoyable now as I am sure it was when it was first created. There is something so endearing about Peter Sellers that I was so shocked by 'The Life And Death Of...' because I could not believe that someone who seems so approachable on screen could be so monstrous at times in real life. 

The thing that jolted me and reminded me of Strangelove the other day was that we were watching a Discovery Channel documentary on Jack Unterweger, the Austrian serial killer who murdered his victims by strangulation. When they interviewed one of the investigating Austrian police officers (Max Edelbacher) he had the exact same voice as Dr. Strangelove when he spoke English and for about an hour I was wondering where I had heard that voice before.... Peter Sellers as Dr. Strangelove! It was hilarious. Sellers is so brilliant at this role play - and the interview with Edelbacher only served to remind me of how good he was at his craft.

 I loved it so much that I am going to include the video below so you can reference the two for yourself. Go to 41 seconds in this video and 7mins34seconds.