100 Days, 100 Ties

Bow Tie Week, the little brother of last year’s Bow Tie Fortnight, has come to an end. Many thanks to my great friend Dan Murrell, for keeping me in bow ties, and promising to keep me replenished as I need them. I’m planning Seersucker Week for the week after Memorial Day (if memory serves me that day), so I’ll ask him to send me another couple that would work with my suit or blazer.

My final BTdJ was another from Beau Ties of Vermont. These red hearts would be great on Valentine’s Day (or Hallmark’s creation called Sweetest Day), but why shouldn’t they come out any day of the year?

Over the weekend, I was able to complete a FSWT (Father-Son With Tie) combo. I went to a first communion after-party at the home of GWT alum Peter Reinhart. His dad Jack, looking dapper at 90 (which is a kid in the Reinhart clan…his father lived to the ripe young age of 110), posed for me. Love the paisley!

Just want to give a teaser now…keep reading over the next couple of weeks. There will be some big news on my tie future.

Thanks for reading…Brooke

Once again, I had police officers involved in my day, and once again, I was not a lawbreaker or victim. It’s the first Thursday of the month, which can only mean Leadership Evanston time! All of my classmates had the chance to talk about our experiences with our ride-alongs (or would that be rides-along?), and 4 of Evanston’s finest joined us for some role-playing. In three scenarios (domestic dispute, teenage brawl, traffic stop), we played the cops and they played the suspects. My very authoritative bow tie didn’t keep me from having my (toy) gun stolen. Oh, well, so there won’t be a late-life career shift into the law enforcement industry. Great job, Officers!

My Bow Tie du Jour is tagless, but I do know that it’s a Murrell Special. It’s a very cool orange and blue which, upon closer inspection, reveals itself to be an orange and purple tie. Intrigue, no?

After I sported my bow tie into domestic-dispute-scenario-battle, we had a speed-networking hour with more than a dozen Evanston organizations. Of course, I had to find some new Guys With Ties.

Art Mollenhauer is CEO of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Chicago. He’s an Evanston resident, and if this tie is any indication of his collection, he’s a great addition to GWT.

Another guy, another great tie…Jeremy Barrows is the Director of Development & Communication for the Evanston Community Foundation. He joined up for the speed-dating (as they put it)…

Thanks for reading…Brooke

Wednesday was a first for me…I got to ride in a police car. No, no, I did not break any laws, nor was I wrongly accused of breaking any laws. As part of my Leadership Evanston experience, I had the privilege of going on a ride-along with Officer LaShawn Cook, one of Evanston’s finest. She took me on a tour of her beat, and we even got to make a traffic stop (a lady pulled out her cellphone and started texting right in front of us. duh.). Contrary to popular belief, manifested in the movie Superbad, I did not get a chance to discharge a weapon or burn a wrecked squad car. Officer Cook was very patient with my stupid questions (“How fast can one go before he/she gets a ticket?” “Can I discharge a weapon or burn a wrecked squad car?”). Thanks, Officer Cook!

So, knowing that I’d be cruising around in a cruiser, did I change my Bow Tie Week responsibility? Of course (k)not! This orange number from the Churchill Collection via GWBT Dan Murrell’s collection may have been the first bow tie in that car, unless they busted some college professors for smoking the reefer recently.

I’m sure that folks who saw me riding along wondered what the hell that guy with a bow tie was doing in the police car, especially once you see the ensemble (that’s a tan blazer, not yellow, as my crapiPhone would suggest). That would have taken the whole ‘good cop/bad cop’ thing to a different level. ‘Snazzy cop/sloppy cop’ or maybe ‘good fop/bad fop’ come to mind as suitable replacements, should the mighty bow make its way into the uniform of our men and women in blue.

Wednesday was kind of a big day, and not only because of my brush with the law. We had our monthly Lawyers, Guns & Money (funny that I was dropped off by Officer Cook, who had a Gun) event at the Prairie Moon. I should always get more GWT at these events, but I don’t want it to be just about the camera. I did snag/snap attorney Michael Poulos, on one of his rare visits to LGM (he’s in the Chicago Bar Association’s orchestra).

After cavorting with the collection of lawyers and money folk, I was collected by Jenny and we headed to SPACE to see singer/songwriter Chris Pureka in concert. It was a fantastic show, and she even sported a tie. The crapiPhone may even give you proof, but don’t hold your breath. I swear she had on a tie.

Thanks for reading…Brooke

I only wish there were $200 attached to this post. But, perhaps there could be a way to attain some economic gain on here. Hmm, lucky for me, I’m friends with Billie Kershasky of Astor & Black. She and her buddies at A&B have come up with a contest (read about it, as well as a worldwide treasure trove of style tips, on their Style Log) in which the winner will receive an iPad.

Oh, how nice it would be to keep track of my TAW (Ties Already Worn) and my TTW (Ties To Wear), on an electric medium such as the iPad. I could take photos of the ones that I need to wear, and set a plan for which would be the upcoming Ties du Jour. Then I could just blog on the go. Plus, when my brand new, custom-crafted A&B suit arrives later this month (thanks for the fitting, Billie!), I can use the iPad to show it off, since I can’t wear it all the time (or can I?)…

Now that I’m done entering the contest, it’s time to get back to our regularly scheduled programming. Strike up the band! It’s Bow Tie Week! Not to be confused with Bow Tie Fortnight, mind you, BTW is more than just a condensed version of BTF, more than just a different third letter in the acronym. Oh, no, my pretty, it’s a harbinger of spring, even though it started 6 weeks ago. Bow ties, to me, are like shorts; oh, sure, bow ties are worn in the cold months, too, but they look so happy, so, well, spring-y.

My Bow Tie du Jour is from R. Hanauer, who have the very valuable domain name bowties.com. I bought this bow tie from Dorothy Coletta, a friend of mine whom I met through my friend Katherine Eiff (who gave me the George Washington tie that I adored so much even though she said it should be a part of Ugly Tie Week). [Exhale]. Dorothy used to own a clothing store on the east coast, and brought a lot of the merchandise out here when she moved. That reminds me, she had a couple of ascots; I need to try an ascot before 100D100T is history.

Well, I have a new category…Petrus Manach here is the charter member of the PADWT (Picasso’s Art Dealer With Tie). Petrus was an art dealer who signed Picasso to a contract in 1900 (ah, the Internet). This print was in my friend—and GWT alum—Todd Paul’s bathroom. No, I did not take a picture of anything else in there.

Thanks for reading…Brooke