T.G.I.H.A.F.

The Bow Tie

By Henry Allen, Washington Post Staff Writer

January 26, 1986

I wear a bow tie, even though John T. Molloy — he's the one who wrote "Dress for Success" — says that people don't trust men who wear bow ties, and think they're sneaky.

I don't believe Molloy. I associate bow ties with many things — Abraham Lincoln, chauffeurs, Pee-wee Herman, tuxedos, Arthur Schlesinger Jr. and the gags you buy at the magic store that squirt water — but I do not associate them with the word "sneaky."

Nor, I might add, do I associate them with the bow ties businesswomen wear, the floppy ones that are supposed to make them look dignified. Actually what bow ties make them look like is middle management.…