How to Tie a Bow Tie

Whether you’re finishing up your tux for a wedding or just doing your company’s TV commercial, you have to know how to tie a bow tie. It’s not something most of us do much, but luckily, if you can tie your shoes, you can tie a bow tie—it’s the same knot. Read on to learn how to tie a bow tie.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Drape the bow tie around your neck and under your collar and grasp the ends. The end on your right should extend about 1.5 inches lower than the end on your left.
2. Cross the longer end over the shorter end. You should cross the tie near your neck so that the loop around your neck is just large enough to work with. You don’t want your bow dangling in front of your chest.
3. Pass the longer end up through the loop, forming a simple, loose overhand knot.
4. Grasp the loose (dangling) end that is now on your right and fold the end back to form a loop that is pinched between your thumb and index finger. Essentially, you want to double the right side of the tie (which originates on the left side of your neck) over itself to make the loop. Hold this loop, which will be the front loop of the completed tie, between your shirt’s collar points.
5. Drop the left end of the tie (the one which you passed up through the loop and which originates on the right side of your neck) over the front of the bow.
6. Form a new loop with the left end, just as you did with the first one. While still holding the loop you just made, double the end over itself.
7. Position the new loop behind the front loop facing the opposite direction. Pinch the loops together with your thumb and push the second loop into the knot behind the front loop. The tip of your right index finger will be in position to push the end of this loop into the hole behind the front loop. On one side, the loop will be on the front. On the other, it will be on the back .
8. Tighten the knot by pulling the two loops together and straighten the bow tie. To loosen or untie the bow, pull on the tails

Tips & Warnings

• Now that you're puzzled by the step-by-step, think about your shoe. The bow tie knot is the same knot that most people use to tie their shoes. Imagine your head poking out of your shoe like your ankle does. Now imagine tying your shoe from below. That's how you tie a bow tie.
• Like tying a tie or a shoe, tying a bow tie requires practice and patience, but once you get it down it’s actually quite easy.
• Make sure the tie fits and that it feels comfortable.
• Avoid clip-on bow ties.