Neckties & Bowties

A necktie runs down the shirt front. It sits well under almost any collar and it is what an office dress code assumes. A bow tie does the opposite: it stays at the collar and lets the jacket and shirt carry the rest. By convention it belongs with a dinner jacket, and it can look out of place under a business suit worn for a routine meeting.

The practical test is the event, not the garment. Black tie, a wedding where you are part of the party, an award dinner, a formal reception — these are where convention puts the bow tie. A client meeting, a presentation, an interview, a normal working week — these are where the necktie is the safer default.

Every colour in this collection is made in both shapes at the same price, so the choice costs nothing and can be made last. Order the same tone twice if the calendar has both kinds of day in it. For the full necktie range, including patterns and widths not offered here, see our Neckties collection.

Each bow tie here is offered two ways. Bowtie – Natural is the self-tie: you knot it yourself, so the shape is slightly different every time and never perfectly symmetrical. That small irregularity is the point — it is the visible sign that the bow was tied rather than bought pre-formed.

Bowtie – Clip On arrives already shaped. It sits level, takes seconds, and stays put through a long evening. It is the honest choice for a group that has to look consistent in photographs, for anyone dressing children or groomsmen, and for anyone who would rather not learn a knot the morning of the event.

Neither costs more than the other, and neither costs more than the necktie. If you want to learn the self-tie but need a guarantee for the day itself, order both — the same colour, two fastenings — and decide on the morning.

Black tie is the one dress code that still asks for a specific object: a black bow tie, in a finish that answers the lapel. A tuxedo's lapels are faced in satin or grosgrain, and the convention is to echo that facing rather than contrast with it. That is what makes the satin group here the one to look at first for evening.

Two details separate a correct black-tie look from a nearly-correct one. Colour is the first: black, not midnight blue — unless the tuxedo itself is midnight blue, in which case matching the suit is the better call. The second is which piece you actually reach for. Midnight Black Satin Tie is the direct answer to a standard black-tie invitation, and it can be ordered as the bow rather than the blade.

If the invitation says “black tie optional” or “creative black tie”, the constraint loosens. Dark Merlot Satin, Imperial Purple Satin and Smooth Olive Satin keep the sheen while stepping away from strict black, and each is available in both shapes.

A bow tie covers less cloth than a necktie and sits right at the collar. That is reason enough to choose the colour with the shape already decided: the tone you would pick for a long blade down the shirt front is not automatically the one you want concentrated at the neck.

Three ways to choose one. Match the party — take the tone from the wedding palette, the bridesmaids' dresses, or the pocket square. Match the suit — take navy, charcoal or grey, which sit close to the jacket rather than against it. Or contrast on purpose — a saturated colour against a black or white dinner shirt.

The live palette here runs across black, navy, charcoal and silver greys, reds from crimson to garnet and merlot, gold and champagne, purples from lavender to imperial, pinks from blush to cerise, sage and olive greens, white, and turquoise. The same tone is available in both shapes, which is what makes a mixed wedding party possible without a colour mismatch.

The hardest part of neckwear for a wedding is not choosing a colour, it is getting eight people to look like they belong together without looking uniformed. The workable approach is to fix the colour and let the shape vary: groom in a bow tie, groomsmen in neckties, or the reverse — same tone throughout, so the party is coordinated while the groom is still distinguishable.

That only works if the identical colour exists in both shapes, which is the specific reason this collection exists. Order the necktie width that suits each person — narrower for slimmer builds, wider for broader shoulders — and the bow ties in whichever fastening the wearer can manage on the day.

One planning note worth acting on early: order the full party's neckwear in a single order rather than in stages. Dye lots and stock move, and matching after the fact is harder than matching up front.

Every necktie here comes in three blade widths, and the choice is a proportion decision rather than a fashion one. Narrow, 2 inches — a slim blade that suits narrow lapels, slimmer builds, and a more modern, less formal register. Regular, 2.5 inches — the width that works with the largest number of jackets and is the safe default when you are buying without the suit in front of you. Wide, 3.25 inches — a fuller blade that balances broad shoulders and wide or peak lapels, and holds its own against a heavier jacket.

The rule that makes this easy: match the widest point of the tie blade to the widest point of your lapel. A narrow tie under a wide peak lapel leaves an obvious gap of shirt on either side; a wide tie under a slim notch lapel crowds it. Get those two measurements roughly level and the outfit looks considered before anyone examines the details.

Length is the other half of proportion — the tip should finish at the belt buckle when you stand normally. Collar spread affects which knot fits the gap, so it is worth settling collars and neckwear together.

Most bow ties look wrong for one of three reasons, and all three are fixable before you leave the house. The bow is too big — it should not reach past the outer edges of your collar. It is crooked or floating — the band belongs under the collar, snug against the neck, not resting on top of it with a gap showing. Or it is fighting the collar — a bow tie needs room under the collar points to sit flat, so a wing or spread collar carries it more easily than a tight button-down.

The rest is restraint. A bow tie is already the loudest thing on your torso, so the shirt stays plain, the pocket square supports the colour rather than repeating it exactly, and the tie bar comes off entirely — it has nothing to hold. That last point trips people up: a tie bar belongs to the necktie shape, so if you want one in the look, wear the necktie version instead. Both are here in the same colour, which makes that a real choice rather than a compromise.

The tie is one of three or four small decisions that read as a single impression. The one that changes the result most is the pocket square, and the most common mistake is buying it in exactly the same fabric and colour as the tie. Matched sets look bought; a square that picks up a secondary colour, or the same colour in a different texture, looks chosen.

Two things are worth knowing about how SARTORO ties are made. They are handmade from the same material used for suit linings, which is why a tie and pocket square can be colour-matched to the inside of your jacket through the Matching Tie & Square add-on when you order a suit. And any suit fabric in the range can be made into a tie — useful when you want the neckwear to come from the same cloth as the garment rather than merely near it.

Then match the metal, not the colour: a tie bar, cufflinks and a watch should agree with each other in finish. Tie bars apply to the necktie shape only.