Style File : Skinny Ties Round Up Wide Appeal

A 10-gallon hat, flannel shirt and jeans crowning spur-clad boots constitute the trappings of the American cowboy. Like his lifestyle, his working wear is the essence of simplicity. At week’s end, pay in pocket, the cowpoke adorns his neck with the simple bola tie before heading to town in search of a good time.

The bola (sometimes called the string tie) originated, as have most inventions, by happy accident.

About 40 years ago, a cowboy riding at full gallop--chasing a steer, of course--felt his Stetson begin to slip. His clumsy effort to save the hat resulted in its leather band being pulled down around his neck. Riding into camp, he was greeted with “Ness tie!” by his fellow cowboys.

Having stumbled onto a good thing, he patented his invention and paid several American Indians to make more of them. It’s now so closely identified with the free spirits of the American West that it was declared the official state neck wear by an act of the Arizona Legislature in 1971.

“They’re very popular,” says Ken Akers, store manager of Pueblo Spirit, a jewelry store in Phoenix, Ariz. “In fact, a good 10% to 15% of our business is selling bola ties.”

Styles include the bear claw (of Navajo design), raised bevel (round or oval in shape, resembling the large Western belt buckle) and the Zuni inlay (multicolored stones embedded in a silver setting shaped like an Indian kachina doll or eagle). Akers says the bear claw is the most popular.

But are the throaty silver ornaments the sole domain of boot-stomping males?

Gary Mathis, owner of Gary’s Saddlery in Placentia, doesn’t believe so. “I don’t think there’s any gender on them at all, unless you’re talking about a heart-shape design. Other than that, there’s nothing that’s really considered masculine or feminine about the bola.”

A jack of many trades, Mathis makes saddles and designs custom jewelry, including bolas, for his customers.

As to how they should be worn, there are no hard-and-fast rules. “Usually the guys wear them up a little tighter (around the collar) and the gals wear them a little bit lower,” says Mathis. “Nothing’s right or wrong. It’s whatever suits the individual’s taste.”

Already very casual, some bola designs have taken a frivolous turn.

Alexa Garell of Grant Boys in Costa Mesa says the store carries a bola with a animal motif. Rather than a jewel-encrusted silver bobble binding loose-hanging leather straps, a plastic Dalmatian serves that distinction. Hanging at the ends of the leather straps are two fire hydrants.

“This transcends the traditional bolas,” she explains.

Sounding a bit like Judge Roy Bean, Garell says finding a bola to fit a customer’s taste is no problem for his staff: “We try to put something around their necks.”