Muse Fest VIP Gala

Above, Mr Rinehart of Rinehart Realty picks out several bows to add to his massive collection. This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

It’s been a pretty phenomenal VIP Gala for Muse Fest at Gallery Up in Rock Hill. We’re proud to be citizens and entrepreneurs in this town.

Made By Ellie

I’ve started a new Blog over on Tumblr.  It’s a concept I’ve been thinking of for a while, and now thanks to the iphone, it is really simple for me to post and maintain.  It is a daily (hopefully) log of things I’ve made.  Of Course, there will be bow ties because that’s what I make most, but I hope to share lots of other things as well. And you never know, you may just see a picture of your custom order up here.  So subscribe, add to your reader, share with your friends and enjoy.

TO TIE YOUR BOW-TIE tee shirts!

Are you ready for this?

Yeah, I know. Awesome.  The best thing is that these are hand-screen-printed right here in Rock Hill, SC, by our man Jon Jennings of DogHead Studio and hand-drawn by our man Stephen Crotts of S. Crotts Illustration, again, right here in Rock Hill, SC.

This is obviously the perfect gift for your bow tie-hating hipster friend who wants to be ironic.  Or for your bow tie-loving friend who can’t quite pull the trigger on rocking an actual bow tie.  Or for the spouse of a knucklehead aspiring bow tie rocker who can’t seem to figure out the mechanics of getting the thing knotted up properly.  Better that he stares at you than a computer screen while he curses his way up the learning curve, right? Umm…right.

Run on over to the store and pick up your 100% Cotton navy blue TO TIE YOUR BOW-TIE tee shirt today.  As with all our handmade pieces of sartorial glory, allow up to 2 weeks for this to be produced and shipped.

**If you happen to be in the Boston or Charlotte regions this weekend, you can pick these up in person at the Top Shelf Flea and Muse Fest, respectively.

New in the Store: Cordies by Young Man / Old Man

We’re proud to unveil a new collaboration.  Are you ready?

Why should your survival precautions render you unstylish?  We know this is the perennial question of mankind.  So we’re offering an answer.

Behold: Cordies.

You’ve never seen a happier marriage of form and function.  You’ll also be the only person you see in your town wearing such a killer pair of sunglass retainers–that is, until Conor of Young Man/Old Man becomes rich and famous for his one-of-a-kind sartorial innovation.

I’m not at all an outdoorsman, and I rarely feel the obligation to be the hero-in-waiting, prepared with whatever Macgyveresque supplies would be necessary to save a small village.  What I care about is looking cool–or at least looking like I know I’m cool, even if, in fact, I look like a goob.  This is why I wear bow ties in a world where Madonna has convinced everyone that it’s ok to wear your underwear on the outside in public.  And this is why I’ll be rocking Young Man/Old Man’s collaboration with The Cordial Churchman on my Ray Ban Clubmasters whenever theres the slightest bit of photosynthesis happening in the plant kingdom around me.

I’ve always felt that the popular version of sunglass retainers (I hear they’re called ‘Croakies’?) just looks a little too–what shall we say?–collegiate for yours truly.  With undergraduate days almost a decade in my rear view mirror, I was looking for something a little like an upgrade from flip flops to bucks, from a Jansport to a leather satchel.  Cordies are just the ticket, I think you’ll agree.  And, of course, one is not excluded from taking a more grown-up sartorial stance in one’s undergraduate years.  It’s just that I wasn’t cool enough to have struck such a pose in my days at Kent State.

Before I undercut sales by sounding like a pretentious jerk-head (oh…it’s too late? I already have?), let me just lay these out on the table for you to admire.  Handmade.  Available in royal blue, olive, black, orange, and camouflage.  Hand-knotted in Carolina.  Lasts you till you lose it.  Might just save your life.  $18.