Q: I’m getting married in a few months, and my fiancée wants me to wear a tux. I don’t want to wear a bow tie, and I’m kind of over the whole David Schwimmer straight-tie look. What’s up with those cool crossover ties that Elvis and other guys with good hair used to wear in the early ’60s? Any idea where I can buy one?

A: I had a crossover tie myself, as a young juvenile delinquent. It worked best with an iridescent sharkskin dinner jacket. Why not revive it? It’s certainly preferable to pairing a tux with a long tie. Can we blame that fiasco on David Schwimmer? I’m not sure who started that bowphobic trend, but if any reader has intelligence on this weapon of mass delusion, please share it. As for buying the crossover—which is basically a bow tie that buttons, and of which I do approve if you have the swagger to carry it off—I’d say you should check better rockabilly-oriented thrift shops. The only unworn examples I’ve seen online are priced at $5.99, which seems suspiciously reasonable and raises my quality-control hackles.

June 2004

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