"Who-ed" is rocking that bow tie?

Does anyone  know the show Dr. Who?  It's on the BBC network and has been running off and on in England since the 1960's.  I haven't had the chance to really dive into the show but one thing I can tell you is that it must be good!

One of our good friends, Kristen Quintrall, enjoys this show so much that she made a music video about it!  It's call "Dr. Who-ed."  Her and her husband, Anthony Lavin, wrote the entire thing.  Anthony wrote all the music and Kristen destroyed the lyrics.


Kristen came to Lydia and I one day and asked us if we could help them with this project.  They needed a male to play one of the most recent Doctors for the video and they wanted to use our bow ties!!!  Luckily, we were able to help them in both ways.  The ties look amazing and it was so cool of her to give Horse&Carriage a shout out at the end of the video.  So, without further adieu check out the original music video "Dr. Who-ed" by Kristen Quintrall and Anthony Lavin.
Keep you're eye out for our ties on Kristen and on Anthony(the rapper).

Also, if you want to show her a little love, check out her other videos and subscribe to her youtube channel here:

Kristen's Youtube

Also Also, don't forget to check out our Etsy site by clicking one of the pictures on the side or click here:
Horse&Carriage Gentleman Shop

-Kevin for H&C

P.S.  Our little secret.  Lydia, Kristen and some other ladies are working on something really wonderful and hilarious that's about to drop very soon so be prepared for that!!!!

NFL DRAFT: National Fashionable League

Dion Jordan

So long are the days that bow ties were reserved for a certain class or a certain occasion.  We are at a really amazing place in fashion, one that everyone has a say and can express themselves in their own special way.  I don't know about you but nothing gets me more excited than when I see someone rocking a bow tie because it makes a statement.  It tells everyone around you that I'm here, I'm confident, and I'm ready to show the world what I've got.
What better place for that statement to be made than at the annual NFL draft. 

Cordarrelle Patterson

Every year the top college football players gather in Radio City Music Hall in New York City and get drafted to specific football teams.  Only the guys that will get drafted first, i.e. the best players, come to New York and get to walk out on stage and see their NFL dreams come true.  That's why I think it's so cool that these are the guys that choose to wear bow ties.  These men couldn't be at more of a precipice in their lives.  They have dominated the current level they're on but are getting ready to take a jump to the next, even tougher, level.  They have spent the last months showing all the teams in the NFL that they are the strong, athletic, charismatic, personable, not a liability to the team, and are a good investment for the next 10 years of that franchise.  Now that all the drills have been run, all the times tracked, all the interviews completed they only have one more way to show everyone that they are put together...and that's their outfit on draft night.  Maybe I'm putting too much into it but a powerful outfit goes a long way and nothing says power and confidence more than a bow tie. 

Darius Slay

So, next time you want to look and feel powerful and show others around you that you in fact have something to say, throw on a bow tie and let the world see it.  It's impossible to wear a bow tie weakly and I'll tell you why.  1)  Physically it straightens your posture.  By buttoning up your collar and tying a tight crisp bow tie around your neck, it makes you elongate your neck and point the top of your head towards the clouds.  You don't believe me?  Tie one on and then we'll talk again.  2) We're prideful as humans.  We love knowing how to do things that other people might not.  Learning how to properly tie a bow tie and then getting to flaunt it around for everyone to see makes you feel good.  fact.  3)  There is still some feeling of status involved with a bow tie.  Up until recently bow ties haven't been used in everyday life.  They have been mostly associated with high class dinner parties and weddings.  Well not anymore.  You can take that feeling of being dressed up and confident into your everyday life just by throwing a bow tie on over you jeans, collared shirt, sweater, and tennis shoes. 

Embrace who you are.  Show the world what you have to offer.  These athletes are the stars of today and tomorrow and they're not apologizing for it.  Join them!

-Kevin Andrews for Horse&Carriage

Bow Ties on Ford in '42'

I can't decide if the excitement I felt in the recently released film '42' was due to the amazing storyline, awesome performances or the shear plethora of bow ties on screen throughout the whole film! Harrison Ford, who plays Branch Rickey, the Brooklyn Dodgers executive who signed Robinson is not seen without a bow tie for the entirety of the film. Apparently Rickey "was a man who was passionate about social justice. He cared a lot about ethics and morality," explains Ford in a recent interview about his research into the real life sports figure. Fords character work was phenomenal. He explains in a recent USA today interview his

process; "He's a legend," he says[of Rickey]. "But that doesn't always work in a movie. Sometimes not knowing the actors makes it more realistic. I didn't want people to look and say 'There's Harrison Ford playing Branch Rickey.' I just wanted people to think 'That is Branch Rickey.' "

Fords performance was magical with his character work internally and with wardrobe, externally.  In researching the actual Branch Rickey, it is near impossible to find a picture of him without a bow tie around his neck (see inserted image right). What a gift for an actor to have that one statement, or piece of clothing to work off of from the outside in. I can imagine Ford standing in front of a mirror before each shoot, tying on a vintage tie (a "gentleman's" self-tie bow tie I may add) and preparing to take on the character with each straitening of the knot. I know that Rickey's style had to have played a huge role in the essence of character development for Ford.  Rickey was in the professional world (hence the suit) but had a sense of humor and vigor for life (insert bow tie), making his ensemble a direct reflection of his personality.

You see, a wardrobe may be just articles of clothing to some. To many, clothing is just a materialistic facade, a pointless "costume" to parade around in. However, I too like to see fashion as a gift. A creative outlet of ones individual expression. Although it may only begin to scratch the surface of who you are, it nonetheless becomes like the starting gate for the race you'll choose to run. I think we can take a lesson from Ford, and Rickey and begin to capture our own character from the outside in.

-Lydia Andrews for Horse&Carriage



Ford in his younger years still rockin' the bow ties!

To Bow or Knot to Bow?

I remember sitting down at a computer one year ago feeling so excited to pick out ties for my wedding.  For those of you that don't know me personally, I love fashion.  More specifically I love two things, ties and socks.  I think of all things I got to do for my wedding those were the two most exciting decisions for me, getting to pick out my socks and my tie.  So, with anxious anticipation I put my hand on the keyboard and typed "ties" into the search engine.  I was immediately inundated with 200,000 results from all corners of the internet.  That was a bit overwhelming and I really didn't know where to start.  So, logically, I just picked the top link that popped up.  When the site opened I was informed that there were 623 ties to chose from.  Some had dots, some had stripes, some were plain, some were plaid, some had animals on them, some had famous paintings on them, and some were made of duct tape.  So this got me thinking, if there are 623 ties on each of the 200,000 websites ...how in the heck am I ever gonna decide on ONE tie?!?  And that's where this whole thing started.  In the preparation for getting married I was so overwhelmed by the tie hunting that it took me three months to finally pick out the ties for my groomsmen and I.

Now, I've been happily married for 5 months and the exhausting tie search is something of the past.  I still buy ties every now and then and have a sweet collection of socks, but it's nothing that makes me break into hot sweats at night.  Until one night a month ago.  I was laying in bed with my amazingly gorgeous new wife asleep next to me when a light bulb went off.  Why do I hunt all over the place for the ties that I want when I could just use my resources and make them myself?  I didn't have a good answer...so I laid there and thought some more.  If I started a tie business what would I want from it?  I would want simplicity.  I would want versatility.  I would want something sophisticated and high quality but at a price that I could actually afford.  I would want something like they used to wear in the early 1900's with todays feel.  That doesn't seem ridiculous.  We could probably do that.  And as silly as it is, that's where Horse&Carriage began.  Laying in bed in the middle of the night with a million thoughts running in every direction.  One thought.  That one amazing thought caught hold and has blossomed into so much more.  My wife, Lydia, used to be in the design world so when I posed the idea to her she immediately jumped on the band wagon and we started running.

We're not at a place in our lives where we can afford to be starting a business.  We're not at a place in our lives where we need more things to pull our time away from each other.  And we're not at a place where we thought we would be starting something from scratch (other than our marriage).  However, we are at a place where we have nothing holding us back.  A place where a spark of artistic creativity is exactly what we're looking for.  And when that great idea comes our way we can't help but tie on the courage to see where the journey leads.

We can't wait for you to be on this journey with us.

Welcome to Horse&Carriage.