Can a Brother wear a Bolo Tie and give a Talk at the KH? (page 2)

undercover

We had a brother move in from Texas and he wore Bolo ties and nice cowboy boots and western style suit jackets. He was as sharp dressed as anyone at the hall, just Western style instead of Wall St style.

But - that style didn't fly with the elders. He had to switch to "normal" ties and lose the boots and get dress shoes. The jacket was okay but he ended up switching it as well....it just looked goofy without the rest of the ensemble.

Again - it's about control. If you can make followers adhere to dress and grooming laws, you know that you've got them under control. If this guy had said, "I'm not changing my style" they would then know they had a trouble maker on their hand.

St George of England

I suppose I should Google BOLO TIE and find out what the fuss is about. Not the sort of thing we hear much about here in slepy ol' England.

I went to the DC once in Motorbike boots, jeans, Belstaff, polo neck etc. Nobody said anything, but then I wasn't giving a talk!

George

blondie

St George of England

Thank you, Blondie. Looks fine to me. Didn't know what it was called but have seen it worn by members of Country & Western group playing here.

George

OnTheWayOut

I don't come from Texas, but I have one that has a steer skull:

FlyingHighNow

I used to live in West Texas in the very early 80's. Urban Cowboy had made western wear a craze through out the country.

We got a brand new CO. And on Tuesday night, he gave a talk and scolded the brothers for wearing western suits, boots and ties.

Fast forward to Thursday. The CO gives a talk and retracts his counsel. The elders have explained to him that "this is West Texas and western wear is NOT a fad for us. We been wearin' this stuff for decades."

It was one of those picky things that went into my "things that make you go hmmm" files.

FlyingHighNow

The brothers wore this kind of western tie, too:

gubberningbody

Well John Saxon was pretty good, but I'm not sure he could give a talk wearing Bolo as a tie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU7fHO32XKI

steve2

In my local congregation, just south of the Yellow Brick Road, the brothers let me wear mascara with my beehibe hairdo but the tafeta shawl just had to go. These brothers were unusually kind-hearted. And I liked that they still referred to me as Brother Steve. I still get goose bumps thinking about it.

Palimpsest

Whenever we had questions of cultural dress in our congregation (it came up fairly frequently), the answer was always that you should never dress in a way that draws special attention to you, and wearing something not culturally "native" to the area is therefore unacceptable. (This discussion usually came up when African immigrants in our congregation wore elaborate outfits that our U.S.-centric congregation members didn't like.) So here in Connecticut, wearing a bolo tie would definitely be unacceptable.

Can a Brother wear a Bolo Tie and give a Talk at the KH?

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