A bolo tie is a necktie made from a braided leather cord fastened with a decorative slide, finished at the ends with metal tips called aiguillettes. A Southwestern icon often crafted in silver and turquoise by Native American artisans, it is the official state neckwear of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.
The bolo tie is a twentieth-century Southwestern invention. It emerged in the American Southwest around the 1940s and was popularized by Arizona silversmiths, who turned the simple cord-and-slide idea into a showcase for fine silver and turquoise. By the 1970s it had become a regional signature, and it is now the official state neckwear of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.
Its parts are simple but distinctive. A braided leather cord passes through a decorative slide that holds the tie at the throat, and the cord ends are capped with metal tips — the aiguillettes, or tips — that give the bolo its finished weight and swing. The slide is the canvas, and where the artistry lives.
Native American artists made the bolo their own. Navajo smiths set the slide with a bold turquoise cabochon or cover it in stampwork; Zuni artists render inlay and needlepoint figures such as the Sunface; and Hopi makers cut overlay designs into the silver. The same techniques that define each tradition's bracelets and necklaces appear here in miniature.
Quality follows the same rules that govern all fine silver. Look for substantial, well-finished silver, secure stone settings, and a maker's hallmark, and judge the slide as you would a pendant or a buckle. A genuine artist-made bolo should be documented; every bolo tie at The Humiovi is authenticated and comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.
Versatile and unmistakably Western, a bolo can be worn formally or casually and reads equally well on a dress shirt or with denim. To see how each nation's style carries over to the slide, explore the Hopi, Zuni, and Navajo traditions.