Now this is a story, all about how Jonathan Roquemore’s life got flipped-turned upside down. And I’d like to take a minute, just sit right there, I’ll tell you how he found a unique textile for bow-ties in a town called Xiengkok.
Seriously.
Several years ago, (or so the legend goes,) “Swiss-based Texan Light- Anthropologist” Jonathan Roquemore traveled by plane, bus, pickup truck, and foot to a place called Xiengkok (between Laos and Burma).
In Xiengkok he spoke with local “Laantan” tribe which spun a special cloth. This cloth, knew he, was potentially the “ODB” of bow- tie material.
It was his knowledge of a certain cloth that led this man there, for the Lantaan produce a distinct weave for their traditional dress from locally grown cotton, woven in narrow lengths and twice hand dyed in indigo found in the Indigofera plants of Asia.
The man who made these scrolls of cloth thought Roquemore, the first “man of white pigments” he’d seen in “8 solar months,” was totally whack for wanting them. But Roquemore was a good dealer, and they made a trade.
Skip a few days ahead, and BAM.
The clothing people Srulirecht put their hands on this material and it turns right into bow-ties. Bow-ties from Xiengkok.
Designer: Sruli Recht
