Behind the scenes of the LouxMac Legacy bow tie

Africa, what do you think of when hearing this word? We think of a beautiful continent with lots of different cultures, people and tradtions. See how we worked together with two well respected fashion icons from South Africa to create a unique bow tie and spread the word of the African gentleman feeling all around the world!

Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most-populous continent. With 1.2 billion people as of 2016, it accounts for about 16% of the world's human population! Due to colonisation by European countries in the late 1900s, Africa has a large diversity of ethnicities, cultures and languages. Because of neglect and suppression of the African culture by colonial regimes, some aspects of traditional African cultures have become less practised, e.g. discouragement of African customs, and prohibition of African languages in mission schools.

Since the last 25 years, the African culture is distinguishing its own culture more and more. As the African culture is so unique and beautiful we want to help bring it in the spotlights even more than what is already done. Designing and producing the LouxMac Legacy bow tie (a limited edition bow tie made of upcycled mahogany wood, read the complete story here) was something we loved to do!

See behind the scenes of the making of the LouxMac Legacy bow tie and decide for yourself:

Step 1 – Planning

When Henrik was reading the “We are Dandy” book during his holiday, he fell in love with the story and style of Tony Maake and Loux the Vintage Guru. We contacted them and discussed how we can cooperate and draw more attention to their beautiful story. We decided to let them, two important vintage fashion influencers design the bow tie.

Before, we already got into contact with a local school project in Tanzania thanks to friends who volunteered here. This is where the upcycled Mahogany wood of the LouxMac Legacy bow ties comes from. After this it was a matter of time to let this project start!

Step 2 – Designing the bow tie

When designing the bow tie the Dandies got their inspiration from Johannesburg itself. They have great inspiration from several places in the city and wanted to document this in 1 design. This is what makes them feel Dandy! Using natural material such as the Mahogany wood and leather makes them even more connected with the bow tie, they see and use these materials every day!

African Bow Tie
69 €

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Step 3 - Production

Making a bow tie is a time-consuming activity: Every piece of Mahogany wood must dry for a few weeks before it can be processed into a bow tie. Then we cut it into a bow tie, and with a special laser the Johannesburg skyline is burned into the wood.

Step 4 – Shooting

The photoshoot took place in Cape Town, besides working there was room for a lot of fun while cycling – The way a true Dandy wants to be seen ;)

Step 5 – Giving back

For every sold LouxMac Legacy bow tie, we donate €15 to the TH children’s foundation and give disadvantaged children the ability to go to school and work on a bright future. Tony and Loux went by the school while wearing the bow tie to show the children what project would be supporting them: All the children loved the bow tie! They were really excited as it was made from wood, a natural material which they only had seen as useful for making a fire to cook or to make furniture from it. They even wanted to touch the bow tie to truly believe it was real, and when they did they all began to smile... This is true joy!

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