JESSE TYLER FERGUSON DESIGNS A BOW TIE FOR THE TONYS
The Modern Family actor and his fiancé design a bow tie for the June 9 awards show to benefit LGBT organizations—and no, it doesn't feature Patti Lupone's face.
When it comes to looking dapper, Jesse Tyler Ferguson has the market cornered. The Modern Family actor and his fiancé, Justin Mikita, who sell a seasonal line of bow ties through their marriage equality charity Tie the Knot, just launched a limited-edition version for the 2013 Tony Awards on June 9.
“The producers of the ceremony asked us if we would want to design a tie in honor of the Tonys,” Ferguson tells THR. “It's a black- tie event, so we were excited about creating a bow tie to celebrate Broadway's biggest night. We both love theater so much and I have deep roots in the Broadway community so it seemed like a natural fit.”
Named after the late America Theatre Wing co-founder and the Tonys inspirational namesake Antoinette Perry, Ferguson's black silk necktie design has silver and blue stripes that pays tribute to the event's official colors.
“I didn't even know they had official colors,” Ferguson said. “We wanted to go with a classy, subtle design so we took one of our previous stripe patterns and changed the colors. We thought about doing a pattern of Patti LuPone faces but that seemed a bit ‘on the nose.’”
Past bow tie design inspirations have struck Ferguson in the form of Jack and Ennis, the two main characters in Brokeback Mountain who inspired a tie style of the same name, while a quilt hanging in Ferguson’s own living room inspired the Bernie tie. And recently, George Takei joined Tie the Knot as a guest designer. The beloved Star Trek actor teamed up with Ferguson and stylist Brad Goreski for a hilarious Funny or Die PSA about marriage equality.
Ferguson, who frequently sports bow ties from the collection on his hit ABC show (which wrapped up season four on May 22), can be seen next in New York Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park production of The Comedy of Errors, as well as with Mikita at the June 9 Tony Awards. It's anyone's guess as to who will end up sporting the limited-edition piece.
“We aren't into matching ties so we will draw straws to figure out who gets to wear it,” said Ferguson.
