Photo and graphic by Noah Dawson
The following is the first in our new series of articles: The Amarillo Pioneer Fashion
It’s official: Amarillo City Council has ditched the tie.
The tie as a staple of a men’s suit has been around for about as long as Amarillo has existed, but it seems that the city has officially outlived the trend, with all five members of Amarillo City Council, including Mayor Cole Stanley, ditching the accessory.
The change in City Hall fashion was led by Cole Stanley. First elected to City Council Place 1 in 2021, Stanley made his mark on day one by being the only man on the council not wearing a tie. Eddy Sauer and Howard Smith, who spent their last two years on the council serving alongside Stanley, made an attempt to keep the tradition alive.
However, the writing was on the wall. In May, Stanley was elected as Mayor while fellow tie-rejecters Don Tipps and Tom Scherlen were elected to the council. Smith, who remained on the council through a June runoff, kept his tie until the very end. But, with the election of Les Simpson and Josh Craft, the end of the tie was official. Since then, the council has been unanimous: no more ties.
The members of Amarillo City Council weren’t the first to give up the tie. The New York Post wrote in 2016 that “the tie is dead,” while The Atlantic claimed that “neckties will never recover from the pandemic.”
Thank you for reading the last article in our new series of articles: The Amarillo Pioneer Fashion.