Hats, bowties and more: How TN lawmakers decide to dress for the State Capitol
Reporter note: This is the first of a three-part series on the Tennessee State Capitol and style.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — When you see Rep. Antonio Parkinson (D-Memphis), likely the first thing you notice is his fedora.
“The hat has become the brand now,” he said.” People will know who I am with the hat on, but if I don’t have the hat on in Kroger, I can just walk around, no one says anything for the most part.”
A hat is literally in his Capitol headshot.
The idea came from when he lived in Nickerson Gardens, a government housing project within Watts, California. There was a gang there known as the Brims as Parkinson grew up. The gang mainly protected the citizenship from law enforcement brutality.
“They used to all wear fedoras,” he said. “That’s where I started from, and I’ve been wearing fedoras for as long as I can remember, to be totally honest with you.”
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Parkinson says, of course, he wasn’t involved with the gang and eventually, he found out his father wore them too.
He isn’t the only one with a unique sense of style.
Rep. Ryan Williams (R-Cookeville) always wears a bowtie, which is also in his headshot. It started when he worked for Ralph Lauren years ago.
“I found a box in the very back corner that had dust all over it and I was cleaning out the stockroom. I opened the box, and it was full of bow ties,” he said, laughing. “I said, ‘Well, what are these ties back here?’ Well, nobody wears them.”
The box had 17 bowties, and he bought it for $25. Williams says he still has all of them.
He’s joined in a bowtie by Sen. Bo Watson (R-Hixson), who (surprise) also has one on in his headshot. You may think that’s because of his name, but that’s not the case.
“My sister started calling me Bo when I was really, really little before I was capable of wearing a bowtie,” he said, laughing.
Watson started wearing one because he was a wrestler and he felt like it gave him a competitive edge because the wrestling community involves a lot of psychology.
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Once he graduated, he got a job in physical therapy and switched to a traditional tie. But it didn’t quite feel right, so he switched back.
“It just kept it out of the way,” Watson said. “That was the more practical reason for wearing a bowtie.”
But he was clear: He only wears natural bowties, not clip-ons.
“Just recently, I was at an event, and someone, I helped them tie their bowtie,” Watson said. “I reminded them that the beauty of the natural bowtie is in its imperfection, meaning that it’s not perfectly tied versus a manufactured tie which looks perfect every time.”
It isn’t always easy for every lawmaker though.
As one of the taller lawmakers, the biggest issue Williams faces in fashion is his height. He’s very lanky, and his wingspan is huge.
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“I have extremely long arms, so I can’t – probably like you, you could probably go and pick any suit off the shelf,” he said. “Doesn’t happen for me.”
Everything he gets has to be custom.
“If I want to get something to fit, I have to have it made,” he said.
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