Bow tie A bow tie was a type of men ' s neck tie in the shape of a bow . They could be either pre - tied or self - tied . The Doctor wore a bow tie in many of his incarnations , though the traditional bow tie was most often associated with the Second and Eleventh Doctor s . The Second Doctor ' s bow tie appeared along with his other clothes when his first incarnation regenerated with the TARDIS ' assistance . As with the rest of his clothing , the Second Doctor ' s bow tie was untidy and crumpled ; it was a small pre - tied dark tie with small spots , attached to his collar with a safety pin . The Third Doctor wore a variety of bow ties towards the latter part of his life . These were chosen to match his various outfits , and he had several in different sizes and colours . ( TV : " The Three Doctors " , " Frontier in Space " - " Planet of the Spiders " ) Sir Keith Gold , the Executive Director of the Inferno Project , was also seen to wear a bow tie . ( TV : " Inferno " ) The Tenth Doctor usually wore a necktie , but on some occasions dressed up in formal wear , including a bow tie . ( TV : " The Lazarus Experiment " , " Voyage of the Damned " ) The Eleventh Doctor adopted a bow tie along with the other clothes he stole from Royal Leadworth Hospital soon after his regeneration . ( TV : " The Eleventh Hour " ) He was extremely fond of his bow tie and would often insist that " bow ties are cool " in spite of his companions ' disagreement . ( TV : " The Eleventh Hour " , " Vincent and the Doctor " , " The Lodger " , " A Christmas Carol " , et al . ) He also included a white bow tie as part of his formal wear , seen during Amy and Rory ' s wedding ( TV : " The Pandorica Opens " ) and on the occasion of his death . ( TV : " Let ' s Kill Hitler " ) During his period of retirement after losing Amy Pond and Rory Williams , the Eleventh Doctor changed his outfit to something more befitting his sojourn in Victorian London , but put on a bow tie again when spurred back into adventure by Clara Oswin Oswald . ( TV : " The Snowmen " ) He wore both classic and clip - on bow ties and told Alice Obiefune that he wore clip - ons because someone had once tried to use his bow tie to throttle him . ( TV : " The Bells of Saint John " , COMIC : " The Friendly Place " ) Before his regeneration into the Twelfth Doctor , he removed it and let it drop to the floor as a sign of his upcoming change . ( TV : " The Time of the Doctor " ) Having received a glimpse of his eleventh incarnation through his psychic paper in 2724 , the Second Doctor described his bow tie as " rather fetching . " ( AUDIO : " Shadow of Death " ) By contrast , when the Fourth Doctor witnessed a statue of his future self , he expressed disbelief at his future incarnation ' s choice of attire . ( PROSE : " The Roots of Evil " ) The Twelfth Doctor also dismissed bowties as " embarrassing " . ( TV : " Time Heist " ) However , upon seeing Adrian , a teacher at Coal Hill School with a fashion sense reminiscent of his previous incarnation , complete with bow tie , he responded more favourably because he was under the mistaken impression that he was the boyfriend of his companion Clara Oswald , taking pride in that she was dating a man resembling him . ( TV : " The Caretaker " ) He would later compliment Osgood on her " nice bow tie " , which she took to wearing after meeting his predecessor , to which she quoted him " bow ties are cool " . Osgood ' s bow tie would later be disintergrated along with herself by . ( TV : " Death in Heaven " ) However , it later became unclear if the Osgood that got disintegrated was the actual Osgood or her Zygon double ( TV : " The Day of the Doctor " , " The Zygon Invasion " / " The Zygon Inversion " ) , which meant the bow tie could have been part of a camouflage and not actual clothing .