by 2023 will not be remembered as the year the Titanic cruise submarine went missing, or even the year Maya Jama and Stormzy got back together. No, it will be remembered as the year we bowed out. Because every time I think we have finally hit the summit of the bow trend cycle, where it is certain – surely – we have grown sick of the bow-ification of hair, clothes, nails, technology and beauty; we find yet another thing to bind. On TikTok the #bows had more than 1 billion views (no kidding); street clock weather John Lewis has seen an online search for “pink ribbon” quadruple.
“I’m like a pie of ribbons, picking them up whenever I find special ones at a local craft store or gift wrapping, and stuffing them into my dedicated ribbon bag,” says style influencer Luvyute , who regularly posts her bow-embellished outfits. 108,000 followers “Sometimes I add a bow to something so unnecessary it’s almost ridiculous, but that’s the point, it’s just about being cute and doing things for yourself.” Who says his fans are equally obsessed. “I get asked all the time where I get my ribbon and drys,” she says.
She’s not the only one dabbling in the absurd, with the latest TikTok trend encouraging creators to tie bows to random objects like wall beams, ice cubes, TV remotes, crickets and even sertraline bottles. With over 11,000 posts already participating in the trend, the bow is at its best late stage – a fitting tribute to a year where the dominant motif took over runways, red carpets and Instagram OOTDs.
Case in point: across both autumn/winter 2023 and spring/summer 2024, fashion month circuit bows were heavily involved in a range of collections, including Miu Miu, Simone Rocha, Sinead Gorey, Commes des Garcons, Selkie, Sandy Liang, Max Mara, Moschino and many, many more. This year too, celebrity donors like Gen Z mega star Olivia Roderigo have been particularly faithful in this regard – having worn a Fanci Club bow corset to the Driving Home 2 U premiere in March and a Chanel 1994 mini dress heavily decorated with bows. a few months later. Blackpink’s Jennie is hardly seen without a bow in her hair, or newfound literary girl Julia Fox, who wore a multi-faceted bow-themed outfit during her latest Down The Drain press tour.
Although the bow was historically seen as a useful accessory in the middle ages to hold garments in place, they have now become a symbol of all things girly, giddy and coquette. And perhaps the biggest bow influence ever, Marie Antoinette (who is said to have spent 20,000 francs on hair ribbons) being revived in TikTok editors of Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, Dilara FındıkoÄŸlu’s Dark Versailles Halloween and Gen Z obsessing over the Halloween ball. coquette obsession.
Now, you might be wondering why I’m an It-2023 girl figure of the 18th century, but after becoming the Queen of France at just 19 years old, she’s immortalized as the eternal teenage girl – and in the year of “good girl”, “girl dinner”, “hot girl walk”, Barbiemania and the Eras Tour – making her a hot commodity.
“The ‘girl’ trend was everywhere this year; from TikTok styles to Barbiecore going into summer,” agrees Natalie Dickson, Head of Women’s Luxury at FLANNELS, who found brands including Miu Miu, Commes des Garcons and Ganni, “doing the uber girly aesthetic in a way it does. i feel perennially cool and not too sweet,” performed very well this year. The rental scene has also seen a huge rise in bow-related clothing, with particularly strong interest in Saloni’s best-seller Camille Dress and Miscreants’ Crepe Cupid Dress with Bow-detailed gloves, which they re-penned another with “an increase in kitsch (and nostalgia) trends across TikTok and popular culture.”
“In the past it felt like we had to refuse to take anything “girlie” seriously, so I think wearing a bow – which could be said to be the pinnacle of “girlie” – is like a reclamation of girlhood,” a says 26 years. – of Jasmine’s age, who has been wearing a non-stop bow to her job as a corporate marketing manager this year. “Last year I couldn’t imagine giving a presentation at an important Friday meeting, because my superiors would think I looked young and naive. But now he trusts me,” she says.
However in the ever-viral echo chamber of TikTok, trends can quickly collapse in on themselves. “Often, in fashion and life, women have to separate themselves from their girlfriends for the sake of intensity in order to protect more intellectual pursuits, as if both cannot exist at the same time,” she says. fashion commentator Alexandra Hildreth. “Unfortunately, I think it’s gone from what started as an inside joke and turned into the welfare of women and their babies.” Hence the aforementioned insensitive, spoof trend currently doing the rounds on TikTok.
Then there’s the capitalist co-opting of anything viral, with girl-empowered catnip for commodity brands (after all, Barbie was just one big Mattel ad). In September, The Cut published an article that investigated the so-called “Bow Tax”, where nearly identical items (albeit with an extra bow) will have a huge difference in price. See Miu Miu selling a white cotton T-shirt for $650, and almost the same shirt with a black bow around the neck for $950. Or Balenciaga sold a pair of black shoes for $15, but those same shoelaces were knotted into bows and placed on a pair of silver poles for $250.
With these two things in mind, maybe it’s time to accept that we’ve reached peak bows and leave them at home next year. I can’t look at a piece of ribbon the same after seeing them tied around a phone screen displaying someone’s broken text.
