The present hair ribbon fad feels rooted in escapism and a return to the frilly aesthetics of one's girlhood, and it looks strikingly different than the bow trend that I remember during the late 2000s and early 2010s. Today's bows are dainty and elegant, often made from a single ribbon, but the bows of my adolescence were bold, bright, and brash. We clipped them onto our half-up ponytails, attached them under our sock bun attempts, and wore them on headbands, like the accessory version of an exclamation point. The bows were not limited to just one aesthetic either; scene kids, girly girls, twee hipsters, pastel goths, and trill swag bloggers all wore the same perfectly shaped, rigid bows.
sources
https://justineskye.tumblr.com/post/17858234194/lmaoooooo-peep-taja-thoooooo-on-the-right-in-the
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/195414071303908191/
https://favim.com/image/366199/
https://favim.com/image/46217/
https://favim.com/image/2033053/
https://take-a-b-o-w-blog-blog.tumblr.com/post/12221546985
https://favim.com/image/2976099/
https://wehearthair.tumblr.com/post/7435247816
https://take-a-b-o-w-blog-blog.tumblr.com/post/12152675382
 |
| perhaps the most iconic bow girl of the 2010s |
 |
| wait I lied.....THIS is the most iconic bow girl of the 2010s, and probably the century |
The bows of the late 2000s and early 2010s had an uncanny resemblance to the bows of the 80s, which brings me to the first culprit of this earlier bow fad: the trend cycle. 80s maximalism was in big time, which extended past our clothes and into our hairstyles and accessories. Hipster cult brand American Apparel, which took a lot of influence from 80s styles, created what was probably the most popular bow style during this time.
 |
| bows of the '80s |
 |
| photos of the iconic American Apparel bow. I had a bright turquoise one that I wore once, then promptly realized that bows aren't my thing and never wore it again |
 |
| an...interesting...bow I half-heartedly DIYed after watching a bethany mota tutorial |
 |
| A failed sock bun bow attempt from 2013. Pretty sure I got that bow from gymboree when I was like 8 |
It helped too that the pop stars of the time were also into the bow craze. Lady Gaga's iconic hair bow will be forever cemented in my mind, but they were also sported by the likes of Nicki Minaj, Ariana Grande, and Katy Perry.
 |
| Let's be honest....Gaga owned the bow trend |
Bows also found their way onto graphic t-shirts, necklaces, tights, shoes, and yes, even tattoos. They were everywhere.
sources
https://favim.com/image/343278/
https://take-a-b-o-w-blog-blog.tumblr.com/post/13028121779
https://take-a-b-o-w-blog-blog.tumblr.com/post/13085209307
https://take-a-b-o-w-blog-blog.tumblr.com/post/12150480232
https://take-a-b-o-w-blog-blog.tumblr.com/post/12104838096
https://take-a-b-o-w-blog-blog.tumblr.com/post/12105748312
https://take-a-b-o-w-blog-blog.tumblr.com/post/11921048868
https://take-a-b-o-w-blog-blog.tumblr.com/post/11921800947
https://take-a-b-o-w-blog-blog.tumblr.com/post/12116728191
https://www.tumblr.com/take-a-b-o-w-blog-blog/12404213533
https://favim.com/image/114313/
https://take-a-b-o-w-blog-blog.tumblr.com/post/12078501626
https://www.tumblr.com/vintagelove2031-ashleysciacca/11709539541
 |
| A photo of my Rachel Antonoff bow loafers, a.k.a. my most prized possessions |
The bows weren't just limited to fashion bloggers and girlypops. Scene queens and alt internet kids were also bow fans.
sources
https://www.flickr.com/photos/39102228@N07/4903480930
https://www.flickr.com/photos/39102228@N07/3633756691/in/album-72157619764864013/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/39102228@N07/4329394114/in/photostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sacatonjune/3219426280/in/datetaken/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/thsnailandthecyclops/3087997396/in/album-72157594253347519/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sherbetone/2825230637/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/valuska/2355098739/in/album-72157594435327576/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/strawberrykoi/4620372389/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/strawberrykoi/4921737015/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/59486716@N08/6116782552
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sandypandycandy/808836515/in/album-72157600179751359/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/56415830@N06/6069916652/in/album-72157625481350674/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sandypandycandy/3929431356/in/album-72157600179751359/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/59486716@N08/5581480506
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lifesizepaperdoll/6191401378/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sandypandycandy/5401418267/in/photostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/strawberrykoi/4304758145/in/album-72157621460133715/
In addition to vintage fashion trend revivals, the bows can also be attributed to Japanese street style. With the popularity of FRUiTS Magazine, STREET Magazine, and TokyoFashion.com, Japanese fashion styles like Lolita, Gyaru, and Decora became a main source of inspiration for Western fashion—and all accessorized with the same type of structured bow that American Apparel would take inspiration from.
sources
https://tokyofashion.com/harajuku-style-girls-big-hair-bows-bright-colors-cute-accessories/
https://tokyofashion.com/japanese-lolita-in-harajuku-july-2009/
https://tokyofashion.com/japanese-hello-kitty-girls-in-harajuku/
https://tokyofashion.com/japanese-sweet-lolita-in-fuzzy-pink-slippers/
https://tokyofashion.com/jane-marple-6dokidoki-resale/
https://tokyofashion.com/shibuya-109-girls-in-striped-dresses/
https://tokyofashion.com/girls-with-bows-and-hats-in-shibuya/
https://tokyofashion.com/emily-temple-cute-girl-in-tokyo/
https://tokyofashion.com/japanese-girl-in-pink-purple-pastels-in-harajuku/
https://tokyofashion.com/peace-now-with-%6dokidoki/
https://tokyofashion.com/bow-tie-boy-vs-hair-bow-girl-in-harajuku/
Going back to the current bow trend, the craze for dainty pink ribbons actually reminds me more of the 2010s mustache obsession. Mustaches were part meme, part hipster mockery, and part fashion trend, and the same can be said about bows today. The latest tiktok fad involves wrapping pink ribbons around inanimate objects to make them "coquette," poking fun at today's girlbloggers. Meanwhile, fashion girls on the same app are tying as many ribbons as humanly possible into their hair, resulting in a style that looks like my childhood ballet bag threw up on some poor tiktoker's head.
A lot of people have been writing about what the current bow—what I like to refer to as the coquette bow—signifies, and it seems to have little to do with 2010s fashion and everything to do with childhood nostalgia and reclaiming girlhood for one's own. The comments section of Mina Le's video essay exploring the childlike fashion phenomenon is enlightening here. Many commenters discussed how bows helped them reclaim their femininity, embrace their inner child, and reject their internalized misogyny, which feels a lot more political than the bow-wearing of the 2010s.
That's not to say that the coquette bow doesn't have an ugly side. Its roots in the coquette (no shit) and balletcore aesthetics are interwoven in online communities that romanticize eating disorders, being a tradwife or stay-at-home girlfriend, and living a "soft life"—see the rise of the phrase "I'm just a girl" used on tiktok as a response to stress and hardship one faces in their day-to-day life. These trends paint a larger picture of girls retreating from the harshness of our society and finding comfort in their subjugation through embracing traditionally girly aesthetics, especially ones associated with their youth. "This flight into girlhood is not a neutral one. De Beauvoir writes that women display submission to men’s definition of themselves, become complicit in their own Othering and accept the limited privileges and comforts it brings," Helena Aeberli writes in her essay a girl is an open question. "In doing so, they infantilise themselves, reject the autonomy as well as the anxieties of modern life." The coquette bow runs deeper than a fashion statement, unlike the 2010s bow which was rooted in an 80s trend resurgance. It's a symptom of social restlessness, existential fear, and a disconnect with modern feminism that's causing young women and girls to flee into the aesthetics of their youth. With climate change, genocide, a mass-disabling pandemic, and a back slide on reproductive rights, retreating to the comforting helplessness of childhood and patriarchal subjugation seems obvious.
 |
| a moodboard for comparing oneself to a docile, innocent, bow-wearing creature as a way of removing your subjectivity and agency over your life |
This reminds that actually, the American Apparel bow was not the only bow present during the 2010s. During that time, the morute aesthetic emerged which paired frilly hair ribbons and dresses with American Gothic settings and self-harm imagery, largely influenced by tumblr icons Nicole Dollaganger, Allison Harvard, and Jess Woods. Similar to coquette, morute uses the nostalgia of girlhood to cope with trauma, mental health issues, and an uncertain world. Early morute images still get lots of traction on Pinterest and tumblr in coquette spaces and look as though they could have been taken today, even though they are oven a decade old. It goes to show how the trend cycle is accelerating, and that the underground of today is really just the mainstream of tomorrow.
 |
| photos from degeneratebabe 2012 |
 |
| photos from lambmilk-blog 2011 |
 |
| photos from coralpassion-blog 2011 |
The morute/coquette bow is a form of pain-induced escapism, while the American Apparel bow is a result of maximalist and retro fun, and I don't think we'll see the latter returning to the trend cycle soon. I mean, we're already at critical bow mass index, so I suspect that the coquette bow will reach its saturation point soon. As to what will be the next fad that replaces it, I can not know, but I do feel that those little pink hair bows are going to be one of the defining traits of 2020's fashion.
No comments:
Post a Comment