“Let all the weight rest on the shoulders; The weight of the bow in the front will help balance the dress,” says Alberto San Juan, in the role of Cristóbal Balenciaga, to his right hand and romantic partner Ramón Esparza, played by Adam Quintero, in the miniseries Cristóbal Balenciaga that will be It premiered last January on Disney.
Bows, to a greater or lesser extent, whether in dresses, coats or accessories, have been protagonists of haute couture for almost a century and have now made space in street-style closets and have even begun their foray into the world. of makeup. Overtaking previous trends that ended up being transitory, such as Peter Pan collars, pearls, pleated miniskirts, ballet flats and the Barbie Core, bows have proven to be a heavyweight in the industry.
The ribbon pistol carries controversy per se. "While some see in the bows that naïveté and naïve femininity that has even made videos go viral on TikTok demonstrating against that image of a wrapped woman, putting Marilyn Monroe in the background in her bow dress while singing Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend, others highlight how Beyoncé, Taylor Swift or even the movie Barbie show that hyperfemininity has no negative impact on feeling like an empowered woman," explains Rachel Glicksbery in an article published in The New York Times, which also emphasizes how the price The average sale of vintage luxury items with bows on The RealReal platform is 16% higher than items without them. Laura Pitcher also states this in The Cut, estimating that, on average, a bow increases the price by about $100.
If we look at the last Fashion Weeks and those that have been most commented on online, one name monopolizes the headlines if we talk about laces: Simone Rocha, who has signed the latest haute couture collection for the enfant terrible Jean Paul Gaultier. Of Irish descent, as well as Chinese, Rocha has been one of the names most associated with punk romanticism of the last decade, something we have not seen since Vivienne Westwood.
Coming from a Catholic family, she has no problems embracing bondage and that seductive femininity that has always characterized Gaultier. Returning to pure and simple economics, the long Drip Earrings from Rocha cost approximately 260 euros, while with their little red bow the price rises to 360 euros. Today, without Cristóbal, Balenciaga sells earrings with bows made from shoelaces for 195 euros.
According to The Business of Fashion, whenever bows seem to be going into recession in haute couture workshops, they come back and catch the attention of designers and, subsequently, the consumer. It is not only Simone Rocha, who has made it one of her insignia or, as she has sometimes mentioned, one of her scarlet letters, but it is also the case of Schiaparelli and Loewe in their collections for this spring/summer and even for autumn, both under the leadership of British-born creative directors.
The reminiscences of Balenciaga, Dior and the maxi pink bow, grandiloquent and elegant avant-la-lettre by Yves Saint Laurent in the eighties, which Catherine Deneuve wore divinely on more than one occasion, continue to be that symbol of hyperfemininity that transcends the accessory to be the protagonist of the look, whether in a naive or even dark key. “I can't stop thinking about the 2023 Met Gala, dedicated to Karl Lagerfeld, another lover of bows, with the star of the very tough series Euphoria, Sydney Sweeney, wearing big bows in both her hair and her Miu Miu dress” , reminds us Joy Clemens, Styling teacher at Central Saint Martins.
“If you visit the Metropolitan Museum or the V in New York
This is what we see in hair accessories from Schiaparelli, Roger Vivier or Maria de la Orden's brand, Maison Ola, among many others. “Perhaps we are facing what we call zeitgeist, the spirit of the moment, in which aesthetic symbols that for years have been associated with a social class or a gender boldly cross all borders and become elements that denote rebellion. Of course, like Oscar Wilde, very elegantly,” explains Maximilian Dunn, professor of anthropology at the Central Saint Martins school.
In this case we are talking about a new masculinity that stars celebrities like Timothée Chalamet, Eddie Redmayne or Harry Styles, who have not hesitated to break the mold and wear bows on red carpets. For their part, brands such as Moschino, Comme des Garçons, Rochas and Richard Quinn, as well as Loewe and Simone Rocha, have put the bow on the catwalk in their men's collections. In our country the tandem Llamazares and Delgado have done it.
“For us, ties are a detail of strength that unites and gives movement. They allow the wearer to choose whether she wants it in a more minimalist way, almost like a bow tie, or wear it in all its splendor, turning it into a statement of intentions to express his creative universe. We believe that a bow makes the pieces lighter and gives them an allure of romanticism and strength alike. For this new season we combine two colors, black and pink, almost like YSL, which when contrasted create a balance overflowing with personality,” explain Fabricio Pérez and Jaime Martínez, at the head of the brand.
Those years in which streetwear was the masculine bet on the part of ready-to-wear are far away, then. “A tie says: I care a lot. I have tied it myself. I've thought about my fit. A ribbon is bold, feminine and unabashedly pretty. It's even a little silly. There has come a time when we are challenging ideas about masculinity and beauty, bringing back dandyism and encouraging men to dress to the nines. In a way, it feels like a statement, as much as an accessory,” said one of the journalists from the Australian edition of GQ magazine when analyzing dandyism outfits and encouraging men to dress in a jacket and pants finished with delicate bows. lilac in color.
The bow thus becomes an essential must this new season, both in its more modest version as a closure for blouses or as straps for a dress, as we see in Dior, Margiela, Carolina Sobral or Molly Goddard; as a neck tie in both silk and denim fabrics, from Loewe to Roberto Verino, Twinset and Maria de la Orden; or as the undisputed protagonist of the look, as we saw in the Schiaparelli show, an ode to the most evocative surrealism.
This option is precisely that of Barcelona-based Marta Martí, a brand that since its inception has wanted to make slow fashion its manifesto along with the role of craftsmanship. “I work with sustainable materials and fabrics. It's not about trends, but about building a collection in a respectful way,” the young designer tells Magazine.
For her, bows are “a way to give personality to the garment and make it more festive and even more joyful. Sometimes it becomes the aesthetic touch to reclaim the naivety of childhood that we all carry within us, but with avant-garde touches. For this spring, the bows in my designs go from being a decorative accessory to being the main role of the look, in a maxi version on tops and vests,” she adds.
As accessories, bows continue to adorn bags and shoes for another season. We must not forget our roots, the espardenya tied above the ankle. One more tribute to Yves Saint Laurent, who precisely devised the wedge espadrille with Castañer. Other options in a flat version are those from Dior or Hereu, another brand with a 100% Mediterranean spirit. Cristóbal Balenciaga already said it: "Prestige remains, fame is ephemeral."
