Trend Report: BOWS!

Graphic by Isabella Hang

We used to want to grow up. We snuck into our mother's makeup bags. We pressed our faces against the glass of the Apple store as we dropped the Barbie in our small hands. We traded our breakfast of Cookie Crisp for oatmeal and bottomless coffees. We began to feel embarrassed by sparkly clips and chunky headbands. I am in college now, and as I brush through my hair I find myself tying a ribbon onto the ends of my braids; and for a second…I pause. I pause and allow myself to feel. To feel nostalgia, and sadness, taste the bittersweet tears that roll down my cheeks. 

I walk to class, seeing baby pink bows tied on headphones, keychains, shoes, and the waist of jeans. I used to owe the trend entirely to the one and only Lana Del Ray: essentially the founder of the “coquette” aesthetic. The aesthetic odes to the Regency era with a soft touch of pastels and ruffles. But as I walk further, I realize that my generation is the founder. We are all in college, on the cusp of complete adulthood, waving goodbye for good to childhood. The sound “I’m just a girl,” on TikTok is massively popular, nodding to the bittersweet nature of girlhood. 

Bows are for everyone. They are for those who miss childhood. Those who wish to give their plain headphones a soft kick. Those who want their pasta noodles (yes folks have been typing ribbon around individual bowtie noodles), to look even dressier. They are a fun, lighthearted means of expression that communicates a certain softness and calamity. It’s a trend that Gen-Z can own and understand in ways others may not be able to. It’s a way to “let the light in” while feeling somber at the same time. 

The world of ballet and pilates is also embracing bows, adding one around a slick-back bun and ponytail. The world of makeup is adding bows to the tails of eyeliner. The world of fashion to sweater patterns and collections. 

Embrace your inner child today. I can’t promise a bow can heal it, but it might make you smile.