Park also encourages people to embrace the simple romanticism of a hair bow: a trend kickstarted on the runways by Collina Strada and Sandy Liang that has swept through red carpets this year, whether on Hailey Bieber at the Met Gala or Margaret Qualley at Cannes. “I would recommend wearing a beautiful structured bow in your hair, particularly a satin or velvet one,” Park says. “It seems very timely for the holidays, and always makes me feel like a character in a winter novel.”
Every person featured in this article is well aware that bow saturation is at an all-time high. According to internal data from Pinterest, searches for “bow aesthetic” are up by 55% from last year, with a staggering 190% uptick for the phrase “bow outfit.” The bow backlash is brewing (though men who are anti-bow are clearly enemies of joy). Gohar, who began incorporating bows in her work a few years ago to great viral acclaim, admits she’s “a little tired” of the trend. “This is the issue with social media,” she says. “You get tired of your own ideas pretty quickly because of the speed at which images are shared. I’m ready to move on for now…”
Park says she finds it “a bit one-dimensional” when her work is lumped in with the coquette trend. But despite that mild frustration, she remains a bow stan. “I think when presented just right, a bow can hold a lot of power, too. Bows used to be gender-specific to aristocratic men, used as a status symbol worn in their hair. They’re very mysterious, actually. The bow seems like this ancient knot, perhaps even one of the very first knots to have ever existed. I’d like to know who tied the first bow.”