While It bags, chunky gold rings and trendy trainers have dominated fashion’s must-have accessories for many years now, it seems a new addition is coming to the fore, courtesy of the rise in ‘coquette’ styling, in the shape of big, beautiful bows.

Once reserved for primary school shoes or cute-meets-kitsch knickers, bows are now commonplace on hair pins, shirts, skirts and bags, with many brands including the accents as a key part of their current collections. Looking to the runway, Simone Rocha’s bow-embellished tulle dresses, backpacks and jewellery were a staple part of her autumn/winter 2023 and spring/summer 2024 collections. Miu Miu made bows a small yet striking statement on almost every look of its most recent runway show and Moschino supersized pretty pink ribbons to make a striking statement.

So, it was perhaps unsurprising to see the neatly tied ribbon trend trickle down from the high end to the high street late last year. But what is unexpected is that the accessory is still popular and interest only seems to be growing. In fact, bows are such big business that online retailer Asos currently has a whole section on the site dedicated to ‘bow-tied styling’, while social media site Pinterest noted a 190% increase in searches for ‘bow outfit’ on the site, prompting ‘bow stacking’ to be a key trend in it’s 2024 Pinterest predicts report. 

But what is the reason behind this sudden big bow trend? Well, it seems to stem from the rise in uber-feminine fashion with Barbie pink, ballet pumps and mermaid-like sequins all also becoming key styling trends in recent seasons. We also imagine, from a psychological perspective, that the same could be said for bows as it was for what we coined ‘inner child dressing’, with Dr Carolyn Mair, cognitive psychologist, author of The Psychology Of Fashion and fashion business consultant, previously explaining: “It’s like these trends are giving us an opportunity to reconnect with that inner child.

“Dressing for our inner child allows us to escape (albeit temporarily) from the demands and responsibilities of adulthood in a playful way. This becomes even more desirable when we are facing situations we find stressful, eg the cost of living crisis, climate catastrophe and negative news,” Mair added. Although, of course, it could be that the pull of coquette styling is just strong enough to have us all reaching for velvet, silks and playful pink pattens.

If you too are tempted to try the trend, we’ve rounded up a handful of bow-themed hair pins below. Or, of course, you can always make your own. 

Images: Getty; courtesy of brands