ADD ANOTHER STYLISH STRING TO YOUR BOW

I BLAME OLIVIA COLMAN’S funny, heartwarming Oscars speech, wrapped in a Prada bow, for my new obsession with drapey, romantic flourishes. The emerald green gúna, with a ruched tulle shoulder overlay that twisted into a whimsical tie and cascading train at the back, divided opinion on the night, when Colman won best actress for her leading role as Queen Anne in The Favourite. For a woman who prefers to make subtle points about her personal values via clothes, rather than just look the part, I thought it was a beautiful choice. Classic, a tad modest, yet striking enough to be memorable.

A colleague, on the other hand, asked me how on earth it took 300 hours to design such an eyesore. Opinions in fashion are contentious – especially when it comes to a best/worst dressed list? Style is subjective, a cross-section of tastes and opinions. What I consider elegant and chic, you might think is utterly ridiculous or boring.

Colman’s dress may not have stolen everyone’s heart but the delicately woven embellished bow on the back of it did, which brings me to the subject of this column

– bows. You might ‘aw’ at their prettiness and think grown women who wear them are a bit bonkers but designers are proving their sweet appeal in less childlike and fresher modern interpretations. Miu Miu, Marc

Jacobs, Rodarte and Emilia

Wickstead all made a case for the romantic knot. They injected flouncy tied bows of sizeable degrees into their collections, all of which are inspiring a dressing up etiquette for spring/summer this year. At the Golden Globes, Julianne Moore, Gemma Chan and Constance Wu walked the red carpet with the flouncy flourish sewn into their shoulder or sleeve. Then supermodel Candice Swanepoel stole the show at New York Fashion Week in a mega Rasario back bow before Alison Brie sold the idea to us at the SAG awards in a black, oversized bow that draped around her neck.

Let us not forget that the pretty knot has long been employed by designers to inject sculptural elements into simple silhouettes – from Lanvin’s monochromatic bow-tied dresses in the 1920s to Dior’s sashadorned dresses in the 1940s and Yves Saint Laurents risqué bowembroidered, thigh-high slit dresses in the 1990s. Nowadays the modernised bow on the red carpet is much more architectural. For spring/summer, it’s been sewn on to everything from headbands (my personal favourite) to folksy blouses, floral dresses, even hats.

But back to my reference point – Colman’s speech, which I’m still gushing over. It was honest and funny with a hint of endearing vulnerability. ‘Any little girl practising their speech at home, you just never know,’ she cried. Take a bow, Olivia. If you haven’t seen the footage, then I urge you to find it – with a box of Kleenex.

“COLMAN’S DRESS MAY NOT HAVE STOLEN EVERYONE’S HEART BUT THE BOW ON THE BACK DID”