## Taking Back the Bow ###### *The history of the internet's favorite accessory* In seventeenth century France, Duchess Marie Angélique de Scorailles introduced the hair bow to western culture. Ornately stringing ribbons through her hair, she would mark a sensation lived as prominently today as it did then. This is not to say that France is where the bow began. In ancient Greece, bows were a unisex symbol of status, similar to the way Europe used them as indicators of wealth during the Renaissance. In Indigenous cultures, the bow has stood for centuries as a sign of tribal affiliation, as well as representations of heritage. In Japan, bows are worn in celebration during the springtime. The bow has existed for as long as we have, and its existence in the modern world is an amalgamation of everything that it was before, and has become. Through centuries, today’s culture has given it one word for all of its threads: girlhood. Bows have secured themselves as coquette’s most prevalent symbol. They’re everywhere; water bottles, keychains, belt loops, and of course, hair. Now a symbol of femininity as opposed to status, bows are being celebrated as a mark of women’s culture, community, and strength. Femininity itself has not always been well received, so it should come as no surprise that for a long stretch of time, bows have been looked down upon as a sign for what the oppressor does not want. There is something to be said for the way femininity is seen by the less progressive public: immature, juvenile, weak. Patriarchal society sets a strange double standard for how women should behave by both leaning into an (albeit male centric) cliche convention of womanhood, and straying from it in the same breath when that expression could give power to the beholder. Moreover, bows have been regarded as a different symbol only when it is convenient. Long have men, in equating expressions of femininity to childlike behavior, made bows to be something sexual and worth fetishizing. The unfortunate truth is that when men want to hold the power, these things can go hand in hand. Coquette was and is a wonderful savior in this struggle. The style was reinvented in the 2000’s, deriving from the Victorian era’s use of it. In the nineteenth century, coquette was used to refer to so-called seductresses who were feared by men. In recent years, it’s been reincarnated as a blanket for all things feminine that gives power to traditional, stereotyped womanhood that has so often been weaponized. In that same vein, bows were reinvented too. Being deemed coquette gave them a whole new meaning that supersedes anything that the male gaze could have created. Being a symbol for coquette gave women a simple thread to take back the beauty of simply being girly. Bows have taken over the coquette culture. It’s so rare to go through a tumblr tag, or a stylized Tiktok page without seeing them. They’ve become like a callsign for the ways we indulge our femininity, and embrace it. Other objects of coquette desire have similar effects: the pink, frills, and flowers. But something about bows seems to be universal, and the most gleaming way to identify pride in girlhood. Reinventing what the bow – and femininity as a whole – stands for, rids the double standard that has clouded it. It isn’t for the men who have used it to their advantage and then criticized it in the same breath. It isn’t for anyone, really, except for the hair that it’s going in. Or the clothes, or the water bottle, or the … pickle? Has anyone else seen that photo? Its priority is not to appease. It’s only to embrace. Coquette has created a whole new sense of community for women and all who indulge in it. It is still often misunderstood; criticism has risen in years past about the merit of coquette, what it truly represents. The rocky origins are not to be glossed over, but deserve the credit that it has brought together girlhood in a way that is accessible and free of any animosity. Yes, there is work to be done. But coquette has shown itself to be reinventing its own reinvention, adapting every moment to be as inclusive as the heart of it intends. Maybe it is silly. Hell, maybe it is just as consumerist as it sounds. But ultimately, the meaning of it can not be expressed in one phrase or even multiple. Bows are a symbol of reclaimed girlhood, so it only makes sense that the aesthetic is deeply tied to the individual. The fateful tie between coquette and bows is woven so tightly that there is no better of a symbol for the movement from which it came. Both have been demeaned because people fear what they don’t understand, or can not control. Both have reinvented themselves as something both personal and powerful. Both are intrinsic to the power that women, today, tomorrow, and always, will hold.

Taking Back The Bow