Photo by Edward Berthelot/Getty Images
We’re only seen a sliver of the spring 2024 runways and one thing is clear: We will all be wearing ribbons in our hair come next March.
Perhaps over the past few months you’ve been squirreling away a few ribbons from a floral arrangement or a gift with purchase—waiting for the perfect moment to use them. All that time, the humble ribbon had been slowly inching its way into the beauty world’s conscious.
It started earlier this year at Sandy Liang’s fall 2023 presentation, where select models had long, blown-out hair dotted with tiny, precise bows. The designer was married a few months later, where she rocked two different ribbon-adorned hairdos during the celebrations.
Now, the ribbonaissance is in full force. At Copenhagen Fashion Week, show goers ranged from minimal and coquettish to full on tied up in many, many knots.
For New York Fashion Week, the ribbon trend was given an edge. Instead of perfect bows, ribbons reigned free in may different forms. Hairstylist like Evanie Frausto started with designer Hillary Taymour’s eternal reference of “horse girl” while creating the hair at Collina Strada (equestrians are definitely a ribbon obsessed crowd) but toughened it up a bit through the presentation. Long pieces of hand-dyed chiffon were incorporated into three, four- and five- strand braids, creating a variation of lengths and colors on a single model’s head. “Can you razor that?” Frausto asks another hairstylist who’s busy at work braiding at the start of our backstage interview, keeping with the deconstruction and subtle chaos that are a hallmark of Collina Strada’s runway beauty looks. “There’s no symmetry to the look, just a lot of playfulness.”
Jawara at Peter Do’s first season for Helmut Lang did something similar. A handful of models were given strips of jersey to adorn their hair—which had been cut straight from dresses that were being sent down the very runway. And for Christian Siriano‘s 15th anniversary show, which was inspired by his childhood love of ballet, hairstylist Lacy Redway knew that only slipper pink satin ribbon would do.
Whether satin, velvet, or grosgrain (a favorite of Sarah Jessica Parker), the beauty of this trend is the ribbon doesn’t have to be a decadent hair accessory to tied into a perfect miniature bow—be it something you just found lying around the house, tore off the hem of a dress, or bought from the fabric store, it’s open to interpretation.
This article was originally published on Vogue.com
