Now & Then is an occasional series that delves into the cyclical nature of trends.
The very first thing Betsey Johnson designed had a bow on it.
It was 1964, and Johnson was a 22-year-old Mademoiselle editor. She had started making her own clothes as an art student, and decided to whip up a few sexy low-cut knit sweaters to sell around the office for extra cash.
“But the secret was: I put a quarter-inch velvet ribbon around the neckline and a tiny bow,” Johnson, now 81, recalls. They were so popular that she had to quit her day job.
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“I have three checks in purple ink from [actress] Kim Novak,” Johnson says. “She loved this bow sweater.”
Johnson has never stopped putting bows on, well, everything: choker necklaces made of pantyhose in the 1960s, strapless party dresses in the ’80s, even grunge-era minis in the ’90s. “They’re timeless,” she says. So, she’s amused to hear that the bow is having a moment, with young designers such as Sandy Liang, Simone Rocha and Tanner Fletcher adding the adornment to pantsuits, purses, barrettes and more.
Add to that list Nell Diamond, the 35-year-old founder of Hill House Home, famous for its romantic “nap dresses” and hair ribbons. She launched Hill House in 2016 and takes inspiration from British school uniforms, Pre-Raphaelite art and Johnson herself. (She has a few of her vintage 1990s dresses.) The two recently connected over Zoom to discuss all things bows.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
When did you first wear a bow?
Betsey Johnson: I think I was born with a bow! All the little girls in my classic Connecticut little cornball hometown wore bows. But the pair of bows that I wore practically every day were the bows in my tap-dancing shoes. They were the old-fashioned kind, with the two grommets and the holes that you thread your big ribbon through.
Nell Diamond: I would say the same: I’ve been in a bow since birth. I grew up mostly in London, and bows were a very big part of the quintessential English toddler look. And I loved them from a very early age. Also, I have a lot of hair, and so I liked to adorn my hair in many ways. I liked headbands. I liked bows. I liked little flowers. I couldn’t get enough.
But I had some dark eras in my life. Whenever I’ve turned away from bows, things were not going well for me. And if I put a bow back on, things would start suddenly going well again.
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Johnson: That makes sense.
Diamond: Right after college, I worked in finance.
[Johnson gasps in horror.]
Diamond: One of the hardest things for me was getting dressed to go into the office. I felt like I was putting on a costume every day, because I had to wear these dull colors. I couldn’t wear my cat-eye makeup. I wasn’t supposed to wear dark nail polish, jewelry or my bows. And I think that was a huge reason I left, and I went to business school and I started this company because I felt so unable to do the basic things I needed to do in a day when I felt like I was in somebody else’s skin.
[Johnson nods vigorously.]
I think there’s this idea that bows are juvenile, because they are so associated with femininity and girlhood.
Diamond: I was a child in the ’90s, and there was this idea that feminism and archetypal femininity aren’t paired together, when in fact they’re the most beautiful pairing in the world. I remember having a teacher tell me — yell at me — for wearing glitter eye shadow and tell me no one will ever take me seriously.
But my parents were amazing and told me my actions are what define me — and not what I wear. My mom always said, “You have to let your freak flag fly and be who you are.” Now, as CEO of a company and having raised all these rounds of venture capital and going into these board meetings, I purposely go the most extra I can in those circ*mstances.
Johnson: I get that. Take the ’90s and go backward to the ’40s, and it was the same thing. But with all my dancing and costumes and makeup, what I really wanted to be was a Rockette, but I was too short!
But to me, bows were very sexy, very glamorous. Betty Grable, Lauren Bacall. Lingerie. My dance teacher was the most amazing costume designer, and she always believed bows should work. And that was a design element that I always believed in. I never put a fake bow. Bows had to always work, because that’s the beauty of a bow.
Diamond: I totally agree that bows should be functional! I think that that’s actually their origin: It’s a very functional thing to tie something, and then you make it pretty [by finishing it off with a bow]. You need the [string or ribbon] for a reason, but that doesn’t mean it can’t look amazing at the same time.
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Do you see something subversive about bows?
Johnson: One of my favorite dresses I designed with bows was very punk. It was black and had all these tiny bows, beautifully tied, like all over the place. It was like a cactus. Janis Joplin wore bows and ribbons in her hair. It’s rock-and-roll.
Diamond: I love looking at NCAA athletes who wear bows in their hair when they’re competing. I love seeing Olympic skiers with little bows on each pigtail. I love people who challenge our expectations, and I think that there’s a really beautiful thing about doing that with bows.
Johnson: Bows can be completely timeless and made out of anything, from plastic to net to tulle. I love tulle bows — wispy, thin tulle or stiff tulle. It’s fun to experiment with what can actually make a bow.
Diamond: Have you seen the trend that’s going around that’s like people putting bows on random things? Like in our office, we put bows on Diet co*ke cans sometimes.
Johnson: Oh my gosh!
Diamond: Or tie one on the fridge handle or on a lamp. I love this idea of, “Why not?” Why not just pop a bow on a random thing? Make your Diet co*ke beautiful.
Johnson: That’s brilliant. I think we need bows right now — especially in these times we’re living in. People want uplifting. They want fun. They want playfulness. We need more buttons and bows and beads.
Maybe that’s why bows are so resonant now.
Johnson: I don’t know, but I’m happy about it. I love bows.
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