Hair bows are this season’s must-have accessory

Undeniably, when it comes to accessories, we’ve entered the era of hair bows. You can’t have missed them. We’ve seen them all over the red carpet, all over social and all over the hair of our fave celebs and influencers. For party season – and heading into 2024 – if you want to level-up an outfit with some extra style kudos, a hair bow is everything.

Wondering why they’re back on the map? Unsurprisingly, TikTok has a little something to do with it. The “preppy” and “expensive hair” movements have collided with the boom of hair bows. The Gossip Girl revival is coming at us from one direction, bringing back style inspo from the likes of Blair Waldorf. Separately, the coquette and balletcore aesthetics continue to recruit new fans, including Hailey Bieber. Not your vibe? Goth-girls are leaning into the Victoriana vibe with black velvet bows or silky black ribbons. Whatever your mood, we’re here for velvet, silk and organza hair bows added to ponytails and updos.

Of course, the hair bow obsession has been building for a while. Celebrities like Ariana Grande have been riding the bow trend particularly hard for the past few years. And the runways predicted an uplift back in February of this year when the accessory was worn under models’ eyes (yep, really) at Simone Rocha during London Fashion Week’s AW23 show. And it was followed up at Balmain in Paris where lead hair stylist, Sam McKnight, created “vertibows” or vertical bows out of the models’ hair. Likewise, the SS24 runways signify they’re here to stay, with corset bow hair seen at Christian Siriano.

And this years Met Gala gave us countless hair bow looks (more on that below), as it honoured former Chanel creative director, Karl Lagerfeld, who not only featured bow details heavily in his collections, campaigns and runways, he was known to wear them round his neck and in his hair himself.

Celebrity hairstylist Gregory Russell—the man behind Anya Taylor-Joy’s hair—says he loves bows as an easy way to dress up hair and add a ’60s feel. He loves a bow paired with a half-updo, a ponytail, or a low messy style to contrast the bow.

“If you’re worried about looking too styled, I would make sure there is a messy, effortless texture to your style to balance the femme feeling of a bow,” Gregory says. Try Moroccanoil’s Dry Texture Spray to add body and shine without crunch and Ouai’s Matte Pomade for a medium hold that adds texture and depth to the look. As far as bows go, Russell recommends brands like Lelet and Jennifer Behr, since they’re easy to use.

Here’s some of our favourite ways to wear the hair bow trend…

Bow and brooch braids

Polished blow-dry + bow

Red velvet bow

Sparkly bow

Side-parted sparkly bow

Supersized but sheer

Velvet bow

Silky ponytail bow

Wide bow

Bob + bow

Braid + bow

Preppy bow ponytail

Bow bun

Silky pink bow

Black organza bow

Balletcore bow

Marie Antoinette-style bows

Bow bubble braid

Half up half down bow

Old Hollywood bow

Rainbow

Cutesy bow

Pigtail bow

Tonal

Dinky baby braid bow

Side-parted

Multi-bow

Modern ballerina bun

Pink claw clip bow

Half-up and retro

Tinkerbell topknot

Oversized bow

Camila Cabello

The Daisy Jones & The Six star’s soft waves, half-up half-down hair and velvet bow is classic.