The allure of girly dressing goes well beyond bows

Girlish fashion is having a moment, but really, it never left. And it’s always been open to interpretation.

A guest wears bow tie in hair outside the Sandy Liang show during New York Fashion Week. Pic: Getty Images

Whether it’s the enduring reign of Barbie-core, the triumphant return of sweet buckled Mary-Jane shoes (worn by everyone from Zoë Kravitz to Margaret Qualley on her wedding day) and headbands, the cult following for brands such as New York label Sandy Liang and British label Molly Goddard with her froths of colourful tulle, girlishness is skipping back into trend.

Or more pertinently, as Kristina Stankovski, a curator in fashion and dress at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney notes, it never really left. In any case, ‘girly fashion,’ has always been up for interpretation, and subversion.

Model Gigi Hadid wears Mary-Jane shoes while out and about in New York earlier this year. Pic: Getty Images

“I think aspects of [girly dressing] are ever-present in women’s fashion. If you think about Rockabilly girls for instance, with their bobby socks and ’50s swing dresses, that ‘girly’ influence is a constant. We have an outfit by Akinori Isobe, the founder of the Baby, the stars shine bright label, in the Powerhouse Collection based on the Elegant Gothic Lolita look, which was popular with fans of ‘visual rock’ bands in Tokyo in the late ’90s. But it’s a somewhat subversive interpretation of dress and perhaps not one many of us would dare attempt,” says Stankovski.

This sense of subversion abounds in modern designers too. It can be found at Sandy Liang, whose collections include pinafores, bows aplenty, as well nostalgic fleeces, paired with utilitarian shoes such as Salomons. It’s there in the dark edges of Irish designer Simone Rocha’s ultra feminine collections and the off-kilter kookiness of Miu Miu (not to mention the pants-less trend the brand kicked off).

Anyway, as the Barbie movie reminded us all, women can be everything!

The ultimate doll! Barbie, as played by Margot Robbie.

Stankovski says there’s more to the girlishness trend than femininity, subverting it or otherwise.

“I suspect the appeal for some is that these design flourishes call to mind their childhood, or a feeling of carefree innocence that can seem far removed from present circumstances. The retreat to the warmth of girlhood is probably also driven by what’s happening in the world today. The world is beset by so many crises, from the Covid-19 pandemic to climate change, economic woes and war, it’s only natural for designer‘s to respond to it. In some cases, that takes the form of playful designs steeped in cultural nostalgia,” she says.

Nostalgia has long filtered through fashion. Who doesn’t want to look back with rose tinted glasses, and also reimagine the way we were? Anna Sui, whose grungy babydoll dresses in the ’90s are another prime example, once said of her inspirations, “My clothes are about nostalgia and memories of my own childhood.”

It’s a feeling shared by Sandy Liang. Her first big hit piece was a fleece inspired by her childhood wardrobe. But as Liang said in a piece for the New York Times, sometimes this nostalgia can have a downside.

A guest wears bow tie in hair outside the Sandy Liang show during New York Fashion Week. Pic: Getty Images

“I’m obsessed over something that I can actually never return to,” she said in the piece.

Still, the desire to reframe femininity and to capture the freedom and innocence of childhood persists.

For Celenie Seidel, senior womenswear lead, at luxury retailer FARFETCH, it’s about reframing how we think about girlishness.

“This trend is more about the reclaiming and re-contextualising of femininity — dismantling the fragility historically associated with a very soft and delicate aesthetic, and re-shaping it in a way that makes sense for where we are in 2023,” she says.

Listing brands such as Renaissance Renaissance, Ester Manas, Simone Rocha and Molly Goddard as her go-to for this aesthetic, Seidel says wearing it today, as a proper grown-up, is about picking and mixing.

After-all, the best thing about dressing as an adult is knowing your own style (and wearing what you want).

A model walks the runway for Sandy Liang during in 2021. Pic: Getty Images

“It’s about turning this aesthetic on its head a little I feel — extracting elements that make sense for your personal style and finding ways to work them into new combinations with existing pieces you own. For example, something like a delicate cardigan and slip dress layered over jeans with ballet flats takes this trend into a very wearable space,” she says.