Saccharine or subversive, satirical or self-infantilising? This symbol of girlhood has been on a journey, from the industrial revolution to TikTok
When an individual French fry is being wrapped in a bow, filmed, and shared on the internet, it is a sign that something strange is going on with an age-old symbol of girl- and womanhood. By the end of last year it wasn’t just chips – everything from ice cubes to gherkins, toilet rolls, golden retrievers and a bottle of antidepressants were being prettified, neatly packaged with a single bow and posted on TikTok, where, in some cases, they would rack up millions of views.
It was a satirical conclusion to a year in which we arguably reached peak bow. But the wave never crested. As a trend analyst told the New York Times in September, after a bow-infused New York fashion week: “If you had asked me if we reached peak ribbon two months ago, I would have said yes. But it’s still going.”
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