Bowing In: Hot New Fashion Trend for Spring 2006

by Gail Kavanagh

Behnaz Sarafpour's simple linen sheath with black bows

Spring 2006 will be all wrapped up if you just add a fabulous floppy bow! Runways were flipping with the new spring fashion trend during New York Spring 2006 Fashion Week.

The only place you won’t be tying on one of these big bold beauties is round your neck – but you’ll want one to accent a plunging neckline or tie round your hips to go with the new longer skirt look.

Tip: Start by sexing up a spring dress with small, neat bows. Take a tip from New York designer Behnaz Sarafpour and add small black bows to a simple linen sheath. Good accent spots are pockets and waistlines. A fifties style cotton dress can have a row of bows in toning fabric added down the bodice.

But with bows, the New York spring message is – the bigger the better! Upsize your bow to attach to the bodice of a flowing dress, just under the bust, a la Donna Karan and Carolina Herrera.

Karan’s elegant flowing shirtwaist with the new longer skirt coming to just below the knee features a fabulous big black floppy bow tied under the bust, while Herrera featured a big black sash tied in a bow at the front on a black and white print dress.

Tip: For a bow that holds its shape, you need wide black satin or grosgrain, but with the most up to the minute look being a floppy bow, soft silk jersey or velvet would be better.

If you want to go all out on this new spring fashion trend, go Gipsy and tie a lush bow around your hips. Richard Chai and Vera Wang loved this look.

Richard Chai loved the Gipsy look with a lush bow on the hips

Chai’s sensational bow statement also incorporated the new hot spring color – think spring, think lilacs in the spring! That’s right, all shades of lavender, lilac and violet were seen on the runways, from the merest whisper of color to dark and bold.

Chai teamed his huge lilac satin bow with a three piece outfit in neutral colors, and it looked sensational set at an angle on the model’s hips. The off centering of the bow meant it could be worn with a jacket and skirt.

Wang reinvented the little black dress with puffy short sleeves, a below the knee hemline and a big black bow tied on the hips.

Tip: When looking at your own wardrobe, consider how a bow might help update your look, but don’t just throw a bow at something and hope it works. Study the runway fashions and see how the bows sit with the structure of the clothes.

For example, loading up your little black dress with fussy little bows won’t be as elegant and eye catching as Wang’s stunning single bow on the hips, but might be just the thing to lift a white or cream linen shift out of the doldrums.

Putting Chai’s magnificent lilac bow on your business suit might not work for the office, but dressing up the lapels with smaller bows a la John Galliano might be just the thing to feminize your workday look.

So now you know the message for spring fashion 2006 – take a bow!

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