Taking A Bow: The Sweet New Trend For 2013

One of the most surprising sights in Paris last week wasn't the queue for the new 'Bohemia' exhibition at the Grand Palais, nor the Van Cleef & Arpels display at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, but something altogether more discreet. So discreet, a person could have missed it in the great, swirling circus-like display of fashion that is Paris in September and October. That is, until hundreds of these things popped up on the sartorial landscape, like little flowers blooming well before their season, and it became impossible to ignore them anymore. There were so many that I began to see them everywhere: on umbrellas and scarves; on the backs of trenchcoats; even on French cakes and pastries.

It was only when I walked past Lanvin's store on the Rue du Faubourg St. Honoré and noticed all the windows devoted to them that I knew a new fashion trend was in full force.

The look? The fresh, feminine, slightly whimsical but mostly elegant beauty of the ladylike bow.

Now for most of us bows speak of sweetness, of 1950's tea dresses and YSL gowns runched into glamorous folds with an enormous tie holding it all together at the decollatage. Bows are, by definition, pretty. They belong to the girl next door. Like this Kate Spade clutch, above. But the bows I saw in Paris were far from the sweet sixteen look we normally associate with them. These were BAD BOWS. These were bows that could girl a get into serious trouble.

Big BOW trouble.

Don't get me wrong.  I love a bow. There's nothing lovelier than receiving a present (preferably a big come-to-mamma one) with an enormous bow wrapped around it. Why do you think Net-a-Porter is so successful? The black-grosgrain ribboned boxes (above) are as luscious as the offerings hidden inside them. (Co-founder Natalie Massen has often spoken in business articles about how the boxes and bows were a deliberate strategy to win over new buyers.) And now that Christmas is coming, we've all got lots of opportunities to practice our bow-tying. Christmas is, after all, the bow-iest time of the year.

And so, as we head into The Season of The Bow (although judging by the vast numbers of twists and turns seen on stylish Parisians, it's already here), I thought I do a little post on the cute beauty of them.

Here's a bows-and-all look at the trend that's tying us all in a knot.
{Image at very top  from Australian Vogue}

Nicole Kidman looking bow-beautiful at Derby Day here in Melbourne last week. 

The frock was by L'Wren Scott. The hat was by Stephen Jones. 

It was easy to see how they were both inspired by another bow lover, the always gorgeous Audrey, shown here...

My Fair Lady

Cecil Beaton certainly knew how to take bows to new heights of glamour.

Kate Spade.

More Kate Spade.

And a little more Kate Spade.

Some Chanel, to give you a breather from Kate.

Chantal Thomass.

Oasap.

Chanel from 2009.

Dior. 

Love this.

Christopher Kane Spring/Summer 2013.

Chantal Thomass' Paris store.

Have you ever seen a more irresistible store?

Chantal Thomass' bow headboard.

More Chanel.

Bow nails.

Just fantastic. 

(Unsure of source; please email if you know so I can credit)

Grace Kelly and David Niven, Monte Carlo, 1959.

{Source unknown}

Original drawings for Chanel designs.

Valentino. 

A little frou frou from the 1980s. 

Could someone please pop a top on this mannequin?

Eyla. 

(I think? Please correct me if it's not right.)

Miss Katy Perry. 

Chanel.

J.Lo in Valentino.

Can you see the tiny bows at her waist? I love this outfit. The shoes are perfect too. 

The iconic image of the hot-pink YSL bow.

Dior Haute Couture.

More Dior Haute Couture.

Lulu Guinness.

Cuter-than-cute bow cookies, by Meg from Embellished Paper, for a party she designed.

And the cover of my most recent book....

I didn't even realised I was "on trend".

(Then again, I'm usually so involved in writing that I wouldn't notice a trend if you stuck a bow around it and slapped it on my desk!)

Garden Tour Update

Just a quick post to update everyone on the Garden Tour. I'd like to sincerely apologise that it's taken a week to finalise the very last details. My travel agent has been waiting to hear from a London broker, so I'm afraid the delay has been caused by something of a domino effect. (I can't get back to you lovely people without waiting to hear from my agent. The agent can't get back to me without hearing from their London contacts. And the London contacts probably can't get back to the agent without hearing from their people! It's starting to sound like a CIA operation to me.)

I've finished the brochure (which you'll love, by the way, as it's full of luscious images and very few words), but need the agent to supply things such as the booking form, travel and insurance advice, the cancellation policy, and so on.

I won't go into too many details here, as I don't want to bore those who aren't coming, or aren't interested in gardens, but will be sending an explanatory email to everyone tonight.

And as a compensation, I've found a beautiful gift to give everyone upon booking. You'll love that too.  Looking forward to seeing you all in London next May!

PS If you read my last post, please be reassured that I'm not a political person. My partner is and there's only enough room in our family for one political persuader. I usually sit firmly on the fence when it comes to politics. I just like to stir him up occasionally! So whether you're Republican or Democrat, it doesn't matter. It's just lovely that you've popped in to The Library.

Americain, The Cup, The Election & The Whole Stars and Stripes Shebang

Today is Melbourne Cup day, Australia's equivalent of Ascot in London, or the Kentucky Derby in the US. Victoria has a public holiday, which allows us all to dress up in our spring racing festival finery, drink lots of warm bubbly, and blindly bet on horses we know nothing about, save for their loud racing colours and their quirky names. (This year's line-up includes Voila Ici, Maluckyday, and Zabeelionaire, which is going to be hard to say as he comes down the straight.)

The favourite  is an American-bred, French-trained thoroughbred racehorse called Americain. Such a fantastic name, isn't it? Americain. And rather fitting really, considering much of the world seems to be concentrating on a certain Presidential election taking place tomorrow.

I don't know about you lovely Library readers, but we're very much into into politics in our family. Admittedly, I wasn't for many years. I shied away from it all after a bad experience interviewing a certain former Australian prime minister several years ago. But when your partner works in government and politics, it tends to crop up, like conversational weeds, over the dinner table. That's when the discussions go something like this:

HIM: "So honey... Have you see the latest news about Mitt Romney today?" (A certain someone is a Republican, but let's not mention names here.)
ME: "No. Do you mean the 'Binder full of women' comment he blurted out the other day?"
HIM: "That was taken out of context. And besides, the latest polls put Romney ahead by a margin."
ME: "Not if the women of America have their vote."

As you can see, we're a couple of old romantics.

One thing we do agree upon however, is that we both have a great deal of regard for the great, patriotic US of A. America is a vastly underrated country. So many of us jet off to Paris, London or Vietnam, but if you saw the Grand Canyon, Maine in summer, the mountains of Montana, Connecticut in Fall or Savannah anytime of the year you'd understand why Americans love their country. And why many of them don't want to travel. They don't need to. They have a small world to explore right in their own backyard.

And so I thought, seeing as it's the eve of the presidential election in the US, that I'd post some pix of some of our favourite American places. What about you? Do you have any destinations in the States that you're fond of?

PS My money's on Americain.

{All images by me. Copyright and all that. But they're not that good, so I don't expect anybody to repost them!}

Cape Cod, Massachussets. 

One of America's most beautiful summer getaway places.

Maine, in New England. 

One of the most spectaculars places during Autumn / Fall. (Which is now.)

Sag Harbor and Shelter Island, off the coast of Long Island.

Where the scenery looks like a Ralph Lauren advertisement.

Miami and the Florida Keys.

Occasionally kitsch. Mostly fantastic.