The Emilia dress is the perfect party dress. It’s an elegant design and the standing collar with its giant bow will give your creation that extra flirty, feminine touch. And that bow? That's no ordinary bow.
Emilia Jurk
It’s a throwback to the end of the 19th century, when illustrator Charles Dana Gibson gave us the Gibson Girl, the personification of the feminine ideal for American women and girls at the time. And aside from her perfect hair, there was one element you saw on her time and again – that high collar with ribbons tied into a great big pussy bow. Not that long after, some of the fashion world’s titans, such as Coco Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent, reintroduced the pussycat bow to the contemporary fashion scene. Since then, that iconic bow – whether you call it a pussy bow, a tie neck, or a lavallière – has become a permanent fixture in the world of fashion.
In the beginning, the pussy bow was seen as innocent and purely decorative. The bow first got its name in 1934. A newspaper journalist thought this new collar looked an awful lot like the adorable bows tied round the necks of kittens. And that’s how the term – pussy bow – was born. Over the years, the pussy bow came to signify something else. When women started wearing them in the workplace, it became an integral part of their power image. Women weren’t sure how to dress in a professional environment, which is why they started looking for a women’s alternative to the men's fitted business suit, button-up shirt and tie.
These days, the pussy bow is still going strong as a symbol of woman power. It’s essentially the uniform to help you shatter the glass ceiling and enter the steely, relentless corporate world of men. When paired with the women’s power suit, women wearing a pussy bow radiate status and power. So, wear your bow with head held high.
Release your inner Gibson Girl and copy the ultimate pussy bow girls, such as Princess Diana, Mad Men’s power women, Peggy Olson and Joan Holloway, and Kate Middleton, Grace Kelly, and – naturally – your fellow Sewistas on the My Creations page.
