Hair Bows & Ribbons

Girl and Taxidermied Bird, 1920s

Yellow Floofy Bow from a 1930s Valentine

The Gale Sisters

Trivia from IMDB: When June was performing with her twin sister Jean Gale and her other two sisters, Joan Gale and Jane Gale (also twins), they were billed as quadruplets instead of two sets of twins.
Ann Dvorak
Jeanette MacDonald
Fay Wray – a still from The Wax Museum (1933)

And the ultimate “beau” of the 20s herself, Miss Clara Bow! I like how she’s literally surrounded by floating bows in the background and berribboned on her head and shoes.

Bows are extremely cheap and very facile to work into your vintage wardrobe. I bought a ziplock bag full of scrap ribbon from a craft store for about $3.00 this past summer. There are about a million and a half different combinations of styles: Silky, matte, grosgrain, gingham, skinny, fat, lacy, double layered. I have a few multiples of the basics: red, navy, white, creme, lace as well as silly ones like canary yellow and blossom pink for special occasions. Personally, I like to match my red lipstick to my bows, but then again, I’m an advocate for matchy-matchy accessories.

As long as the ribbon is about two feet long and able to be tied around the circumference of the head, it will work! If you’re wearing a darker colored bow you can seal off the frayed edges with a match (just don’t burn yourself!), or you can use Dritz’s Fray Check to draw a line at the edge of lighter colored ribbon. Wait for the Fray Check to dry, and snip off the ribbon’s edge. Fray Check is a liquid plastic and tends to yellow over time, so don’t use it on heirloom ribbons or garments.

The secret to hair ribbon placement is such: Place the ribbon on your crown where you want it to lie. Tie the ribbon around your head and tie it at the base of the skull. Tie the bow, making large loops. Rotate the bow from the base of the skull to the top of the head, and you’re done! Experiment with wearing the ribbon at the crown, the sides and at different angles. Or, be like Hello Kitty and have it right smack above your left eye. In fact… I’ve been sacrificing some of my Hello Kitty plush in a ribbon project myself! This post will follow!

When storing your ribbons, make sure not to rumple them. I hang mine on a stand meant for necklaces, but by all means, clip them to a piece of string hung on the wall! To “iron” your ribbons, dunk them in hot water and lay them flat to dry overnight.

This is my favorite scene from Ghostworld.

Tags: 1930s, 1940s, bow, ribbon

1920s, 1930s, 1940s, beauty secrets | RSS 2.0 | Respond | Trackback |