Brooks Brothers 2010 bow blouse

We’ve had a few inquiries about the bow blouse and the bow that’s been such a favorite here at the organization. Not only does it hark back to the classic days of the housewife, it’s actually being revived this year by designers like Louis Vuitton for their Fall ’10 collection.

The bow of yesteryear had pointed ends, as opposed to the more modern squared tips. It’s virtually impossible to come across these, unless one goes to the “Vintage” section in Ebay, dig through Goodwill, or find an old pattern. Carolyn says it’s a snap to make your own, and she’s been gracious enough to show us how. Here it is:

Step 1. Measure
Take a clean silk or cloth ribbon (ones for gift-wrapping and crafts) and wrap it around your neck to tie a bow, making sure the ends are to your liking. Trim the ends (the shape of the ends doesn’t matter, we just want the length) and measure the length.

Step 2. Make a Construction Board (or Cardboard) Template
On a construction board-Poster board, trace a shape of bow you want as it would look, lain out on a flat surface. ADD 1/8 – 1/4 inch on the two short and one long side. The side on the fold – (i.e. the dotted A line – does not need a seam) This is for the seam allowance, depending on the material) Now, Draw that shape side-by-side on the cardboard and cut the cardboard.

Approximate pattern of the bow laid flat, side by side, since you want to fold the cloth together along dotted line A

Step 3. Lay your cloth over the cardboard template, trace onto cloth and cut.

Step 4. Fold the cloth
With the right (outside) sides together- over line A, making the mirrored shape come together into one single shape, wrong side facing out. A few steps later, you will be stitching the cloth together before pulling it inside out to hide the seams.

Step 5. Sew two pull strings, one at each “tip” of the bow.

Sew two pull strings, one at each tip of the bow, connecting both sides of the fabric. Then feed the pull string to stick out the center of the folded cloth. (You will be pulling the tips to invert to the proper side up after you sew the seams)

Step 6. Making sure the two drawstrings are accessible, and sandwiched freely inside the two sides of fabric, sew from point A to point F, leaving a opening in the middle of the long edge.

Sew 1/8 to 1/4 inch from the edge of the fabric, enclosing the short edge, the long edge, and to the end of the other short edge. This would effectively seal the fold from one end to another, With the exception of the opening.

Very important: Make sure the opening is big enough to pull an amount of fabric for half the bow from inside out. You will be using the drawstrings to bring each half of the bow out through the opening.

Step 7. Use the drawstrings and gently pull out the tips of the bow, bringing the correct side of the cloth out through the opening.

Step 8. Once tips and completely pulled through and the bow is correct fabric side facing outwars, flatten the whole piece to correct shape. Cut the drawstring at the tips, and slipstitch the opening.

Voila! Stepford Bow!

I absolutely adore this line from Ginia Bellafante’s article in the New York Times on June 1 2004 “Dressing the Post-Feminist Stepford Wife”

That the affluent homemaker’s uniform remains so compelling may have something to do with its undercurrent of eroticism, one that stems from a sense that the woman wearing it is a woman owned. ”Inside that presexual-looking girl in her lime-green twin set is that fully grown woman to whom only her husband has access,” said Eric Mendelsohn, a filmmaker, former costumer and professor of film at Columbia. ”When do these women look like fully realized sexual beings? When they are in private with their husbands.”

It should be noted that in Japanese culture, the presence of a prohibitive barrier only adds to the erotic charge. Many outsiders will view the black disk of censorship (currently pixellated screen) which is placed over the private parts in photographs as am unwelcomed nuisance. Not so for the Japanese.

That which is shielded actually adds to the erotic imagination. This makes sense when you look at the history of kimono design. To cover is to add to the sexual mystery.

In these modern times, when people go to the supermarket in Daisy dukes and a wet-t-shirt, that which is available to the imagination is a rare and precious item.

In Season 3, Episode 8′s TV’s Desperate Housewives, Gabrielle (Eva Longoria) returns to a life as a fashion model. After a 10 year hiatus, she is cast in the role of the homemaker and not the hot “IT” girl of the moment. Frustrated, she storms off and throws together her version of the “hot” mom. We girls at the organization happen to think the initial outfit they put her in (below left) is precious, and we feel that is the perfect outfit in which to serve and attend to our husbands in (Girls: Notice that DARLING RIBBON on that blouse!). In contrast, we raised our eyebrows at the “hot” mom version (below right). Frankly, it’s not appropriate, especially if guests or neighbors were to pop in.

Here is a comparison

Eva Longoria in 2 versions of the Good Wife outfit

On the other hand, if our husbands tell us they want us to wear something a little racier, as dutiful wives who’s main duty is to please our men and their expectations, we won’t hesitate to go the route below:

Eva Longoria in the husband-approved version of the Good Wife outfit

We at Stepfordwives.org / Stepfordwife.com are always on the lookout for Stepford quality gals in the media.  Of course, the gold standard being mom’s like Donna Reed and June Cleaver.  Since this tends to be a little dated, we try to seek out modern role models.  The most recent example in Hollywood is Katie Holmes, whose husband, Tom Cruise, will often forbid her to go out until he approves of her choice of outfit for the day.  Rumors also has it that her phone calls are restricted to 15 minutes a day by her husband, and that activities outside the home has to be approved first by the man of the house.

Modern liberal spin throws the term “Stepford Wife” around (whenever anyone doesn’t comform to their exact  ideas of “open-mindedness”) as  freely as conservatives use “politically correct.”  What we think here at the organization is that if a wife is happy obeying her husband and his wishes, and this domestic and private agreement leads to a peaceful marriage, then who are bystanders and outsiders to judge?

In other departments, it has come to our attention that Angela from the US Version of Rick Gervais’s The Office” has potential for being Stepford material.  In Mike Orme’s (for Stylus Magazine) description, she is a “hard-hearted tighta** who dresses in children’s clothing.”

“Children’s clothing” in this case, would be conservative, high-buttoned blouses and sweaters with bows and lace trimming, a staple of the Stepford fashion sense.  Of course, her conservative views and Christian background – albeit employed in the service of comedy – is a welcomed rarity in today’s liberal-skewed / skewered media representations of “diverse” cultures.