Such a super-feminine throwback represents a minor act of subversion. Many fans of the look see dressing in a girlie, coquette-ish way – pastels, bows, corsets – as a way of taking back agency. After all, for so long the way to get ahead was generally considered to require the packing away of frills and tulles, and donning a mannish suit. The accoutrements of girlhood were seen as the antithesis of being a serious person.

“It’s partly about women’s agency over their bodies, they are presenting what they want and how they want to be presented,” fashion historian Dr Serena Dyer, a professor at De Montfort University, recently told the BBC. “And while that might be a sexual gaze, there’s no sense that’s necessarily a heterosexual gaze.”

Nostalgia for the innocence and hopefulness of girlhood makes sense in an increasingly hostile and challenging world too. “I’m obsessed over something that I can actually never return to,” says Sandy Liang – a designer who has amassed a cult following for her bow-adorned collections – recently told The New York Times. Anna Sui, another designer who has long turned girlie tropes on their head with her grungy baby-doll dresses once said, “My clothes are about nostalgia and memories of my own childhood.”

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It’s a feeling that Alexandra Carello, who recently collaborated with Italian head accessories brand Marzoline, recognises.

“Bows play into the coquette trend in the sense they are akin to decoration and reminiscent of childhood. There is a nostalgic and girlie touch that has bubbled up as a dominant trend thanks to TikTok, Tumblr and Pinterest,” she says.

Carello says part of their appeal too is that the look is far more twee. “At Marzoline we have focused on making this elegant and elevated, oversized silhouette for drama … grown-up fabrications in black velvet, sheer organza and Pretty Woman polka dot silk. Giving designs a little bit more strength through structure and richer colours,” she says.

The escapism that bows and girlie dressing offer from a gloomy world is something that resonates with Philippa Thackeray, founder of the brand Paper London.

“I think that the allure of girlie coquette style lies in its timeless charm and playful femininity. In today’s fashion landscape, there’s a palpable craving for nostalgia and whimsy, and girlie coquette style embodies that sentiment perfectly,” she says.

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Paper London collections include tie and bow details in pieces such as its Emely Dress and Florentine swimsuit, offering a modern twist on classic femininity.

But nobody did bows quite so effusively as Prada. At the brand’s autumn/winter 2024 show, dozens of them adorned black, baby pink and purple shift dresses, and there were tweed skirts with bows tied at the front.

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“History teaches you everything. Especially in difficult moments,” Prada said in a press statement. “This is a collection shaped by history. It’s not about nostalgia, it’s about understanding.”

Perhaps we can read from this sweet subversiveness that we’ve been here before. That we must understand what’s happened to make sense of an increasingly complicated world.

Surely though these bows are a bellwether of where girlhood, and womanhood, are at – precarious, multilayered and something that must be expressed however you want.

As Mrs Prada told Vogue in a recent profile, “It’s strange, because, every single morning I have to decide if I am a 15-year-old girl or an old lady.”

After all, as Miuccia so well knows, women and girls have always contained multitudes. Sometimes this is tied up with a bow.