Dear 8 Days, it’s a pussy bow

Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun Fat. Photo: Michelle Yeoh/Instagram

We’re always amused that the entertainment-magazine-turned-general-interest-news-site 8 Days loves commenting on the fashion that stars adopt. After all, “Singapore’s definitive pop culture navigator” has a such a luminous view on what is fashionable. And they adore descriptions that show they are standing on the precipice of the consumption of fashion. In a recent report on the reactions to what Chow Yun Fat (周润发) wore when he appeared on stage at the Shanghai International Film Festival alongside everywhere-all-at-once Michelle Yeoh (杨紫琼) and Chinese director Chen Kaige (陈凯歌), 8 Days wrote knowledgeably about Mr Chow’s sartorial flair: “super stylish in a classy double-breasted black suit which he complemented with a light pink neck piece.”

We couldn’t have described it better, or more articulately. Although the pussy bow that Mr Chow wore has appeared countless times in the past many menswear seasons, notably in the collections of Saint Laurent and Gucci (and even pocket-friendly ASOS), 8 Days resisted call a spade, well, a spade. Rather, they preferred “neck piece”. Sometimes, a rose by any other name—to borrow from Shakespeare—would not smell as sweet. It is, of course, possible that a pussy bow does not complement “the screen legend, who is normally in jogging or hiking wear these days”, but “cleaned up nicely for the event”. When spruced, a fellow does not adorn himself with something as lembik as a bow, prefixed with a potentially vulgar modifier. “Neck piece”, like timepiece, is just more suitable for a married and athletic near-septuagenarian. It is manly, but is it dapper, as 8 Days seemed to say?