Style Points is a weekly column about how fashion intersects with the wider world.
As part of her whirlwind rom-com-inspired promotional tour for The Love Hypothesis, Lili Reinhart remixed some of the genre’s most beloved looks, including Kate Hudson’s yellow gown from How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Brittany Murphy’s Blumarine gown from Uptown Girls. Naturally, a Miss Congeniality-inspired bandage dress was also on the docket. Reinhart’s version came from Michelle Ochs, the creative director of Hervé Léger, which celebrated its 40th anniversary this year.
Lili Reinhart in Hervé Léger.
Nostalgia is a big part of the trend, whether wearers are calling back to the dress’s ’80s and ’90s bombshell origins or the saucy party-girl connotations it held in the 2000s and 2010s. At this year’s Coachella, Zara Larsson sported a rainbow-striped version in line with her colorful Y2K aesthetic. Elevated takes on the style are also on the rise, from Amal Clooney’s ruched Tom Ford version at the Venice Film Festival to the softened Thom Browne take on the trope that Olivia Dean wore to the CFDA Awards. Even Michelle Obama joined the bandage dress ranks, wearing a blue Hervé Léger version for an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Amal Clooney wearing Tom Ford at the Venice Film Festival.
If “still got it” was a dress, it would be a bandage dress. But it’s an interesting time for such an unapologetically sexy, literally binding garment to resurface. To understand its resurgence, we have to look at recent fashion history. Not only have previously verboten 2010s trends like peplums and gladiator sandals sneakily made their way back, but several designers have been riffing on the tightly wound silhouette for some time now. Like Christopher Kane, who notably kicked off his career with a collection of fluorescent bandage dresses, and revisited the motif during his guest design residency at Self-Portrait. (Lara Stone and Addison Rae wore pieces from that capsule on the red carpet.)
Addison Rae wears a frill-accented Self-Portrait bandage dress by guest designer Christopher Kane.
And from Dario Vitale’s brief but beloved stint at Versace to Haider Ackermann’s sexed-up tenure at Tom Ford, skin is once again in. Spurred by the widespread adoption of GLP-1s, body-conscious styles and cutouts are ruling the fashion roost. The bimbocore moment has been usurped by full-on bombshells. Just look at the constant waves of internet nostalgia for the 2000s and 2010s Victoria’s Secret supers. (A stalwart of their off-duty wardrobes? No surprise there: a minidress version of the look.)
Kaia Gerber attends the premiere of Shell during the Toronto International Film Festival, wearing Hervé Léger.
Fashion’s love of a side-by-side nostalgic callout is also helping drive the trend. Reinhart isn’t the only star to invite sartorial comparisons to an iconic figure: Kaia Gerber wore a white version on the film-festival circuit, recalling the many times her mom, Cindy Crawford, sported one both on and off the runway. (Most notably, there was the similar style she wore to the 1993 Oscars.)
Cindy Crawford with Richard Gere at the 1993 Oscars.
And with the Legion of Honor’s Azzedine Alaïa retrospective bowing next month—the designer is credited with originating the garment, which was inspired by Egyptian mummies—a whole new generation is about to discover the power of a little well-placed Lycra.
