As we are nearing 2026, we can look back on a year filled with many fashionable moments – from creative directors playing musical chairs to old trends re-emerging and new ones loosing their heat quicker than an espresso during a Montrealwinter. Let’s look back on one of the trends many thought was buried next to skinny eyebrows – and I am not talking skinny jeans…
A Blast From Past
At the beginning of the year, influencer Olivia Boblet unknowingly evoked ghosts from a past long time ago with nothing but a single post. In the now-viral video she wore an Hervé Léger bandage dress, a silhouette instantly recognisable to anyone who lived through the early 2000s, and the comment section sparked to life.
@oliviaboblet I cant. @Hervé Léger ♬ original sound – Supermodel💋
Celebrities such as Kaia Gerber and Hailey Bieber soon followed suit wearing the body-con creations for red carpets and galas. The bandage dress, once a fixture of the Y2K party scene, has long been polarising: hailed by some as a body-sculpting marvel, dismissed by others as an emblem of objectification, excess, and even poor taste.
Empowering or Excluding “Inclusivity”?
For those in favour, the bandage dress represents unapologetic self-confidence – a celebration of the body in all its forms. Crafted from a stretch fabric perfected through years of refinement, the dress sculpts without traditional tailoring, creating a sleek silhouette while allowing the wearer’s natural curves to take centre stage.
Now, labels like House of CB have introduced their own interpretations, making the style accessible to a new generation, many of whom were too young to witness the first wave of bandage-dress mania. What was once dubbed the “supermodel dress” of the 1990s and early 2000s – immortalised by the likes of Blake Lively’s Serena van der Woodsen in Gossip Girl – is enjoying a second life as a go-to piece for evenings of escapism, confidence, and glamour. Its resurgence feels almost inevitable in a cultural moment where body-conscious fashion has found renewed popularity through brands like SKIMS.
Those against the dress, that clings tighter than an overly obsessed ex, argue, the dress was made only for sample-size bodies which feels like quite an outdated view. Today’s fashion landscape is shaped by body positivity, inclusivity, and a broader understanding of sensuality that transcends size.
Whether you see it as a relic of the aughts or a timeless wardrobe statement, the bandage dress is back – and this time, it’s rewriting its own narrative.
Lead Image Courtesy of Instagram @herveleger
