Propaganda I’m not falling for? Bandage dresses

I’m happy to say I never wore or owned a bandage dress. Maybe it was because in my early teens, I was so gangly and awkward that I barely found jeans that fit, let alone a skin-tight band of viscose that demanded those nutritional bars Regina George ate in Mean Girls. But I remember watching my school seniors in the 2010s slip into the dresses or skirts for socials and farewell parties, each panelled strip clinging to them like second skin, and thinking: why is everyone so obsessed with looking like they’re wrapped in duct tape?

Fast forward to 2025, and bandage dresses are back, slinking their way into wardrobes that, quite frankly, one would have thought we had outgrown. Blame it on the cyclical nature of fashion or the rise of skinny culture and Ozempic chic, but you have to wonder: along with skinny jeans and flower clips, is Y2K fashion really here to stay?

History lesson 101

Before it became the official uniform of every 2000s club girl, the bandage dress was born out of genius construction. Tunisian couturier Azzedine Alaïa first sculpted women’s bodies with his signature tight knits in the 1980s, earning him the title ‘King of Cling’. Worn by ’90s supermodels like Linda Evangelista, its form-fitting viscose strips, sewn together, created a sculpting effect that no Spanx could match.

But it was French house Hervé Léger that took the idea and made it tighter, shinier, and more Spice Girl-approved. Léger’s version of the dress made its debut as part of the brand’s fall ready-to-wear collection in 1992. By the late 2000s, it was the unofficial red-carpet staple. A decade on, Victoria Beckham, Lindsay Lohan, Rihanna, Britney Spears and Kim Kardashian—name the It-girl, and she probably had at least five in rotation.

And while I never fully understood the hype, I’ll admit there was one moment that almost changed my mind: seeing Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality post-makeover, wrapped in that lilac Hervé Léger dress.

Locked in

Hervé Léger’s current creative director, Michelle Ochs, says the bandage dress is the summer trend she’s most excited about. Kaia Gerber channelled her mother Cindy Crawford’s 1993 Oscars look last September in a white remake, officially resurrecting the silhouette for a new generation. Kendall Jenner recently wore a black and white swirl-patterned vintage piece from the 1997 collection. Even Hailey Bieber chimed in: “Hervé bandage dresses are back, I fear.”

If Google Trends data is your oracle, searches for “bandage dress” peaked in June and are rising again, especially in Australia and the UK; India remains safe so far... Even IG account Data But Make It Fashion confirms it: the bandage dress has spiked over 600 per cent in popularity last month versus the last six months on average.

What we think

For designer Sameer Madan, it’s anything but nostalgia bait. “It’s one of my favourite topics to discuss: bandage dresses. That’s actually why the brand started,” he says, referring to his eponymous label. Having studied in London, Madan recalls how “confident [wearers] felt in it, regardless of their size.” He adds, “The idea is that it’s the best form of body acceptance one can do… It actually keeps everything together rather than making you feel conscious.” He insists it isn’t a cliché silhouette, calling it “timeless” and “sort of a power move—one of the best silhouettes where a woman can feel empowered”. Nearly a decade into designing bodycon dresses, Madan is still experimenting with styling. “I think it’s here to stay,” he declares.

Fashion girl Tania Shroff’s first bandage dress was a classic Hervé Léger from her mom, altered to fit her. “It gives you another level of confidence when you can embrace the shape of your body, and the bandage dress fabric did just that,” she shares. “It was the ultimate going-out dress, and it really defined a whole era of red carpets and clubbing outfits.” How would she style it in 2025? Shroff says she’d “start with a bandage skirt, maybe layer it with a slouchy, oversized asymmetric shirt and ballet flats. I love the idea of mixing up softness and structure.” She’s also pro-comeback: “I think the bandage dress is on its way back into our lives again. I’m so excited because I still have mine!”

Mitali Sagar, co-founder of House of Misu, admits she owned a few bandage dresses and skirts. “Ever since it hit the runway in the ’80s… Everyone wanted a piece of it, and I wasn’t immune.” While she doesn’t exactly miss them (“they were rather tight, lol”), she’d still wear one today given the right fit: “I’d like one that is ankle length, play with shoulder or neckline shapes, and style it with a chic scarf for a day look.” Her first memory? Convincing her mum to buy her a champagne-gold bandage dress from BCBG in Dubai. “It was a coming-of-age dress, in a sense. Mum needed a bit of convincing to buy it for me, but in the end fashion won.”

That’s a (cling) wrap

With so many fans around, I retreated to the messy corners of Reddit to find people who, along with my coworkers, shared an ick for the dress. On r/Millennials, one user wrote: “The fashion that gave me an eating disorder and a lifetime of body dysmorphia is not something I want to see the kids embracing. (I’m referring to ‘heroin chic’.)”

Another said, “For me, it’s 2 things: 1. most of the items coming back are ones I hated back then as well, and 2. It’s irritating listening to Gen Zs who are not aware that their clothing is an homage to our clothing.” On r/whatthefrockk, a Redditor shared, “It’s the kind of dress I used to love in my early twenties. As soon as I hit a later age, something switched in my brain, which now makes me think these are hideous.”

I was just a teen when bandage dresses were in their Y2K heyday, staring in equal parts awe and confusion as older girls squeezed themselves into what looked like glorified elastic bands. Sure, Kaia Gerber and her ilk can wrap themselves up in nostalgia, but perhaps this is where we take a moment to acknowledge that not every artefact of nostalgia needs a comeback.