I Thought Bodycon Dresses Were Outdated—These Convinced Me To Do a 180

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While trying on some dresses I bought from one of my many late-night sale scans, I realized that I'd become a big proponent of the bodycon dress. Out of the five dresses I bought, all of them essentially fit into the bodycon category—stretchy, fitted, and supremely body-hugging. Buying only this silhouette wasn't intentional at all (I didn't set out to buy only bodycon dresses during my shopping binge), but I guess it's a testament to how the style has unexpectedly popped back out into the spotlight. 

An iconic silhouette favored among everyone from Hollywood golden age starlets to Y2K-era socialites, the bodycon dress has an extensive history within the pop culture Zeitgeist. It's almost impossible to forget the early aughts Herve Leger Bandage dress era (arguably when the style last hit its apex), that the word bodycon is practically synonymous with the days of Louboutin Daffodile pumps and Juicy Couture bags. As everyone shifted towards looser silhouettes and minimalism, extreme figure-hugging dresses felt like a relic of the past. But nothing stays "old" forever, and just like how the low-rise has made its imprint in 2022, so has the bodycon dress. It's a new dawn for the style, with brands like Norma Kamali repopularizing the classic dress. Ahead, keep scrolling to shop 31 dresses that define the modern vision of the bodycon dress. 

Up next: I'm Stepping Up My Outfit With These Under-$100 Game-Changing Pieces

Indya Brown
Fashion Market Editor

Indya Brown is a fashion editor, stylist, and writer living in Los Angeles. After graduating in 2016, she joined The Cut as a fashion assistant, eventually working her way up to fashion editor. While New York has been her home for over 10 years, she moved to Los Angeles in the midst of the pandemic in 2020 for a new chapter where she started working at Who What Wear, focusing on emerging designers, rising trends on and off the internet, interior design, and BIPOC creatives and brands. Aside from her work at Who What Wear, Brown is also a freelance stylist and writer, working on national print and video commercial campaigns for Sephora, The Independent, and Cadillac. Her bylines also include Harper's Bazaar, Vox, and The New York Times.

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