A Bald, Middle-Aged Man Told Me Bandage Dresses Were Back. He Was Right

Two years ago, on a sunny Saturday afternoon, I headed to a hidden vintage mall tucked above a grocery store in New York City’s Chinatown. I’d been to the market before and had purchased several pieces that have since become staples in my everyday wardrobe. On this particular day, I wasn’t looking for anything specific (and probably shouldn’t have been spending my money on clothes in the first place), but I was feeling the itch to shop, and vintage clothing is my kryptonite.

Since first discovering the market, I’d developed relationships with a few of the store owners. I was particularly fond of one manager: a bald, middle-aged man who had spent years working in the fashion industry. His store was filled with never-before-worn samples from beloved designers like Comme des Garçons and Dolce & Gabbana.

It was in this shop that I became fully convinced bandage dresses were making a comeback.

Hervé Léger is credited with popularizing the bandage dress, a tight, body-hugging garment constructed from horizontal strips of fabric. The style became synonymous with the designer in the 1990s and later exploded as a celebrity favorite. Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton, Cindy Crawford and countless other stars sported versions of the body-hugging silhouette throughout the ’90s and 2000s, cementing the dress as a Y2K staple.

With so many Y2K trends, from low-rise jeans to baby tees, making their way back into the modern fashion sphere, it was only a matter of time before the bandage dress reclaimed its moment in the spotlight.

The bandage dress I settled on was a stretchy, unbranded black-and-white cross-back number that made me feel like one of the baddies in the 2004 drama Entourage. I was in love with the way it hugged my figure, and it perfectly matched a pair of Proenza Schouler heels I was dying to wear. With a little encouragement and a few compliments from the store owner and a well-dressed young employee, I came home with my new fashion-forward find.

I decided to debut the outfit at a New York Fashion Week show on one of Manhattan’s many piers. Little did I know I would be trekking half a mile in four-inch heels while constantly pulling down my dress to make sure my butt wasn’t visible for all the world to see.

Accompanying me on this journey were two women in their 30s who must have thought I was deaf, or somehow couldn’t hear them despite the fact that they were only five paces behind me. As I made this horrific walk, feeling blisters forming on my heels and cradling my dead AirPods, the women absolutely berated my fashion choice.

“That’s like one of those dresses we used to wear in high school,” one of them said.

They both laughed and picked apart the garment to the point that I had to confirm with another guest that I did not, in fact, have a period stain on the back of my dress. The guest assured me that the ensemble was clean and that I looked good, but I still left feeling humiliated.

When I got home, I scrolled through mirror selfies of myself in the dress and replayed the women’s comments in my head. Had I made a massive mistake? Was this an awful purchase destined for the trash or the darkest depths of my closet?

I pulled up Pinterest and pored over photos of Rihanna and Lindsay Lohan donning multicolored bandage dresses.

No. Bandage dresses are cute. I swear!

Fast-forward two years, and modern-day icons like Kaia Gerber, Hailey Bieber and even Michelle Obama have been wearing body-hugging bandage-style dresses on red carpets, talk-show couches and at awards ceremonies.

This garment isn’t just a 2000s relic. It’s a nostalgic wardrobe jewel having another moment.

To the women who talked behind my back, I hope you still have your bandage dresses from high school. And if you don’t, I know you made another purchase.

Bandage dresses are having a resurgence, and I was ahead of the curve!

Take that.

Shoutout to the bald, middle-aged man at the vintage mall. You were right.