It’s the season of the bra.
At Attico, hot pink and acid green lace bras peeked out beneath tailored blazers and prim midi skirts. Versace’s encrusted sets became instant talking points, one of them worn on stage by Addison Rae the very next night. Jil Sander cut neat geometric holes in boxy tailoring, exposing the bras underneath. At Prada, bras were deliberately off-kilter: oversized, slouching on the body, as if lifted from someone else’s wardrobe entirely. Vaquera doubled down on its signature trompe l’oeil ‘bras’ printed over patterns, alongside black cone styles. Then there were the variations at Simone Rocha, Dries Van Noten, Dolce Gabbana and Fendi, to name a few.
“Underwear as outerwear is a persistent trend,” says Katie Devlin, fashion trends editor at intelligence firm Stylus. “While recently it has leaned towards comfort — boxer shorts, pyjama dressing — this new evolution adopts a sexier, more risqué perspective. It feels like a subtle yet provocative response to rising conservatism, whereby women are embracing showing off their bodies and celebrating their femininity.”
Meanwhile, Biz Sherbert, writer of American Style newsletter, frames the shift as a reaction to the ubiquity of minimalist shapewear. “One is the dominance of nude, minimal black and skin-coloured shapewear like Skims, and this feels like a huge departure from that,” she says. “It’s visually really different, but it’s not about necessarily having the most tea [attractive/well-defined] body underneath. It’s actually about the garment itself.”
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Designers are responding directly to this new appetite. “I’ve been designing sets since the beginning of the brand,” says Lucila Safdie, the designer behind the striped bra set worn by Rae as she supported Lana Del Rey at Wembley Stadium. Safdie notes the growing interchangeability between lingerie, swimwear and outer layers. “I do think the categories are starting to blur. I’ve seen girls wearing bikini tops out or layering them with cardigans and it looks cute. When I did a pop-up in London to release the bikinis, I saw many of the girls styling the bikini tops as something they would wear outside.”
But why now? Is this resurgence simply trickling down from pop stars like Charli XCX and Rae, who have turned bras into stage uniforms? Or is it a counter-swing to quiet luxury and tradwife aesthetics, a cultural drift towards conservatism so strong that the Cannes Film Festival has banned naked dressing? The runway makes a bold case, but translation to real life is less straightforward. Can consumers outside the celebrity sphere with office dress codes embrace the bra as an intentional fashion piece? And if so, will it remain a flash-in-the-pan moment or evolve into a wardrobe staple?
The body politics of the bra
If bras have returned to fashion’s spotlight, they’ve done so in one of the most politically charged contexts for decades.
“We’re in a polarising cultural moment, and bras can be simultaneously read as restrictive, uncomfortable garments as well as rebellious statements of femininity,” says Devlin. “The exposed statement bra can be seen as a subversive and defiant rebuttal to conservative ‘tradwife’ looks and lifestyles, while remaining symbolic of traditional femininity and ideals to many. Because of these innate ties to female freedom and power, bras will always have these kinds of rebellious connotations, especially when intentionally put on display.”
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Yet, as fashion commentator Mandy Lee argues, the trend also reveals the limits of who gets to participate. Body ideals have always shaped access to fashion, and bras are no exception. “To me, this trend of a low-cut shirt with a skimpy bra is not big-chest friendly. Girls with heavy naturals can’t wear a tiny bra and have support or societal acceptance of showing that much chest — especially right now, because conservatism is so highlighted in fashion,” she says.
For Lee, the exclusion runs deeper than just styling: it points to fashion’s ongoing policing of which bodies are deemed acceptable. “I think it’s just another way for fashion to be exclusionary. It’s not acceptable in 2025 to have big tits swinging around; it’s immodest to the general public right now. Only specific people can get away with wearing something meant to look sexy, because some of what I’m seeing on the runway is completely sexless. It shows skin, highlights the chest, but it’s sexless.”
She points to Prada as a telling example: “Take Prada — a great show. Girls will rush to recreate those looks. But the show was sexless. That feels like a theme we see alongside the rise of fascism and conservatism: this desperate want to break free of those chains, but even fashion is saying, ‘You can show boob only if you don’t really have boob, or you can’t go out with big swinging tits in a tiny top unless your stomach is super flat — otherwise, people won’t view it as fashion.’”
That paradox — skin on show, but stripped of sex — underscores how much this trend is tethered to the politics of thinness. “When I see this, yes, it’s a bra — not exactly Christ-like or conservative — but I do see it as a more modest take on the ‘big chest as beauty standard’ idea,” says Lee. “With extreme thinness and the shrinking of women’s bodies, of course the chest shrinks as well. You can’t spot-reduce fat, and sometimes you lose your boobs if you lose too much weight. That’s what it seems like to me.”
Will consumers buy in?
Runway doesn’t always translate into commercial success. But bras occupy a rare category where the odds may be in their favour. For one, consumers have already shown a willingness to invest in risqué pieces at the luxury level. Miu Miu’s knicker trend proved that shoppers will buy into garments once considered too provocative for the mainstream, so long as they’re reframed as fashion.
The sheer volume of bra iterations across the Spring/Summer 2026 runways also speaks to their styling versatility, from lace under blazers to oversized statement pieces and trompe l’oeil prints. That breadth of interpretation makes them easier for consumers to adapt, whether as a layering element or as an eveningwear focal point.
There’s also the question of price point. In economic downturns, shoppers consistently turn to little luxuries — smaller ticket items like lipsticks or lingerie that provide the thrill of fashion without the investment of a bag or a coat. Bras fit squarely into that category. “During economic distress and recessions, people splurge on small luxuries, little things they can still afford,” says commentator Lee. “Nordstrom is probably salivating at the idea, because they can carry it at a million price points. Places like Nordstrom, Farfetch, Bloomingdale’s — they’ll explore lower price brands and see what they’re offering.”
Stylus’s Devlin agrees that versatility will be a key commercial driver. “In a sense, this trend is about elevating the everyday and celebrating little luxuries — taking a functional underpinning piece and making it beautiful and exciting. Beyond wearing it as a layering piece or as a statement standalone, subtle yet playful sartorial touches like exposed colourful straps or flashes of lace are easy ways to interpret this trend for everyday styling,” she says. “Meanwhile, more overt takes, like an exposed bra worn as a top with suit pants or a slip skirt, will be key for eveningwear looks during the holiday season. Pairing an exposed statement bra with a high-rise bottom also pulls focus to the midriff area, making the bra itself feel less sensational and more intentional.”
Retailers are betting on precisely that spectrum of possibilities. “We’re definitely leaning into this bra trend,” says Brigitte Chartrand, chief buying and merchandising officer at Net-a-Porter. “Bralettes feel especially versatile this season, so we are buying them to wear in many ways.”
At Selfridges, womenswear buying manager Rebecca Osei-Baidoo points to bras’ growing ubiquity across both statement and everyday segments. “Bras have quietly become a wardrobe staple, whether worn on their own or layered. Think Prada’s playful, floral-print sets that carried us through the summer; Mugler’s sweetheart-neckline silk bras, perfect paired with a midi skirt and oversized trench; or Nensi Dojaka’s padded-bra dresses and bodysuits, ideal for party season,” she says. “That said, there’s still a strong appetite for oversized silhouettes. Vaquera’s printed lace bra tees and shirts offer a fun, unexpected nod to the trend. For SS26, we’ve invested in exciting pieces from Simone Rocha and Alaïa, with more to come as the shows continue.”
As a little luxury, it neatly aligns with recession-era spending habits, offering entry points at every price tier. Yet, the politics around body size and modesty mean its mainstream adoption won’t be universal. For brands and retailers, success will hinge on whether they can reframe the bra not as lingerie, but as a versatile fashion category in its own right.
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