Its early aughts skinny-centric image is something Hervé Leger has been actively trying to curtail. In 2019, the brand extended the size range from large to extra large, “which doesn’t sound groundbreaking,” admits Lefere-Cobb, “but we can now fit up to size 16.” They’ve also been centering a more diverse range of sizes in campaigns and among celebrities they dress.
We’d be remiss not to point out the timely parallel with Ozempic-fueled thinness culture. But Hazlehurst points to a revelation of a new body ideal entirely. “My instinct is that because GLP-1s have made thinness so much more accessible, we are adapting once again to a different barely attainable body standard: the strong Pilates body,” she theorizes, pointing to the athletically slim supermodels who preceded the ultra-thin heroin chic era like Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell. Bandage dresses do celebrate curves in their own, at times still narrow, way. “[Hervé Leger bandage dresses] signal status in more ways than one; they’re expensive and built for few bodies.” (Retail begins around $500.)
With the female form on such unapologetic display, there’s an ultra feminine connotation to these dresses that also refuses to be ignored. “I have another theory women might be moving into an era of hyper femininity as a survival tactic,” Hazlehurst posits, speaking in broad strokes. “When our income or rights aren’t assured, we default to our looks and/or domestic skills to be supported—hello rise in trad-wife culture—and that is influencing the way we present ourselves,” she says of the style often dubbed a #recessionindicator on TikTok.
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