An Outdated Party Dress From The Early Aughts Is Staging A 2025 Comeback

Fashion's relationship to time is on a loop. Every 20 years or so, styles resurface. The '80s returned in the '00s — all shoulder pads, neon accents, and maximalist spectacle. The '90s returned in the 2010s (as seen through the rise of chokers and grunge). By the early 2020s, the pendulum swung once more. Millennium dressing flooded runways and algorithms alike; the fashion en vogue was in full revival mode with Y2K fashion trends. So, it stands to reason that, in 2025, we've arrived at the next wave of the revival: the chaotic excess of paparazzi-ready, party-friendly fashion.

It's been two decades since the bandage dress ruled the party scene, which means it's right on time for a comeback. That clingy, curve-hugging generational uniform was first conceived and made famous by designer Hervé Léger in the '90s, donned by the likes of catwalk mainstays Naomi Campbell, Eva Herzigova, and Cindy Crawford. It was later adopted by mid-2000s pop-culture royalty, including Rihanna and Kim Kardashian. Now, in 2025, a new generation is reaching for the look.

Recent sightings have been very telling. Kaia Gerber paid homage to Crawford in a white bodycon gown unmistakably reminiscent of the one worn by her model mom to the 1993 Oscars. Hailey Bieber followed suit, wrapping herself in a deep aubergine reinterpretation at the Fashion Trust US Awards. Some fashion wounds never heal, but the bandage is a comeback that doesn't need stitches.

The bandage dress revival isn't driven by celebrity endorsements alone. It's moving through the fashion bloodstream with measurable force. According to the fashion data analyst, Data But Make It Fashion, interest in the style spiked by more than 600% in June 2025 (according to aggregated search trends and online engagement data). If the look once belonged to supermodels and socialites, it now has a second life as a generational reference point, rediscovered by a demographic too young to have worn it in the club the first time round.

Fashion brands have taken note and responded. House of CB, whose early exacting designs arguably helped keep the spirit of the bandage dress on life support through the 2010s, has released a 15th anniversary collection called "Bandage is Back." It's complete with tight-laced nostalgia and remastered silhouettes from its own archives.

But the clingy comeback doesn't stop there. The bandage dress is just one part of a broader return to mid-2000s maximalism. Ombre skirts — a former mall staple — have crept back into seasonal rotations as the once-outdated skirt trend is returning with a vengeance in 2025. Loud purses, too, plastered with conspicuous logos and flashy hardware, have returned from the depths of storage as an early aughts handbag trend ready to be flaunted once again. And pop figures like PinkPantheress, whose music and wardrobe draw directly from this decade of Myspace-era cool, have made the look feel newly credible. The bandage dress is part of a revival that is very much aware of, and in tune with, the past it's wrapping itself around.