!! OMG, it’s a trend: Top of the Crops !!

As we adjust to our quarantine-modified bodies, faces safely masked, copping crops feels freshly flirtatious. Regardless of representation in the mainstream, flash some flesh and cut the self doubt, says Katie Sturino, whose body-neutral method recommends “leading by example… Wear that crop top! We’re in a new age of giving you permission to not feel bad about yourself, and that is hard to shift to mentally.”

What began as a symbol of athleticism is now masculine, feminine, and everything  between, in all shapes and forms.

But let’s cut the chit-chat, and get to the FASHION… After the jump!

Pop that top
Celebrities: they’re just like us! From Prince, to the Fresh Prince, to style icon Dennis Rodman, and recently, Lil Nas X who wore a lime and zebra cropped suit worn at the AMAs in November 2019, haute-hemmed trends are most often led by fabulous flamboyant Black talent.

These iconic advocates for brief-bearing tops illustrate how to punctuate the look, sweaties. So how has fashion been keeping crops at the top?

Don’t sweat it
So the classic, easy breezy beautiful way to add this trend of removal to your wardrobe is get out the scissors, and cut that Calvin T in half. For those who didn’t cut out the mid-2000s from their memories, Italo Zucchelli showed belly-bearing sweats on the runway for Calvin Klein waaaay back (in Internet years) in 2010. This felt like a familiar nod the hyper-masculine man from Calvin’s advertising past.

Always one to trust his gut, Raf Simons showed neoprene Bolero/shrug pieces in 2009, igniting the trend of cropping by rendering it as outerwear, worn over suits, suggesting football padding or armour. Later, in 2015, JW Anderson’s lithe boys wore body-skimming cardigan sweaters, a decidedly femme garment and silhouette, and a deliberately queer take on crops for men.

This marks a distinct break from fashion trends serving toxic-masculinity, socialized anxieties that would refrain from such femininity.

Cutting remarks
On the recent catwalks, AMI’s  Alexandre Mattiussi had veteran model Clement Chabernaud in a sensible navy ensemble with a flash of mid-section under a cropped knit. Dries Van Noten took a page from fellow Belgian Raf’s Bolero-outerwear idea (a decade later), and always on trend, Alessandro Michele’s team at GUCCI sent out several shrunken shirts and sweaters.

All familiar, easy and cute. But let’s cut a little deeper, shall we?

Cut to the chase
Sweaters and jackets are cute, but what about a skanky top to let them know you’re the cream of the crop? At BARRAGÀN, the location — a vacant sushi resto made famous by Sex & the City — set the tone: tops expertly sliced to deliciously wrap the body.

GmbH’s Serhat Isik continues to play off the beauty of queer Brown bodies with a cropped cardi with cut-outs that speak attitude.

And the final cut is Ludovic de Saint Sernin’s ever thirsty e-boys, whose cropped and laced looks are casually kinky, whether cut or uncut, top, bottom, or Versace.

— Cameron Lee (@courtneylovecox)