SHOP: This one tiny detail makes every blouse look more expensive – including Zara’s viral £30 shirt, which has just been restockedREAD MORE: 7 outfits that capture that sunset feeling (and show off your tan)See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy HANNAH SKELLEY, FASHION EDITOR Updated: 01:01 BST, 25 July 2026
Daily Mail journalists select and curate the products that feature on our site. If you make a purchase via links on this page we will earn commission - learn moreDespite it being a tricky silhouette to wear, drop-waist dresses are this summer’s red-carpet uniform, from the Met Gala to Royal Ascot. Originally worn in the 1920s by flappers who abandoned their corsets for loose-fit, low-slung waistlines, by the 80s this rebellious silhouette had been updated with figure-hugging bodices and floor-skimming froufrou skirts. Goldie Hawn, 1989 Princess Diana, 1987 Drew Barrymore, 1987Princess Diana’s purple version, by Catherine Walker, came with a train of taffeta falling from the top of her thighs. Goldie Hawn wore an asymmetric lilac gown with a ruffled hemline. Now, drop-waists are more streamlined. Erin O’Connor chose a racing-red Roksanda number for the Royal Enclosure at Ascot last month, and Nara Smith walked the Tiffany red carpet in April draped in butter yellow. The retro shape has also featured on the runways of Schiaparelli and Chanel at the Couture shows in Paris this month, which explains why Google searches for it are up 117 per cent. Amy Bannerman, pre-loved style director at Ebay UK, says, ‘Shoppers are hankering for vintage versions with character, so if you’ve got an 80s drop-waist dress tucked away, now is the time to sell while demand is high.’ Nara Smith, April, 2026 Erin O’Connor, June 2026 Penélope Cruz, June 2026But wear with caution! This style suits a washboard stomach, straight or rectangle body types and those who are 5ft 9in and above. With clingy fabric you risk falling prey to the sausage-casing effect. So stick to firm bodice styles that will help hold you in, those with ruching to blur your midriff or find a baggy-fit design.Laura Craik remembers the drop-waist dress from the first time around – this is why she’d never wear oneWaists: we’ve all got one. But we don’t always want to accentuate it. Nor do we always want to accentuate our hips. Unless you are tall, willowy, slim of hip and flat of stomach, you have probably spent the bulk of your life trying to camouflage these areas, for t’is a midlife British woman’s lot to carry any excess weight either on our hips or belly.Which is likely why the return of the drop-waisted dress may elicit fear, rather than fondness, among those old enough to remember them the first time around. In the 1980s, they were a go-to evening look for Princess Diana and a slew of A-listers. As a teen, I had my own version from Miss Selfridge, a strapless polka dot affair with the requisite tight bodice and ruffled skirt. Wearing it made me feel like a short, Scottish, brunette version of Molly Ringwald in Pretty in Pink.Alas, pretty in pink was not how I looked some 30 years later, rocking up in Ibiza wearing a drop-waisted Zara dress. Pot-bellied in pink, more like. Only in the after-photos did I realise quite how brutally the fabric clung to my stomach.Drop waists might be enjoying their second time in the sun, but this time around, the silhouette tends to be tighter and less forgiving than the eighties iterations we knew and (mainly) loved. Although not always. At Chanel, dresses were boxy of bodice rather than tight, skimming the body rather than clinging.Where Chanel leads, the high street follows – with the result that there are myriad drop-waisted options with flattering silhouettes. John Lewis’s butter yellow sleeveless midi dress is cut to fall away from the body (£119), while & Other Stories’ gathered cotton dress even has an adjustable drawstring waist, allowing you to wear it tight or loose at whim (£109). And if you fancy a more body-conscious style, consider ruched versions in darker hues. Tummy control pants optional. Though not for me.Follow Laura on X (@LauraCraik) and Instagram (@lauracraik)
