Question: The current trend of crop tops is confusing to me. It is not exactly flattering for anyone with a fuller belly or bottom. Wearing a longer layer underneath the crop top doesn’t look polished. Is this a teens-only thing, or is there a way to manage this style for a more sophisticated look? — Lila, Cincinnati
Answer: Crop tops, that style of shirt or jacket or sweater chopped off anywhere from the bottom of the breasts to the waist, are indelibly connected to the early 2000s, when pop stars like Gwen Stefani, Britney Spears and Mariah Carey made the look their own. The tops were most often paired with low-rise pants that made the whole look resemble nothing so much as the millennial equivalent of Barbara Eden in “I Dream of Jeannie.”
Little wonder the look returned on the recent wave of nostalgia for all things Y2K and the last gasp of the analogue world. Baby one more time and all that. There are currently 2.4 million posts hashtagged #croptop on TikTok.
