They say the height of women’s heels can be used as a recession indicator. As the economy fails, heels get higher. But what about the whereabouts of their waistlines?
If low waistlines are a sign of economic prosperity, then everyone needs to start investing in FTSE stat. Because in 2025, they’ve never been lower.
It’s hardly a surprise. With the return of Y2K style came the revival of low-waist jeans, an item of clothing previously thought to be as dead as skinny jeans are now. And with the revival of low-waist jeans came the inevitable whale tail renaissance, though it had a more high-brow appeal this time around.
Celebrities like Dua Lipa, Alexa Demie and Doja Cat sported visible thongs on the red carpet, Bella Hadid wore one on the runway and Hailey Bieber even modelled one for the Met Gala.
Now, it’s going even further. Thongs be damned, the girls are showing actual crack on the red carpet. Or, as we prefer to call it, “bum cleavage”.
Why? Well, as big boobs go out of fashion, Ozempic runs rife through Hollywood and breast reductions soar, there’s little in the way of actual cleavage to be seen these days. Not compared to the 2000s, at least. But as long as there are clothes, there will be cleavage. It’s just lower down than it was before.
This became clear when Zoë Kravitz, lieutenant general of the fashion girlie brigade, served up a perfectly crescent moon of bum cleavage for the Vanity Fair Oscars party last week while wearing Saint Laurent. The black satin gown was perfectly unassuming from the front but revealed an embellished plunging mesh backside upon the reverse.
Kravitz is merely the latest champion of the trend, which has been supported by a string of celebs as of late. One long-term bum cleavage advocate is buzzy singer-songwriter Rose Gray, who is dating actor Harris Dickinson.
Gray donned several butt-baring looks as part of the promotion for her debut album, Louder Please, including a denim, deep hem skirt and a dark grey two-piece for her recent appearance at GQ’s Music and Style party.
Some celebrities have been at it for even longer: Katy Perry showed off her bum cleavage as part of a red latex look at Billboard’s Women in Music awards last March, while Irish artist CMAT bared her lower (lower lower) back while wearing a Sophie Lincoln black feathered gown for the BRITs in 2024.
It may take a while for this one to make it off the red carpet, but hey, if whale tails could make the jump from low to high brow, anything is possible.
