The minimalist midi dress is making a confident comeback this summer. With its rounded neckline and elegant, sleeveless form, it’s a paragon of pared-back style–not to mention a perfect embodiment of the nostalgic ’90s style that everyone’s wrapped up in right now, originally championed by the likes of Helmut Lang and Calvin Klein.
Vogue’s Favorite ’90s Midi Dresses
Just as the silhouette is proving to be a favorite among today’s supers–seen on everyone from EmRata to Bella Hadid–back in its heyday, Kate Moss was a key champion of the trend, regularly spotted in dresses that were deceptively simple in form, but never devoid of character. Whether a cocoon dress or a silky camisole slip, the dresses she regularly sported were always masterful exhibitions of sharp, minimalist cuts, clean lines and a deliberately sober palette.
Of course, another of the era’s true masters of the trend was Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, a name on everyone’s lips since the release of Ryan Murphy’s Love Story, the hit series detailing her whirlwind romance with John Kennedy Jr. A patron saint of stripped-back style, her resurgent popularity has fueled interest in exactingly crafted clothes in neutral tones and quietly fabulous fabrics. Think: roomy white shirts, ruler-straight gabardine pencil skirts and, of course, minimalist dresses. The outfit she wore to a 1998 White House state dinner, held in honor of then-Prime Minister Tony Blair, is a testament to her perennial style kudos, a lean black silhouette almost ascetic in its simplicity–and all the more elegant for it.
During the fashion show season that just passed, you didn’t have to look far for the trend’s revival. At Gucci, we saw a suite of second-skin models; at Miu Miu, ultra-cropped silhouettes in roomier, almost A-line fits, while at Prada, dresses were cinched at the waist, split at the hem, and rendered in the Italian house’s signature technical nylon. Minimalist as the look may be, when these dresses hit the shop floor come the autumn, there’ll be myriad ways to pull off the trend.
Below, here’s our edit of minimalist dresses available to pull off the racks right now.
