So long, demure! 2026 is all about sexy dressing—five ways to easily try the trend
Get ready to embrace body-con and wave goodbye to oversized.
In June 2014, the world stopped at the sight of Rihanna gracing the CFDA red carpet in what can only be described as ‘the naked dress’. 216,000 Swarovski crystals drenched the sheer gown, as well as a matching headband and gloves, with a furry stole completing the nod to the legendary Josephine Baker. It was iconic, it was bold and above all else, it was sexy! Rihanna’s only regret? Not wearing an embellished thong to match.
Fast forward 11 years, and the same eyes that once fawned at the sight of sexy styles now squint with cynicism and contempt. Take Sabrina Carpenter, who gleefully grabbed the sexy baton of her predecessors and took off at full speed. Her recent Sweet n' Short tour looks have been awash with lacy garters, sky-scraping heels and almost every type of lingerie set known to man. A racy Brit Awards performance, 825 OFCOM complaints later, and Carpenter’s aesthetic has been described as everything from “inappropriate” to “setting women’s rights back decades.”
What I’m dubbing ‘the sexy slide’ has become noticeably steeper over the last couple of years. In the 20-teens, there was a good stretch of time when you couldn’t escape Emily Ratajkowski’s tasteful nudes. In 2020, while we were confined to loungewear, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion's ‘WAP’ music video made me cry into my wardrobe, whispering “soon” to my club dresses. But, in the same year that the fashion industry said to hell with the English language and crowned Miu Miu’s micro-mini skirt the ‘dress of the year’ in 2022, the slide began.
Google searches for modest dresses have risen 30% since 2022. Earlier this year, fast-fashion titan Pretty Little Thing rebranded, waving goodbye to their flamboyant party fits and hello to Molly-Mae-inspired blazers. A quick glance at ASOS’ Party Dress edit and it’s full of floor-length, flowy gowns in muted tones with the odd kitten-heel to top it off. To quote the 2024 TikTok trend, it's all very demure, very mindful.
“But sexy doesn’t mean revealing!” I hear you say. And yes, you’re right. Sexy dressing should mean more than one thing, and according to some of the women I’ve spoken to, it does. “I find myself sexy even wearing a turtleneck,” Lory, 33, tells me.
“I actually feel the sexiest in my gym clothing,” Alysha, 33, adds. “We’ve come into our elegant, more seasoned outfits where being sexy doesn’t mean showing skin,” Bishara, 21, says. On the surface, I thought, ‘Fantastic! This means that sexy dressing has evolved to become more inclusive’ Sadly, I’d argue that it’s become more exclusionary than ever before.
When discussing sexy dressing in the form of high-heels, plunging necklines and midriff-baring tops among my Instagram community, the general consensus was that these styles are no longer seen as ‘sexy’, but now vulgar. “If someone came up to me and said I looked sexy, I’d think I was wearing something wrong.” Susie, 25*, shares.
The phrase ‘male gaze’ came up so many times I lost count, which left me questioning: what happened to my version of sexy dressing? If only my lower-hemline outfits are for me and shorter hemlines are for men, then who truly has ownership of my self-presentation, of my body?
Taking this conversation to TikTok, I realised I wasn’t alone in this concern. One comment read, “The Gen Z girls at my college all dress like grandmas. I’m in my 30s and wear revealing 2000s clothes, and they give me dirty looks… Why is no one having fun anymore?” The answer to that question is tenfold.
Perhaps it’s less of a slide and more of a pendulum swing. Remember the so-called BBL era of fashion, when it was cool to hear “yes” to the question “Does my but look big in this?” Fashion was all about showing off your curves and accessorising with your skin, but that style quickly became overexposed. Soon, it was nearly impossible to find a piece of clothing without a cutout, and this contributed to a kind of fatigue that led many to redefine sexy dressing entirely. The slow death of the UK nightlife scene only served to make us more buttoned up. With reports suggesting clubs and bars could face extinction by 2029, it’s arguably harder even to have the occasion to dress sexy anymore.
However, I believe a political shift to the right shoulders most of the blame for this puritanical approach to styling, with tradwife influencers like Ballerina Farm, RoRo, and Nara Smith encouraging women to throw away their bandage dresses and pick up aprons instead. Still, some women who’ve given up on this pre-pandemic style of sexy have done so not out of hate, but protection.
“I feel like another reason why I stopped [dressing sexy] was the disgusting responses [I was receiving] from men,” Kaarthiga, 27, confides – a reasonable response given the worrying rise of red pill content and slut-shaming rhetoric directed at all women regardless of their style of dress. Understandable? Yes. Fair? No. It’s not fair that sexy dressing has been muzzled. Even the terms ‘clean-girl’ and ‘quiet luxury’ imply that bold, daring and risqué styles are abrasive at best and dirty at worst.
But sexiness is powerful; it’s a celebration of your body and allows it to take centre stage. A study in the International Journal of Psychology revealed that positive self-perceptions of sexual attractiveness predicted greater sexual esteem and greater sexual satisfaction – and this positivity isn’t exclusive to women. A 2024 study found that when men feel sexy, they experience greater body satisfaction. Similarly, research has also shown that revealing clothing can also be used as a tool for multifaceted nonsexual self-expression.
It turns out Justin Timberlake's 2006 hit had an empirical basis, which is why I’m predicting 2026 is the year we’re bringing sexy back as the pendulum thankfully and finally starts to swing back the other way. This year, OG millennial brand House of CB brought their Hervé Léger-inspired bandage dress back, Charlie XCX reignited the “free the nipple movement” while wearing a see-through lace bodice at the Academy Museum Gala in October, and a London Nightlife Taskforce has been assigned to save our clubs and give us more chances to put our ‘freakum’ dresses on. While sexy dressing can look like anything, it’s important not to box yourself in by letting harmful narratives unconsciously cause you to drown yourself in fabric.
As for me, I’ll be dusting off my miniskirt for New Year's Eve and pulling on my oversized knit jumper for New Year's Day. I’ll continue to yo-yo my style between sultry seductress and reserved librarian because duality is sexy and one-dimensional wardrobes should be left in 2025.
*Name and age have been changed for anonymity.
Credit: Cosmopolitan