Grunge-obsessed Gen Z revives risqué ’90s trend — but the disheveled design is a fashion ‘don’t’ for some
Sandy Verma November 06, 2024 05:24 AM

Gen Z gals like it on top — their bra, that is.

And they’re resurrecting the risqué “bra-over-shirt” style to dress to impress with their breasts.

“It’s indie sleaze mixed with New York City grunge and ’90s hip-hop,” vintage reseller Emma Rouge told The Post of the newly exhumed, pre-Y2K fashion trend that’s causing temperatures to rise this fall.

Bridget Khaw wows in her bra-over-shirt printed top while hanging out on the Lower East Side. Emmy Park for N.Y. Post

“Grunge girls are throwing a bra that they found in the Good Will bin over a super ripped vintage T-shirt and some baggy jeans,” continued the 20-something, owner of Rouge thrift shops on the Lower East Side. Her employees Bridget Khaw, 24, and Sophia Romulo, 20, let their cups runneth over and onto their shirts as voguish demonstrations of defiance.

The backward garb, however, has received harsh backlash from cyber trolls who’ve deemed the look “stupid” and “goofy.”

But it seems keyboard criticisms can’t curb the Z-team’s wild style.

Romulo styles her bra over a red graphic tee, black baggy jeans and dangling accessories. Emmy Park for N.Y. Post

“We’re in our angst era of fashion,” said Rogue with a laugh. “Gen Zs are rebelling — maybe it’s because of the election.”

The latest craze in underwear as outerwear mania, the bra-over-shirt phenomenon needs no explanation. It’s a self-explanatory eyeful.

A thumb to the nose at modest society, the lusty look is a punkish product of the grunge fashion movement — the “anything goes” aesthetic that took avant-garde anarchists by storm in the mid-1990s.

The bra-over-shirt trend has enjoyed several resurgences since the ’90s, including a rise in popularity during the late 2010s, as seen in this 2015 Paris Fashion Week show. WireImage
Kendall Jenner previously set the standard for bra-over-shirt streetwear, slaying this lacy look before it became a Gen Z craze. GC Images

The disheveled-by-design style, which rose from the shadows of late 20th century subcultures and onto mainstream runways — thanks to couturier Marc Jacobs — is now being reimagined by trendy tastemakers with tastes for the titillating.

Vixen VIPs such as supermodel Kendall Jenner, 29, and social media sensation Dixie D’Amelio23, have been spotted sporting the topsy-turvy look, bra first.

Head-turners like influencer Isabel Tan let it all hang out it in a laced Michael Kors bodysuit and an exposed bra at the designer’s Spring/Summer show during New York Fashion Week in September.

And she wasn’t alone.

Trendsetters with a flair for the flashy, too, slayed the city with their unmentionables on full display during the haute NYFW hoopla.

Sophia Romulo and Bridget Khaw rock bras-over-shirts fashion. Emmy Park for N.Y. Post
Dixie D’Amelio stunned in the shabby chic look during a trip to Tokyo. @dixiedamelio/instagram
Influencer Isabel Tan wore a laced Michael Kors bodysuit and exposed undergarments during the Michael Kors show during New York Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2025 in September. Getty Images
NYFW fans wow in bra-over-shirt fashions while celebrating New York’s most chic week. Getty Images

But YouTube beaut Emma Chamberlain, 23, upped the ante during Paris Fashion Week last February.

The popular pinup donned a cherry brassiere atop a beige T-shirtwhich she tucked into the bra’s cups to reveal her taut torso at the Acne Studios show.

And badass Zoomers online are getting just as grungy in their undies.

Emma Chamberlain turned heads in her bra-over-shirt ensemble during PFW this February. Getty Images for Acne

“The feminine urge to wear a pretty bra over your shirt,” raved Christinaa TikTok content creator, in a recent video. The funky fashionista rocked a little black bra over a white tee, which she paired with a striped button-up shirt, baggy denim jeans, a thick black belt and distressed sneakers.

Catriona, 25, a freelance artist, also gave virtual fans a peek at her look-at-me attire, posing in a sexy, see-through black bra fastened onto a white and yellow top.

“One thing about me,” the brunette captioned her clip. “I love wearing a bra over my shirt.”

NYC clotheshorse Tasha loves the look so much that she hand-stitched a black bra atop a white crew neck. The DIY duds are reminiscent of ready-to-wear label Vaquera’s $125 “Bra T-shirt,” a short-sleeve number featuring a printed image of lacy lingerie.

Jess, a Philadelphia-based fashion plate, recently wowed with a sexy bra from Rihanna’s Fenty X Savage collection over a “Brat” stamped baby tee, edgily living up to singer Charli XCX’s redefinition of the Gen Z buzzword for chaotic cool-girl.

Brat as it may be, however, not everyone’s going gaga over the grungy glam.

“This look puts the ‘bra’ in ‘Brat,’” Emmy-winning stylist Carson Kressley tells The Post.

“It is very Brat. Super Brat. Totally Brat,” he raved before lowering the boom. “[But it’s] just not a good idea.”

The in vogue expert, of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and “Queer Eye” fame, says a bra should be a show a support — rather than a showy accessory.

“Call me old fashioned, said Kressley. “It’s a fashion ‘don’t’ for me.”

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