Corset hoodies fashion trend streetwear style 2024

I, like many other New Yorkers, was in Lower Manhattan on a weekday for a friend's birthday party. On the way from the F train to Mr. Fong's, I spotted a neighborhood Gen-Z fashion girl wearing a zip-up hoodie with a corset. Then, halfway through my first martini outside the bar, another woman walked by in a tight-fitting, cropped sweatshirt with an oversized hat. I thought this was pure coincidence until a third On the way home in the subway (this time the M) I came across a corset hoodie.

The corset hoodie made its high-fashion debut in 2023 with some major endorsements from Dion Lee, Mugler's collaboration with H&M, and Bad Bunny's custom Coachella look, also by Mugler. But why are the streets telling me the hype is still going strong a year later? My gut tells me Charli XCX, the unofficial queen of summer 2024, might have something to do with it.

For her party-girl DJ gigs in Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro, Charli wore a custom pair of corset hoodies, both made by streetwear couture maverick Timothy Gibbons, an Irish designer who has also outfitted pop culture phenoms like Ice Spice and Caroline Polachek. Gibbons' creations for Charli feature laced sides for maximum tightening, lots of crystals, and ugly-but-fun colors like teal and periwinkle. The body-con trend has since trickled down to retailers like PrettyLittleThing and Forever 21, where you can get a version with a ribbed panel for just $13.

While Charli’s participation in, well, everything would automatically be cool at the moment – ​​even if brat Fatigue is setting in—the corset hoodie's strength may lie in its inherent chimera. The hoodie is the ultimate signifier of comfort, while the corset is the polar opposite. So by marrying the two, designers are offering a semblance of chic without sacrificing the cozy cotton usually reserved for the airport look. This contrast, combined with Charli's undeniable staying power and the zeitgeist's ability to stick to a key style, might explain the corset hoodies I keep spotting. Shop our picks below.