It seems as though it was only yesterday when bare midriffs were all the rage in the fashion world. From the glamorous runways to the streets and bars of towns and cities, many young women were sporting this hard-to-rock look, which looked best on the figures of those who clearly spent more than a few days a week at the gym. Yet after a few years, midriff-baring tops soon began to give way to today’s softer-flowing fabrics and more forgiving cuts, leaving some to wonder: are short shirts that reveal midriff still fashionable?

Midriff-baring shirts hit the height of their popularity in the mid-nineties, around the same time as the arrival of the low-rise jeans. Like all fashion trends, the midriff-baring shirt was born out of a response to the larger and heavier fabrics of the eighties and early nineties, which tended to overwhelm and weigh down more petite frames. Shirts and fashionable tops that exposed the midriff were seen as a breath of fresh air, a flirty and fierce style that played up the confidence and youth of all women who sported the look. Stomachs were on full display in the midst of the midriff-baring trend, with little indication that it would ever end.

However, given the excessive amount of bare skin, midriff-baring shirts soon gained a rather unsavory reputation, especially when paired with increasingly low-rise jeans or miniskirts. Soon, there was an overabundance of skin everywhere, and not just at the local bar or club – school districts started to crack down on the midriff-baring epidemic, which was deemed to be too distracting and inappropriate for the classroom. Eventually, the fashion world extended the hemlines of fashionable tops and shirts, declaring that showing too much skin was no longer considered demure and sexy.

Given the current fashion trends, midriff-baring shirts are definitely considered out-of-style. Pick up a copy of your favorite fashion magazine or watch a few episodes of a style channel and you’ll hardly see an ounce of bare midriff. The more popular stomach-baring shirts of the nineties have now been replaced by voluminous shirts in bright and fun colors, or fitted shirts with flirty graphic prints. In fact, one of the more popular styles this season is wearing a long shirt which has a hemline that hits past the waist – which is an extreme opposite from a shirt that exposes your midriff! This latest style trend started in response to the skinny jean look, which fits tightly around the thighs and hips and tapers into a pencil-thin ankle. Add a midriff-baring shirt to this equation, and you’ve got a recipe for a very unflattering look – especially if you’re anything above a size zero.

However, it’s no secret that the fashion world is cyclical – what is now considered out-of-style and antiquated will soon roar back as the latest trend in high fashion. So if you’re loathe to throw away your most treasured midriff-baring shirt, keep it in the back of your closet – it’ll more than likely come back in style again!