Crop Tops Are Menswear's Biggest, Barest SS25 Trend
Fellas, get ready for a Hot Boy Summer. At the Spring/Summer 2025 menswear shows, designers didn't shy away from showing a little skin — specifically, the midriff.
That's right: crop tops are coming for menswear.
In Milan, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons declared "youthful optimism" the theme of their jointly designed Prada collection. "There are elements that are female, masculine, coming from mom, dad, grandad, grandmother," Simons told Vogue.
Certainly, some of the pieces looked as if they'd been hastily plucked from a gal pal's closet. Sweaters in vibrant shades of blue and yellow were constructed with a shrunken fit — they were a touch too short, showing off a slice of the models' lower abdomen.
Loewe also dabbled in exposed midriffs. Putting a playful twist on the classic polo shirt, Creative Director Jonathan Anderson cropped the collared top right above the bellybutton and cinched the hem with a pendulous, leather belt.
There was also a preponderance of summer basics like tank tops and lightweight tees, all sliced to belly-baring proportions. See: Doublet, Acne Studios, Doublet and Dsquared2 for examples.
The crop top has been a womenswear staple for decades — in a menswear context, the garment is often seen as an androgynous, gender-bending style statement.
But it seems we're slowly moving past the gendered connotations of skin-baring fashion. Celebrities like Paul Mescal and Chris Pine are normalizing men's short-shorts. And you've definitely seen the buzz around the slim, shrunken shirts Jeremy Allen White wears in The Bear.
Our notions of "men's" versus "women's" clothing are loosening, one possible explanation for the preponderance of skin on the men's runways. But there's another, more practical factor that might have something to do with the trend: Temperatures are rising.
As summers get hotter, literally, menswear is getting figuratively hotter. We'll say it again: SS25 is set to be a Hot Boy Summer.
