While we’ve been seeing crop tops and bared stomachs on the runway for a good couple of years now, the reality is that it’s a trend with little hope of reaching a point of mass consumption any time soon. Why? Simply because we live in a body conscious age where it’s only the minority of people daring enough to expose that much skin. That said, spring 2011 will push the trend forwards and further into the mainstream (if not the masses).

As a 2011 fashion trend the crop top is not just about exposing one’s whole stomach, but about finding elegant new ways of showing a peep of toned midriff. Yes there’s the crop top of the grunge-revival. Yes there’s the crop top of the sportswear-as-daywear trend. But there’s also the crop top as a sophisticated, refined piece that some will embrace as a look not to be feared. Read on for these examples and more.

Paul and Joe, SS11

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Crop tops in 2011

The styles on the spring 2011 runways were many and various; from teeny, tiny tops to the smallest hints of skin. To break it down, here are some of the different ways we’ve seen cropped tops on the runway:

• With elegance: the merest slit along the waistline of a dress, turning it into a two-piece ensemble broken up only by a shallow hint of skin. YSL and Chloe were spring 2011 masters of this subtle take.

Elegantly bared midriff at Yves Saint Laurent, SS11

• Fighting fit with stomach fully bared: Rag & Bone and Ohne Titel brought us sporty examples that are perfectly sexy for those with the confidence to pull them off. These type of cropped tops end just below the bust, and were paired with hipster pants for a revealing end result. You could just as easily substitute the hip-huggers for a high waisted bottom half, though, if you wanted to add some modesty.

Sporty crop top at Rag & Bone, SS11

• Beneath a sheer layer: adding a layer of transparent fabric is the perfect way to combine the ongoing popularity of the sheer trend with the newness of the exposed midriff.

Sheer layered over a crop top Richard Chai, SS11

• With cutaway detailing: expect many dresses to hit the shelves with cutaway details that expose parts of the stomach or midriff.

Cutaway midriff at 3.1 Phillip Lim, SS11

Crop top trend updates

Crop tops in 2009

What follows is an ‘archive’ of the crop top / exposed midriff trend as it was when we first wrote about it in 2009. We’ve left it here in order to aide the comparisons between how the trend was and how it is today.

Get out your credit cards and book a gym membership ladies because, as if muffin top wasn’t a scary enough prospect, here comes the Spring / Summer 2009 exposed midriff trend.

Who Should Wear The Trend

Skinny girls only.

I don’t mean to cause a body-image crisis here, but let’s face facts: hipster jeans ended up so low that on many a girl they were a pure turn off, as opposed to the wardrobe revolution we were promised. And it’ll be much the same for the 2009′s exposed waistline look.

How To Wear It

There are two other trends that seem to have worked particularly well with this trend on the catwalks; the experimentation with pant shapes (i.e. not wearing a crop top with a tight pair of pants) and the see-through fashion trend.

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