Bermuda and long shorts have gone from something people apologized for wearing to one of the defining trends of the year, and the shift has been dramatic. Once dismissed as “dadcore,” knee-grazing shorts now show up on runways from Dries Van Noten and Balenciaga to Moschino, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Ralph Lauren, and on Rihanna and Charli XCX off-duty, with the silhouette getting a real update along the way, longer, looser, and cut in fluid fabrics and neutral tones rather than the stiff, boxy khaki versions of years past. The trend has moved so far from its dad-on-vacation reputation that it’s now being described as what a fashion editor wears in casual mode.
My honest take: this one’s personal, because long shorts have basically always been my thing, long before there was runway coverage validating the choice.
I’ve never really understood the appeal of a very short short on myself, not for any body-image reason, just a comfort and proportion preference. A long short, especially an oversized one that sits looser through the leg, gives you actual coverage without going all the way to a pant, and there’s something about the proportion, that longer, slouchier line down to just above or at the knee, that I find genuinely more flattering on my frame than a tight, short-short silhouette ever has. It moves more like a skirt or a wide-leg pant than like a traditional short, which changes how the whole outfit reads.
The oversized version specifically is where I live. Not fitted Bermuda shorts, which can start to look a little too close to actual tailored trousers cut short, but a genuinely relaxed, roomy pair that you can cuff or leave loose. Paired with a simple tank and sandals, it does something a fitted short never manages, it looks deliberate and a little bit cool rather than just practical.
What’s satisfying about this trend finally arriving is less “I told you so” and more just relief that I don’t have to explain the choice anymore. For years, long shorts read as the compromise option, the thing you wore when you didn’t want to commit to short shorts. Now they’re the thing designers are putting on runways as the more sophisticated option, which tracks with how I’ve felt about them the whole time.
I’d wear long shorts regardless of whether they were trending, and I plan to keep wearing them long after this particular moment passes. Some trends catch up to you instead of the other way around.