Fil-Am designer Michelle Ochs’ Hervé Léger debut breathes new life into the bandage dress

Photos from Michelle Ochs and Hervé Léger/Instagram

“Barbie” the movie didn’t just rekindle interest in the iconic doll. During its much-documented press tour, lead actress Margot Robbie donned, among many awe-inspiring outfits, a form-fitting black and white bandage dress that paid homage to the bathing suit the first Barbie doll wore. It was by the French fashion house Hervé Léger.

The label’s skin-hugging silhouette was a fixture of the mid-2000s pop culture moment, worn by A-list Hollywood celebrities and trendsetters. Its comeback is imminent shortly after the rise of Y2K fashion. Hervé Léger just needed the right designer to push it back into the cultural zeitgeist.

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Enter Filipino-American designer Michelle Ochs. She just made her debut as Hervé Léger’s creative director at New York Fashion Week. Ochs is best known for her solo label Et Ochs, where she showcased her draping and form-fitting silhouettes. Her assignment at the French fashion house was expected to bring the Hervé Léger woman away from the shackles of the notoriously restrictive bandage dress.

“I want to give her legs. Add dimension, movement, and fluidity, that’s the goal,” she told American Vogue in an interview. “I want to relax her a little. It’s still polished, but I want to offer her more.”

The result is body-hugging dresses in contemporary shapes and hues (bright reds, steel blue, neutral grays, and beige) that transcend the current clamor for shapewear and athleisure. Of course, the classic bandage dress form is conserved with body-hugging shapes but made severe with the addition of corsetry, fringes, drapes, and asymmetrical elements.

Another notable move by Ochs is to explore the possibilities of the brand’s signature jersey material on separates—tops and pants, for example.

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The designer who was behind the now-iconic “Barbie” press tour bandage dress, says the new role “has completely been a full circle moment for me. I am so excited for the future at Hervé Léger and I am grateful for all the support and love I have received.”