Celebrities brought the bare-midriff trend back from the early 2000s for the Oscars red carpet

• Celebrities brought the bare-midriff trend back from the early 2000s at the 2021 Oscars.
• Zendaya, Carey Mulligan, Andra Day, and Vanessa Kirby all wore looks that showed their waists.
• Stars like Britney Spears first made the daring looks trendy back in the early aughts.
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The 2021 Oscars took place on Sunday night in Los Angeles, and the red carpet was full of daring fashion, from dresses with cutouts to semi-sheer jumpsuits. But one of the boldest trends of the night was the return of the bare midriff.

In the early 2000s, celebrities consistently wore outfits that revealed their waists and stomachs. Hollywood fashion has seen similar styles come back in recent years – see-through dresses and no-pants looks have become prevalent – but it seems that A-list stars are leaning on nostalgic silhouettes more than ever.

Zendaya is one of them. She walked the red carpet in a fluorescent-yellow dress designed by Valentino. The gown was custom-made for the actress, and it had a bralette-style bodice that sat above a scoop-style cutout across her waist.

Andra Day also looked stunning in a custom gown that revealed part of her torso.

Vera Wang designed the look, which had a triangle-shaped cutout that extended across the left side of Day's body.

Carey Mulligan and Vanessa Kirby also wore outfits with similar effects.

Mulligan wore a metallic two-piece set from Valentino. Her sequin-covered ensemble included a small crop top and a full, high-waisted skirt, which created the illusion of a gown with a cutout across the top of her waist.

Kirby, on the other hand, wore a strapless, blush-pink dress with a tiny cutout underneath its bodice.

Unlike midriff-baring looks worn by Mulligan and Day on Sunday, the cutout on Kirby's Gucci gown didn't wrap around the back of her dress.

The looks that these stars wore on Sunday gave a red-carpet twist to the original trend that stars wore nearly two decades ago.

The cutout gowns and two-piece outfits are reminiscent of cropped shirts, cutout gowns, and low-rise jeans that were popular between the '90s and early 2000s, when stars favored midriff-baring ensembles that showcased the area between their chests and waists.

At the time, some of Hollywood's biggest celebrities frequently wore outfits that exposed their mid-sections rather than dresses with smaller cutouts.

Britney Spears was one of the biggest fans of the trend at the time. She famously wore the bare-midriff look during her performance of "Slave 4 U" at the 2001 VMAs, and she donned similar looks for appearances on shows like "TRL" in 2002.

Of course, only time will tell if the nostalgic trend will continue at future red-carpet events, but it's clear that some of Hollwood's biggest stars are already on board.