Lisa's recent photos from her trip to Italy have left the online community "restless". Most of the attention is on her tight white shirt, barely covering her bust.

In South Korea, Lisa's fashion choice sparked much discussion about the "underboob" trend. According to Koreaboo , Lisa's outfit made it to Naver's most-viewed articles, garnering over 110,000 views.

Before Lisa, many Kpop (Korean pop) stars also caused controversy when wearing this sexy shirt (Photo: @lalalalisa_m, Kpoppost, Insight).

What is underboob?

In fact, underboob is a term used to describe a style that reveals the lower part of the bust. The New York Post once commented that underboob is a more developed variation of sideboob. Underboob is simply understood as a "super crop top" (super short shirt) with the bust often exposed 1/3 below. Meanwhile, sideboob reveals two curves on the side of the chest.

This fashion trend emerged in 2002, when Christina Aguilera was at her peak with the music video Dirrty . The singer often appeared on the MTV VMAs red carpet in a scarf wrapped as a tank top. It was the gap below the bust that created the shocking look at that time (Photo: Yahoo, Reddit).

Underboob became a fashion trend in 2017. Many women began to boldly wear their own designs or buy them from fashion brands. Celebrities such as Gigi, Bella Hadid, Lady Gaga and Ariel Winter all wore outfits that showed off their bust. Many fashion magazines at that time continuously published articles about this trend.

In addition, this sexy fashion trend also influenced the interest in underboob tattoos. The number of people getting underboob tattoos increased dramatically during this time.

Controversial fashion

When it comes to underboob, controversial is the phrase that appears the most. Because people wearing shirts following this trend are often criticized for dressing revealingly, indecently, and impolitely. Therefore, many people wonder: "What is the reason that makes it become a craze and has not been extinguished?".

ELLE believes that the answer lies in the fact that underboob helps express confidence. It also requires the wearer to feel truly comfortable and want to express body positivity. In recent years, this issue has been a top concern.

Bella Hadid, Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner are the models who have played an important role in bringing this trend back strongly. With their stylish fashion sense and huge number of followers, they easily create a great influence on the younger generation (Photo: Vogue, New York Post).

Since then, fashion retailers have also started to launch many underboob shirt models to serve customer needs. In addition, the revival of Y2K aesthetics (2000s fashion) has also contributed to promoting the underboob trend.

The highlight is the micro skirt (super short skirt) combined with an underboob sweater by Miu Miu in the Spring - Summer 2022 collection, presented at Paris Fashion Week , France. After that, a series of famous stars, fashion influencers on social networks, and even Korean idols, also wore these designs.

The above reasons have created conditions for underboob to revive. However, this trend is still considered "crazy" by normal people and not suitable for some occasions (work, dinner with parents, job interviews...). In Korea - a place famous for its rules in dress culture, it is not strange that female idols wearing underboob style clothes are criticized.