A friend of mine wore a bardot top to a birthday dinner that she’d found for six dollars at a church sale, elastic already a little tired, and posted about it like she’d found the Ark of the Covenant. It caused a proper argument in our group chat that lasted two days, one side insisting she looked incredible and the price was the whole point, the other side insisting that elastic doesn’t come back once it’s gone soft and she’d be adjusting that neckline all night like a woman fixing a bra strap at a wedding. I was, embarrassingly, on both sides depending on which hour of the argument you caught me in, which tells you everything about where I actually stand on this category.
Because here’s my problem. I hunted a bardot top on resale for almost three months, refreshed the same search term at eleven at night for weeks because that’s apparently when the good European sellers list, and when it finally showed up I checked the stitching along the neckline before I even scrolled down to the price, which is a deeply unwell way to shop but I stand by it. I paid real money for that top.
I have also, in the same closet, a five dollar bardot top from a shop I can’t remember the name of that I’ve worn more times, and if I’m honest the cheap one fits better across the back, which is the kind of thing you don’t say out loud after spending what I spent.
The tucking versus leaving out debate is where I lose actual sleep.
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Tucked, it reads like an outfit, someone made a decision. Untucked, it reads like you got dressed in under four minutes and are daring anyone to comment. I’ve done both in the same week and gotten complimented both times, which either means the top is doing all the work or nobody’s actually looking that closely, and I’ve decided not to investigate further.
The straps are where every single one of these tops eventually reveals its true character. Mine slides every twenty minutes without fail, and I have tugged it back into place so many times at dinners that I’ve started doing it mid sentence like it’s a nervous habit, which honestly it now is.
If you’re built for one of these, you know it fast, and if you’re not, you’ll spend the whole night hoisting fabric and wondering why you bought it. That’s the gamble nobody warns you about before you buy one, cheap or expensive, and I still haven’t figured out which side of the argument I actually land on. I own three of these tops and I contradict myself about all of them weekly.
