The Sluttiest Thing A Man Can Wear Is A Crop Top

Right now, there are a few all-consuming things occupying my gratitude journal: summer, Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine Tour, and the new additions to my roster of yummy Internet Boyfriends — specifically Belmont Cameli.

Like the rest of the population, I’ve been *respectfully* thirsting over every morsel of the Off Campus star’s content on my FYP. But the clips I’m instantly forwarding to my group chats aren’t the montages of his shirtless scenes or bare buttocks; they’re edits of Cameli in tiny little tops, with the promise of a flash of tummy.

My feelings aren’t exclusive to him, either; I’ve realized the true object of my affection isn’t any single heartthrob — it’s the missing inches of fabric. I’m poly-crop-top thirsty, fully committed to the silhouette rather than the person. Long before current TV characters popularized it, this exact styling choice was laying a foundation across music history. I still think back to Kid Cudi’s raw-hemmed 2014 Coachella look, Bad Bunny’s shrunken black tee mirror selfies, and Harry Styles’s knit sweater from his 2020 music video for “Watermelon Sugar.”

The One Direction alum has since adopted the look into his style DNA, recently wearing a tight baby tee for his 2026 album, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally.

The global icons of BTS have long been wearing crop tops to concerts, too. Longtime members of the ARMY know certain songs called for a wardrobe change involving a shortened hemline. Jungkook’s “Fake Love” performance practically became synonymous with baring abs. Years later, in 2023, he starred in Calvin Klein’s Fall 2023 campaign in not one, but two cropped ’fits, which included a tank and a baby tee.

Hollywood is slowly following suit. Jeremy Allen White recently wore a cropped striped polo shirt after famously rocking one when he posed for Entertainment Weekly to promote the film The Iron Claw in 2023. (Cultural commentator Evan Ross Katz even coined the term “slutty little crop top” in an Instagram reaction post to that exact shoot.)

Over on magazine stands, Hudson Williams and Connor Storie almost broke the internet last December with their GQ Hype cover, posing in soaking-wet white T-shirts cut right at the waist.

A tiny stomach sliver shouldn’t have this much power over me, yet here we are. But what gets me isn’t exactly the bare skin of it all; it’s that these leading men are challenging what’s historically been off-limits to them sartorially.

For decades, crop tops were seen as “feminine.” As a result, men steered clear of the style, as well as other traditionally “girly” elements like flowy skirts, the color pink, and makeup. But in recent years, Hollywood’s most thirsted-after stars are flipping gender roles, wearing whatever the hell they want, and it’s so, so hot. It’s making me and the rest of the internet-dwelling population completely feral.

“Unfortunately jeremy allen white in a crop top has completely undone me,” one X user posted. Another said, “Hudson in a crop top is actually all I need.” My personal favorites are the hilarious remarks in Cameli’s stylist’s Instagram comments section. “Please spare my life.. i have classes to teach,” one person replied to Sydney Lopez’s photo carousel of the actor’s iconic Bustle shoot, no less.

Contrary to leading men from the past couple of decades who were stereotypical jocks (One Tree Hill) or bad boys (The O.C.), these modern hotties aren’t cosplaying as traditional “alpha” males. Instead, audiences are attracted to their confidence — and that absolute nonchalance about leaning into a softer side versus a rigid, outdated “masculinity.” Which, yuck.