The Baby Tee, a Y2K Relic, Is Making a Comeback

Lauren Caruso had never really bought into the idea of dressing for one’s body type. “It’s incredibly limiting,” she said, adding that the concept is really just code for wanting “to look thinner or taller or attempt to reinforce other Eurocentric beauty standards.”

But as a 36-year-old who says she is 5’2” “if I stretch,” she makes one exception: baby tees.

Ms. Caruso, a freelance writer and brand consultant in Los Angeles, finds the shirt style ideal for her petite frame. “The trend is practically tailor-made for me,” she said. “Most baby tees hit me just near my belly button, which gives me more flexibility to wear it with something high-waisted.”

In September, the actress Jemima Kirke took to Instagram to share her “important T-shirt resource,” as she announced in the caption: the Swedish children’s brand Mini Rodini. In the 45-second reel, Ms. Kirke slips into a snug shirt featuring a cartoon man hoisting cartoon weights. The shirt size? 9-11 years. Her age? 39.

Baby tees — those ultra-fitted, sometimes cap-sleeved, sometimes cropped shirts — are back. And though women like Ms. Caruso or Ms. Kirke (not to mention crop-top aficionados like Kendall Jenner, Hailey Bieber and Bella Hadid) may be slender enough to wear an actual child’s shirt, there now exist many more options to span generations and body types.

Colleen Hill, senior curator of costume and accessories at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, said the return of the baby tee was part of a broader revival of ’90s and Y2K fashion trends.