Did you stash away your crop tops thinking that midriff-baring was passé? Think again, as these abbreviated tops have been ruling the runways at the New York Fashion Week. What’s even more exciting is that they’re cropping up in edgy avatars in the spring-summer lines of Indian couturiers too.

So if American actress Kerry Washington’s appearance in a two-piece belly-baring Prada ensemble at the Screen Actors Guild Awards set the ball rolling for this trend, Indian actresses like Sonam Kapoor and Jacqueline Fernandez too have put their best fashion-feet forward in chic crop tops at movie promotions and award functions.

And what’s making this belly-baring top all the rage is its versatility. It can be paired with anything from a sari to cigarette pants and styled both casually and formally. “That apart, as a generation when we spend time at the gym, watching our diet and taking care of our figure, we do want to flaunt it and a crop top only helps showing off that toned midriff,” says Dev of the designer label dev r nil.

You could say that Dev and Nil’s crop tops are almost a bridge between ethnic and Western wear. So, the same cropped shirt can be teamed with both a pair of palazzo pants and a sari. “Our choli-style crop tops work for resort wear with a sarong as well as for travel with throws and jackets and even for a beach wedding when paired with a chiffon sari,” adds Dev.

The dev r nil spring-summer line features cropped shirts with embroidered and cutwork collars while the dressy crop tops inspired by cholis and bralets are embellished with mirrorwork, sequins and beads over prints. These’ve been paired with palazzos, long flowing and pencil skirts, saris and pants.

Kavita Bhartia however has paired them with different kinds of skirts. Her trimmed tops have been detailed with delicate embroidery and sequin-work for a distinctly feminine feel. Similarly, a blend of east and West is also visible in Deepika Govind’s creations. “Crop tops are associated with Western silhouettes. But I teamed them with long skirts inspired partly by dresses worn by Greek goddesses and to some extent by the sari drape,” says Govind.

Her eveningwear collection includes crop tops teamed with long ankle-length “drape-inspired skirts” that come with embroidered silk wraps over them. Additionally, some cropped tops are also layered with knee-length silk jackets. Govind has detailed them with chintz prints (featuring floral and geometric patterns) and a hint of embroidery.

And if you’re looking for a combination of embroidery and striking prints then try trimmed tops from Anita Dongre’s Global Desi and AND lines. So, prints and eyelet embroidery embellish crop tops that are part of AND’S My Spot In The Sun line while Global Desi’s Big Love For Big Ears line offers these belly-baring creations with cutwork and lace inserts.

“Slim fitted crop tops should be worn with circle skirts and palazzo pants whereas boxy ones can be paired with pencil skirts and high- waist cigarette pants,” suggests Dongre.

And for the bolder and more willing to experiment there are Mumbai-based designer Payal Singhal’s ensembles. For example there’s an emerald green cropped choli-top with an attached dupatta and a slim fitted churidar skirt with zardosi embroidery. The designer has also teamed them up with high-waisted skirts and saris apart from the churidar skirts.

“We’ve done monochromatic prints as well as bright colourful ones in aqua with fuchsia and neon green,” says Singhal whose cropped creations are priced from Rs 8,000 onwards. Dev and Nil have kept their crop top colours bold so they stand out and add a zing to neutral-coloured clothes. So reds and royal blues have been paired with the beiges and whites. While flowing crops top are crafted in chiffon, the cropped shirts have been fashioned in cotton or crepe and priced between Rs 6,000 and Rs 12,000.

Priced Rs 1,099 onwards Dongre’s AND line comes in blue, white and deep purple hues while the colour palette for Global Desi includes yellow, pink and orange with hints of ink-blue and black. The designer has picked fabrics like cotton, textured knits and linen for the AND line while the materials used in the Global Desi crop tops are predominantly lightweight like viscose, Lycra, linen and various types of rayon like rayon linen and rayon crepe.

On the other hand Bhartia’s picked mesh and georgette to create crop tops, tagged between Rs 6,000 and Rs 12,000 in tones like nude, off-white, moss green and beige. On the contrary Govind’s choice of hues include leaf greens, shades of aqua, antique gold and copper in luxe silks like satin silk, silk tissue and silk brocade.

So come spring and you can dare to bare that toned belly in these dressy and chic crop tops for there are styles galore.