off-the-shoulder

The term is a modern English compound, originating in the 19th century to describe a specific fashion style. It is formed transparently from the common English words "off," "the," and "shoulder," directly describing the garment's position relative to the body. The logic is entirely literal, with "off" indicating removal or absence of coverage and "shoulder" specifying the anatomical part left exposed. This descriptive construction follows a long-standing pattern in English for creating compound adjectives from prepositional phrases to denote style or position.

This is a fixed compound adjective formed from the prepositional phrase "off the shoulder." It functions as a single lexical unit.