Over the years, “naked dress” has been somewhat of a catch-all term for an outfit that associates itself with nudity – whether through clever illusion, by using sheer fabric, or by a lack of material altogether, such as Jennifer Lopez’s slashed-to-the-navel Versace gown at the 2000 Grammys, which caused such a frenzy it inadvertently led to the creation of Google Images. Today, Chrisman-Campbell says the term is most commonly used to describe something with “sheer, skin-coloured fabrics, maybe some lace or sequins, anything where you really have to look twice to see if the person is showing any body parts.”
Despite it being nothing we haven’t already seen before, flashing some – or rather, a lot of – flesh on the red carpet remains a powerful way to command attention. Rihanna isn’t short on dramatic fashion moments, but the bottom-baring, nipple-revealing fishnet gown – coated in more than 200,000 Swarovski crystals – she wore to accept her Fashion Icon award at the 2014 CFDA gala remains her most daring, and probably her most dissected. “It remains a great way to get eyeballs and get photographed,” says Chrisman-Campbell. “But it can be much more than that, too.”
Power undressing
She argues that the naked dress can be a powerful tool for subverting beauty norms. “A lot of celebrities and influencers have been wearing [naked dresses] to highlight their shape or their skin in a way that has traditionally not been seen on the red carpet,” she says. “Lizzo for example, wears naked dresses to show that she’s proud of her body, even though it’s not Size 2. A lot of black celebrities have worn naked dresses to highlight their skin colour, because it’s not something that has always been welcomed, for example, at the Oscars.” She points to Halle Berry’s 2002 Ellie Saab Oscar dress, which had a sheer mesh bodice covered with floral embroidery. “It was so sexy and so revealing, but she was also calling attention to the fact she has black skin and she was the first African-American woman to win best actress. When the dress went on display at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures earlier this year, Berry said she was happy it would be “accessible to generations of people for whom the dress also holds meaning and forever be a reminder that all things are possible.”
Chrisman-Campbell also points to Winnie Harlow, whose predilection for revealing dresses highlights her rare skin condition, vitiligo. “She really uses her body as a work of art to say, this isn’t something to be ashamed of, this is something to be proud of and to show off.”