The ‘Nearly Naked’ Dress: Fashion Forward or Fashion Faux Pas?

(Image courtesy of The Independent)

25th October 2021

By Sophie Humphrey

Our Instagram feeds have undeniably been inundated with pictures of the most glamorous celebrity outfits this season, all of which are guaranteed to give you extreme wardrobe envy. However, one trend of note has grown in popularity this season within the world of pop-culture.

The ‘nearly naked’ dress has been turning heads on the red carpet with the controversial nature of the style. Originally the emergence of this style traces back to being worn by Rihanna in 2014 at the CFDA awards, but has increasingly grown in popularity this season, rocked by the likes of Megan Fox, Kendall Jenner, and Zoe Kravitz to name but a few.

The ‘nearly naked’ style dresses consist of a net-like or sheer material, with the slinkiness and transparency of the materials accentuating the shape of the body. In many of the red carpet looks the style of dress has been embellished to glamorise its appearance, such as the Swarovski crystals lacing Rihanna’s 2014 naked gown.

(Image courtesy of self.com)

So, what’s the big deal and why are these dresses so trendy? The glamour and sparkle of the dresses makes them eye-catching, giving them the wow-factor on the red carpet that we expect. Yet despite the elegance and glamour of the style, there is something unique about the impact that the ‘nearly naked’ dress has.

What makes this so incredible is the outward confidence and body positivity it inspires. It’s so important that the likes of Dua Lipa and Jordyn Woods are baring all in these incredible dresses, to promote body confidence and encouraging body positivity to their young, majority female audience. Body positive figures such as Lizzo have also been pictured in this style of dress, which celebrates the versatility of the ‘nearly naked’ dress across a variety of body shapes.

However, images of Lizzo in her dress have been highly criticised in the media, with just one of the articles adopting the headline ‘Lizzo leaves NOTHING to the imagination’. Her own response to this stated: ‘Why you worried about me?’. This style of dress has been sensationalised in the media because of its transgressive nature – Lizzo celebrates her body despite not fitting into the media’s patriarchal expectations of the female figure, which we personally love to see!

These dresses celebrate self-love rather than sexualising the female body. Not only does it encourage women to have confidence in our own bodies but teaches us that not all bodies have to be the same shape or size. Social media platforms urge women to subscribe to an image of beauty which neglects plus size beauties such as Lizzo. So yes, these dresses are incredibly beautiful and elegantly grace the bodies the lay upon, but they really mean more than that. The trend of the ‘nearly naked’ dress is fashion forward for the body conscious generation that social media has bred, urging women to be confident in their own skin.