Many of the fashion world’s more avant-garde players have tested out freeing the nipple, going back to at least the ’90s, courtesy of folks like Tyra Banks and Madonna.
Decades later, in 2012, filmmaker Lina Esco launched the #freethenipple movement, which rallied for a woman’s right to legally bare breasts in public spaces. While it wasn’t created as a fashion industry tie-in, celebs like Rihanna and Miley Cyrus have supported the cause with highly publicized and politicized ensembles.
In recent years, however, fashion has practically co-opted the movement. Baring nips has gotten a whole lot trendier, and is often interpreted as a daring style choice rather than a radical act. But no year in fashion history has been as nipply as 2023.
Few venues have been exempt. During fashion weeks (from New York to Paris), designers like Carolina Herrera, Gucci, and Hermés all sent risqué designs down their runways, while attendees rocked the racy style in front rows.
Even more traditionally buttoned-up events, like the Oscars or its after-parties, featured scantily clad attendees — such as Emily Ratajkowski, who wore a sheer Feben gown to the Vanity Fair after-party.
While Ratajkowski has certainly helped popularize the trend, she hasn’t been alone. Many of the industry’s most in-demand folks, such as Kendall Jenner, Julia Fox, and Florence Pugh, routinely turn up in sheer or barely-there ensembles.
So as 2023 comes to a close, look back at eight of this year’s splashiest free-the-nipple looks.
Kendall Jenner
No stranger to NSFW looks, Jenner has been freeing the nipple since she made her NYFW debut with Marc Jacobs in 2014. For almost a decade since, she’s been showing them off in the chicest of ensembles at just about any event, from girls’ night to the 2022 Met Gala.
“I really don’t see what the big deal is with going braless,” Jenner wrote in 2016 on her now-defunct app. “It’s comfortable and I’m cool with my breasts. That’s it!”
This year, she doubled down on the trend, baring nips more regularly. One of her chicest moments came in January, to attend Lori Harvey’s Los Angeles birthday party. Jenner wore a see-through dress by Ludovic de Saint Sernin, which also exposed her thong.
Dua Lipa
While Lipa’s Barbie character exclusively wears seashell bras, the “Levitating” singer did away with the lingerie item altogether when she attended the world premiere for the Golden Globe-nominated film.
She rolled up to the LA event in a see-through, crystal-encrusted mesh dress. The sparkly Bottega Veneta number also exposed a white thong.
Julia Fox
At the Cannes Film Festival in May, the Down the Drain author painted her nipples gold and encased them in a clear, sculptural breast plate, which had built-in nips.
“Whether I was realizing it or not, I think my appearance is very much to please the male gaze in a way,” Fox said in an interview with Emma Barnett on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour. “And then something happened, I don’t know if it was motherhood or being thrust into the public eye. And I was like, I don’t want to uphold this anymore. I want to dress for the girls.”
Kim Kardashian
In October, Kardashian released the Ultimate Nipple Bra under her intimates label SKIMs, and it’s exactly what it sounds like: a brassiere with built-in nipples. It sold out immediately.
The KUWTK alum, a longtime nip-freer, previously discussed her decision to bare breasts in a now-defunct blog. In a 2016 post titled “Sheer Nipple Vibes,” she wrote, “I have always loved sheer — I just don’t GAF, LOL.”
While the product launch had major shock value, it also catered to an underserved market. Tiffany Reid, Bustle Digital Group’s Senior Vice President of Fashion, previously told Bustle, “Maybe without her realizing, she is serving women who have had mastectomies and are struggling with the loss of their nipples, which can [affect] a woman’s sense of identity.”
Beyoncé
Unlike others on this list, Beyoncé rarely bares her breasts. But that doesn’t mean she’s eschewed the trend entirely.
During her Renaissance World Tour, during which she sported more than 100 outfits, she wore a shiny catsuit by Marine Serre. She wore the piece, which came equipped with a nippled chain bra harness, for a July 22 Chicago performance.
Then in October, she turned heads in another nippled item: To support Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour premiere in Los Angeles, she wore a breast plate created by LaQuan Smith.
Florence Pugh
Before Pugh became one of the foremost proponents of the trend, she received backlash for it. In July 2022, the Oppenheimer star attended a Valentino Fashion Week show in a diaphanous pink gown that exposed her breasts. She instantly received vitriol for the choice.
She responded on Instagram: “Why are you so scared of breasts? Small? Large? Left? Right? Only one? Maybe none? What. Is. So. Terrifying.”
Instead of cowering to haters, the actor chose additional sheer numbers in 2023, like in July, when she attended another Valentino show in a billowy lilac gown.
Doja Cat
Doja Cat is no stranger to shocking, avant-garde ensembles. (Remember when she showed up to the 2023 Met Gala as a cat, or when she wrapped her entire body in red Swarovski crystals?) So it’s no surprise that the fashion provocateur also embraces risqué dressing. She has flaunted nips on magazine covers, at parties, and for red carpet events.
At the 2023 MTV VMAs in September, the “Get Into It” rapper married her two sartorial tendencies — racy and experimental — in a gauzy knitted dress by Monse, which resembled a distressed spiderweb.
Naomi Campbell
Campbell has been a nip-baring champion since the ’90s. The supermodel made a similar, if not buzzier, wave during the Spring 2024 fashion season.
To launch her capsule collection with PrettyLittleThing — an 82-piece assortment of going-out dresses and snazzy power suits designed by the model — Campbell took to the runway in a sheer silver dress from the collection. The nip-baring look was subtle under the bedazzled fabric, especially compared to other revealing Fashion Week looks.
