The Trend: Radical Transparency

The trend identified is transparency, which can come in many forms whether that be a sheer chiffon blouse, a dress with mesh detailing or a transparent PVC raincoat. The focus is on the concept of transparency within clothing, what it signifies and how the trend is communicated on the catwalk in comparison to the high-street

On the catwalk, many designers choose to present the sheer trend by exposing models’ nipples. It is highly likely a key driver of this trend was the feminist movement “Free the Nipple”, a campaign of which online awareness has been significantly increasing in the last few years. The hash-tag began in 2014 when American filmmaker, Lina Esco, used it to promote the film she produced and starred in, ‘Free The Nipple’ [2014]. The film is about a group of women in New York who decide to begin a revolution opposing the laws that ban female public nudity. (Tsjeng, 2015) Since 2014 the hash-tag has grown widespread support to un-ban females being topless in public, which is illegal in 37 states in the US. (Women’s Views on Views, 2015)

The campaign gained momentum when it was noticed that images on Instagram that included female nipples were being removed by the site whilst male images were not. The campaign has been well supported by celebrities, such as Miley Cyrus, Cara Delevingne and Kendall Jenner (Roberts, 2018), heightening awareness and normalising exposure of the female body.