(Paris) We see through it and no brand gets through it anymore: in fashion, transparency has reached a devastating paroxysm, raising practical questions – especially when getting dressed in the morning –, political and even legal, according to experts .
Clothing made of tulle, organza, fishnet or chiffon revealing the skin began to become recurrent in 2023. In 2024, it is on the rise, including in the most classic houses.
The specialist digital data and fashion site TagWalk indicates that the share of transparent looks has increased by 40% in the top 20 of the most influential brands between 2023 and 2024.
Prada sells like hot cakes a skirt as thin as cigarette paper, Givenchy has imagined a literally diaphanous white top and Rabanne crimped lace pants, while Ludovic de Saint Sernin says he makes transparency his “signature”, with a dress backless which doesn’t leave much room for mystery.
In Paris, where the Fall/Winter 2024-2025 Women’s Fashion Week is being held until Tuesday, the Yves Saint Laurent museum is presenting an exhibition until August 25 Transparencies, the power of materials at the couturier, who had made it a leitmotif.
The brand’s current artistic director, Anthony Vaccarello, presented on Tuesday a collection entirely on this theme, made in silk veil, like the material of the tights, for a very sensual result which did not please everyone.
“Body positive”
“Too many breasts,” raged the fashion editor of New York Times Vanessa Friedman, who had fun counting “only 12 looks out of 48” without visible nipples under the garment, emphasizing with humor that the photos from the fashion show cannot be published in her “family diary”.
In 1968, YSL’s first translucent silk shirt, which would be called the “see-through blouse”, had already earned him the wrath of puritanical America, reminds AFP of his biographer, Laurence Benaïm, commissioner of the ‘exposure The crossing of appearances at the Center Pompidou, in Paris.
And, in 2000, Jennifer Lopez’s transparent dress at the Grammy Awards – a look that panicked Internet users, including not only fashionistas – pushed Google to launch its search tool, which became “Google Images”.
“At this moment in the 21st centurye century, this transparency is simply the most banal of misogynistic provocations”, criticizes Mme Friedman, denouncing in this “pseudo-trend” a desire to “objectify” women.
But this taste for showing off, a macro trend from the beginning of the century well beyond fashion, is for others a logical continuation of the “body positive” movement to liberate women’s bodies.
Historically, “transparency has meant freedom,” recalls writer Laurence Benaïm.
“Being a woman and being able to wear transparent clothing in everyday life, even when cycling, should now be possible,” adds designer Marine Serre to AFP. “It’s time to be able to have clothes that allow us to breathe and be graceful.”
15,000 euros fine
Freedom sometimes ends where the Penal Code begins. In Paris this week, the Australian Bianca Censori – who the press supposes to be under the influence of her husband, the rapper Kayne West, who would make her wear transparent outfits – once again appeared in an outfit revealing her anatomy: transparent pantyhose without underwear.
“There is a difference between a parade in a private space where the public is present and knows what to expect, and the question of wearing (these pieces) in a public space”, where the offense of sexual exhibition, formerly called “outrage of modesty”, is punishable by one year of imprisonment and a fine of 15,000 euros, recalls Me Avi Bitton, criminal lawyer.
So how can you wear this trend without ending up in prison?
“It depends on your daily life, but even the visible panty option, for a majority of people, is not an option,” reminds the stylist collaborating with the magazine Cosmopolitan Clémence Guillerm.
“To approach transparency in a wearable look, we can start with a skirt, the simplest. With for example a pencil or midi skirt that hits the knees and a short lining or another small skirt underneath,” suggests the style expert.
“For the top, we can imagine an opaque leotard, perhaps flesh-colored, and a transparent top, with a blazer for those who don’t yet dare,” also advises Clémence Guillerm.