JANET STREET-PORTER: No more nipples please! Why publicity-hungry stars ditching their bras in the name of girl power have set feminism back 50 years

Paris has been flooded with nipples this week.

Some nips are more acceptable than others, in the strange world of modern body politics.

At the Yves St Laurent couture show, an army of fashion-forward perky nipples combined with big pants was lapped up by fashion editors as the epitome of high chic. A brave few had the guts to declare the relentless parade of bare flesh ‘boring’.

A handful of publicity-hungry VIPs in the front row dared to turn up bra-less in their free clothes, much to the joy of the assembled press.

But removing your underwear to make a splash can be risky – as Kanye West’s wife Bianca Censori found out when she received the thumbs down for her topless and bottomless dinner dress (if you could call it that) worn to a posh restaurant in the same city a day earlier.

Bianca might be a laughing stock but other topless women have fared better. Actress Florence Pugh (an enthusiastic fan of the full-frontal display) says critics are making a big fuss about nothing. That women should be able to show their breasts and not attract sexist comments or criticism.

Bianca Censori put on a defiant display as she stepped out for dinner with her husband Kanye West in Paris this week

Models are pictured wearing no bras as they Paris Fashion Week on February 27

Janet Street-Porter (pictured) writes that the publicity-hungry stars ditching their bras in the name of girl power have set feminism back 50 years

Oh, if only life was that simple.

Getting your t**s out and claiming it’s an act of empowerment is a downright lie. Gratutitous nudity is divisive and makes many women feel inferior, old and ugly. Everything we’ve been trying to eradicate in the last decade or so.

Back in the 1960s, when feminists burned their bras, they claimed women had the right to dress how they liked. They didn’t say never wear a bra again. A bra isn’t some piece of clothing designed to cut women down to size. It serves a practical purpose. Since then, women’s underwear has been revolutionised – it’s cheap, comfortable and there’s a bra for everyone who wants one.

Selling the no-bra look as high fashion is a sign that top designers aren’t interested in appealing to all women, they aren’t interested in equality or the real lives we lead, as opposed to a few high-profile moments on the red carpet. They are obsessed, like many of their famous clients, with only one thing – getting noticed, flogging their brand and propping up their share price.

The current trend of exposing your flesh in the name of feminism started in July 2022, when Florence Pugh wore a transparent pink dress by another couturier, Valentino (accessorised with a nose ring) and the pictures received huge coverage worldwide. She said ‘we’ve become so terrified of the human body that we can’t ever look at my two cute little nipples behind fabric in a way that isn’t sexual’.

Removing your underwear to make a splash can be risky – as Kanye West’s wife Bianca Censori found out when she received the thumbs down for her topless and bottomless dinner dress (if you could call it that) worn to a posh restaurant in Paris 

A model walks the runway during the Saint Laurent Womenswear Fall/Winter 2024-2025 show as part of Paris Fashion Week

At the Yves St Laurent couture show, an army of fashion-forward perky nipples combined with big pants was lapped up by fashion editors as the epitome of high chic

Before then, actresses and celebrities were opting for controlled nudity on the red carpet to ensure maximum press coverage – using their bodies to flog films, records, whatever. From Kim Kardashian to countless young actresses, flashing a bit of flesh always guarantees you will be noticed.

First it was the strategic leg stuck out at a ridiculous angle in a split skirt. Then the side boob – how ugly was that? Now, it’s nipples. It’s got nothing to do with freedom of expression and everything to do with one upmanship, the art of the sell. Promoting a designer’s name by using your body. Nowadays you can promote a film with your nipples.

Good luck, but don’t say it’s new, it’s groundbreaking, because it’s not.

It’s politically naive.

Worn by beautiful models with the bodies of boyish teenagers at the Yves St Laurent fashion show, sheer blouses and transparent skirts made from the same fragile nylon as fine tights, the garments might look elegant- but practical- no way! Since 2016, Yves St Laurent designer Anthony Vaccarello has created body-conscious and brilliantly tailored clothes which have been hugely successful and widely copied.

The current trend of exposing your flesh in the name of feminism started in July 2022, when Florence Pugh wore a transparent pink dress by another couturier, Valentino (accessorised with a nose ring) and the pictures received huge coverage worldwide

They have never been slutty. But last year, St Laurent, like many of the couture houses, suffered a drop in sales. And the best way to get publicity seems to have been to jump on the nudity bandwagon. It helped that Instagram ‘banned’ nipples, so you could claim to be making a stand. Top designers, like Chloe and Valentino, have also created sheer garments which have been eagerly worn by stars like Zendaya, Florence Pugh, Kendall Jenner and Dua Lipa at major events.

Women with the bodies of a child or young teenager. No women over 40 would be seen dead in a topless frock, it is the ultimate sign of desperation, of craving attention at any price. Both Kate Moss and Linda Evangelista turned up at the St Laurent show wearing big coats. That was a political statement.

Others were more willing to expose themselves in return for publicity.

Braless in the front row at St Laurent, proudly wearing her free slithery top, sat 32 year old Georgia May Jagger, along with 39 year old Olivia Wilde, sometime actress and director and former Harry Styles ex-girlfriend, whose last film Don’t Worry Darling received appalling reviews. Olivia, in a sheer body stocking, aviator sunglasses and pencil skirt, looked amazing. This woman must spend hours honing a perfect body in the gym.

Some people might say that Kanye West’s wife Bianca Censori also has a wonderful body, a curvaceous and rounded physique, the kind of body that a century ago artists and painters dreamt about, but one that the fashion industry tends to ignore these days, in spite of claiming fashion is more accessible and inclusive.

 Kanye West and his wife Bianca Censori step out for dinner at Ferdi restaurant in Paris this week

A day or so before the St Laurent show, a garment made with the same kind of thin fabric, worn by Bianca Censori, attracted nothing but sneers, not to mention threats of a fine for breaking French public decency laws. The mute muse attracted plenty of attention when the couple went out for dinner in Paris, and Bianca seemed to have forgotten not just her bra, but her pants as well.

This odd couple have spent months touring Europe with Bianca parading in a series of ugly garments, presumably designed by her husband. They have certainly ensured he is never out of the press, despite his controversial reputation. She seems happy to be paraded like a show pony, walking alongside the great man (who is generally covered from head to foot in baggy clothes and wearing a mask). Bianca doesn’t seem particularly happy to me.

In the precious picky world of high fashion, fashion editors might claim transparency is the latest thing, but it’s nothing new. Yves St Laurent made the first ‘see through’ blouse in 1966- a truly revolutionary gesture at the time. He subsequently posed totally naked for the advertising campaign for his first men’s fragrance, Pour Homme, photographed by the legendary Jeanloup Sieff.

Yves St Laurent said at the time ‘there is nothing more beautiful than a naked body’ and there’s currently an exhibition entitled ‘Transparency’ currently running at his museum in Paris.

He would be appalled by nipplegate.

As for Kim Kardashian’s Teardrop bra with an embedded nipple – the advertising for Skims claims that a ‘faux nipple’ will provide a ‘shock factor’.

Is this what feminists fought for over half a century ago?