Cutouts, Sheer Dresses, No Pants: How to Pull Off ‘Naked Dressing’

Corcoran’s niece, 28, stepped in, telling her aunt the flesh flash looked fabulous. Reassured, Corcoran donned the dress sans underpinnings to a formal Manhattan event. Disaster did not ensue.

“Naked dressing”—apparel that leaves little to the imagination—has been dominating runways and red carpets. Kendall Jenner eschewed pants for her 2023 Met Gala look; model Ashley Graham wore a sheer Prada mini to a May fete in Cannes; and Zendaya essentially donned a bra at 2023’s NAACP Image Awards.

“The idea of skin-baring gets bad PR,” said New York stylist Steven La Fuente. “We’re seeing extreme versions on red carpets and it can look ridiculous. Like, we’d never go out looking this.” And yet, he said, most anyone can wear more subdued takes on the evident-epidermis trend. “Everyone says the number-one step is to have confidence. But more important is having the right base layer,” he said. Once you get that, “any body type can wear these things.” Even so, a little swagger doesn’t hurt. After triumphantly debuting her bare(ish) torso in New York, Corcoran decided to take her dress to a Boston fundraiser. “I’m going to rock it with the cutout,” she declared. “I will wear it again and again.” Here, clever ways to dress a little more nakedly than usual for all sorts of occasions, from nights out to days in the office (yes, really).

Sheer Clothing

If you don’t share genes with Gypsy Rose Lee, or if you’re simply new to naked dressing, sheer is the easiest point of entry—and has been for decades, said Amanda Suter, owner of online boutique Butch Wax Vintage, where transparent pieces from the 1930s and ’90s are in high demand. To start, pull a sheer maxi dress over an opaque slip, said Washington, D.C., stylist Naina Singla, creating an illusion of exposure. Los Angeles stylist Emily Men, 35, sports such layered, diaphanous looks to work events, dinner with her parents and even the grocery store. “If I happen to be wearing that and need to swing by Whole Foods, I have no problem,” said Men. Easier than a see-through dress is a sheer blouse, which Singla deems appropriate for most offices—provided it’s paired with a cami beneath or a blazer on top.

Cutouts

“What are we going to cut out next?” joked Sarah Hoover, referencing fashion’s gopher-like obsession with holes. While growing up in Indiana, the New York writer, now 38, tried to channel the “pretty rad” cutout Hunza G mini dress Julia Roberts wore in 1990’s “Pretty Woman.” (Fun fact: The brand has reissued it in multiple colors.) Hoover has lately favored high-fashion iterations of the flesh-baring outfits she coveted as a teen. “It’s been interesting and fun to see how much you can get away with,” she said. Singla finds side cutouts most approachable for her clients, while La Fuente suggests starting with bare shoulders. Worried about showing too much skin? La Fuente advises “Frankensteining” together combos of sheer bodysuits (or slips) and cutout wares, an approach that Liane Wiggins, head of womenswear at e-retailer Matches, said is proving popular among customers.

Bra Tops

“I love wearing a bra with really oversize trousers,” said Carrie Barber, 38, the Los Angeles founder of Make Beauty. At six-feet tall, she long struggled to find traditionally sexy clothes in non-Lilliputian proportions. Now proudly statuesque, she feels most empowered in untraditional options, like high-waist pants, a bra top and a roomy blazer. “I like to be sexy but half covered,” she said. Wiggins agrees bra tops work best when anchored by down-to-earth elements. Matches’s shoppers are buying tone-on-tone outfits in fabrics like linen, she said, and bras with support and structure. Julie Macklowe, 45, the New York founder of the Macklowe Whiskey and a naked-dressing veteran, took the look formal for a 2022 event, donning a modern Dior sports bra with a vintage striped ball skirt. “If I’d done that 10 years ago, people would have said ‘What is Julie wearing?’ Now people are like ‘I love that outfit.’”

No Pants

“Novices need not apply,” said La Fuente of pants-free fashion. “It’s intimidating. You don’t have to go there.” Instead, he advocates beginners nod toward bottomlessness by pulling a sheer skirt over something safe but small, like boy shorts. Dare to be barer? Singla proposes teaming a long blazer with stockings. “It’s intriguing but classy,” she said. La Fuente seconds that idea but adds hot pants in a color and texture that make them “feel intentional, not like a wardrobe malfunction.” If determined to conquer this double-black-diamond naked trend and go truly pantsless à la Cher in 1989’s “If I Could Turn Back Time” video or Lady Gaga in the 2010s, opt for opaque tights, briefs and an ample sweater or jacket. “It’s a balance of, ‘I don’t have pants on but I’m fully covered,’” said Barber, who touts the comfort of going sans pants. “I wear it more for me than for anyone else.”’

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