#020: The "Naked Dress"...

The Naked Dress, sounds like a deranged name for a porno-inspired spread in Carine Roitfeld's CR: Fashion Book. It is in fact a trend that has gathered strength in the past few years. Many female megastars from Jennifer Lopez to Kim Kardashian (of course) have been leaders in the success of the "trend".

When is too much too much?
Never. Well...at times.

I can understand that the trend is somewhat controversial, but it's sexy. It takes a lot of balls to wear such a dress because, well your nips and bits could reveal themselves at any time. I will discuss those who were able to pull of the trend and those you simply looked desperate for their names in tabloids.

Jennifer Lopez has never been shy about flaunting her figure, rightly so; it's stunning. She was seen celebrating her 46th birthday recently at 1OAK wearing a black skin-tight cutout sheer dress. I'm not sure who the designer is but anyways. Most people who I've talked to about the dress seem to like it for whatever reason. Personally, not my favourite, why? it's not exactly age appropriate. Yes, she has an incredible body but there's a time and a place. Keep it for the bedroom, J.Low. Though, I should add that the top half of the dress is nice and sexy, but the skirt half is just plain ugly.

Its not the first time Lopez was spotted wearing the 'Naked Dress', remember several months ago she wore an "interesting" Versace gown, yeah...you can read what I thought about that HERE< BUT, and this is a big BUT (literally, her ass is huge) she did wear this exquisite Zuhair Murad nude gown to Vanity Fair's Oscar's Afterparty, 2015. This is tasteful. This is beautiful. This is just sheer perfection. It's so modest yet 80% of her body is on full display.

The question is, can Jennifer Lopez pull off 'The Naked Dress?' Yes, only if its done gracefully without the intention to create controversy.

Yeah, remember this Jean Paul Gaultier Spring/Summer 2011 dress Rihanna wore to the 2011 Grammy Awards? Isn't it a classic? Still to this day, it gives me the bumps, the goose bumps that is! It's beautiful. Rihanna is one starlet that constantly reinvents her style and has been an addict of the naked dress. Despite being half naked for half her career, there was one jaw-dropping moment when Rihanna wore a completely sheer dress by the incredible Adam Selman gown at the 2014 CFDA where she received the 'ICON' award, rightly so. The nips and back crack was on full display. Those lucky photographers. Despite showing every inch of her body, she decided to keep her modesty by over her front crack. The image in the middle is a rather tame "naked dress" where the boobage area was sheer in exception of the nipples; cutouts on the side and a huge slit on the side. The dress? Tom Ford of course the king of dressing woman SEXY! Unfortunately, this didn't tickle my fancy. It just looked trashy and the cut outs on the side, I thought were unflattering which made her waist too think.

Can Rihanna pull off 'The Naked Dress?' Duh!? Why couldn't she? she's young and beautiful with a banging body. Seriously though, is there anything Rihanna couldn't pull off?

You have no idea how tempted I was about reviewing Kim Kardashian's 'Naked Dress' series, because well, there is a bible size worth of images to pick from. There is no denying influence on popular culture so I couldn't leave Queen B out. It would be a crime against nature. So, Beyonce only seems to go commando once year for the Met Ball wearing Givenchy most of the time. The first image above is what Beyonce wore to the 2012 Met Ball. Isn't it incredible The craftsmanship of the Givenchy Couture haus is beyond words. Despite being covered, you can get little gimps of her skin underneath is sheer lace details, mimicking her skeleton. The second look is from 2014 where again she wore Givenchy couture. Beaded allover. Damn, that must have been heavy af! Again, it's stunning, though the overlying of the fabric around her chest area is a little bit overwhelming. And finally, this year, 2015. By far, this is probably Beyonce's most scandalous dress delivered by none other than Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy, and yes, this is couture, duh!? You can go HERE< to see what I thought. My opinion still stands! lol

Can Beyonce pull off 'The Naked Dress?' YES!


To conclude, do I like this style of dress? Yes. Only if it's done correctly. I don't like it when celebrities dress provocatively in purpose to generate a response like most. Evidently it's not for everyday use, thank god, but for editorial and "fashionny" event's it's perfect you just got to make sure you have the figure for it that is! lol There you have it. I know I should have added more diversity in terms of those who can and who can't pull off the trend, so...lol!

#012: Trends, they're not always good...

neglect

nɪˈɡlɛkt/

verb

1. 1.

   fail to care for properly.

   "the old churchyard has been sadly neglected"

   synonyms:

   fail to look after, fail to care for, fail to provide for, leave alone, abandon;

_______________________________________________________

There is no denying that I have neglected this blog over the past few weeks, if not months. I guess starting collage was a more demanding responsibility that I was not prepared for. Thankfully, I've fashioned myself a timetable where once a week I'll create a blog post. Who knows what the subject will be. Only time will tell. 

Some of you may not know the struggle for a boy who's friends drag him into high-street shops (like River Island & Topshop); the activity itself, I love, but being an active fashion follower, the ability to reference basically 80% of the stores items to designers is irritating both for me, and I'm sure them. I don't know, I guess it has become an unhealthy habit that I can't seem to shake. I guess it could be worse, I could be an active cocaine abuser, right?While the four fashion weeks progress from day to day, one can see a handful of trends developing. Once the images hit the internet, the design teams from the major fashion highstreet chains are on the ball before the runway garments even hit production. 

#1: Thigh-highs

Olivia Palermo wearing 

Stuart Weitzmen thigh-highs

Anyways, enough of my life anecdotes of my daily struggles. I've created this post to express both my concern and sheer delight of the trends that have grown over the past month or two. Let's begin with the good then the bad & ugly. Firstly, thigh-highs...need I go on? As you know, they've been around for decades, but it was only been a few seasons where I've seen them raise again. One would naturally associate thigh-highs with Kat Slater, the street's hoe (for you known UK/IRL folk, she is a character from the soup-oprah, Eastenders).

The likes of Rihanna, Beyoncé and Olivia Palermo are notorious for wearing the "trendy" staple. Clearly they've made a huge comeback, but will they survive several years, who knows? They're clearly not functional for the summer seasons so it's a guessing game. We'll just enjoy them now that we have them. In spite of being the shoe of the season, it's essential that they're worn in a heel or wedge; we don't need a baggy flat situation like the early 2000's, kay? Also, the tighter the better.

#2: Ripped Jeans

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley styling
the jeans more casually.

Kim Kardashian taking a more
aggressive approach to the trend.

Now onto the next one. I'm a bit indecisive about this trend. It has been around for many years, like the thigh-highs but recently hit the fashion-lot's radar again. Ripped Jeans. More specifically, black skinny jeans with a rip in both of the knees. At first, I was against the entire concept, lets be honest, some take took it to a whole new level. It would be safer if I didn't get too much into it. There was a brief stage where I actually quite liked the trend but as people took notice, you couldn't turn a corner without seeing a poor teenage girl trying to pull the look off. Frankly, it was a despite attempt. Sadly. All I can say is that I wish it doesn't follow into the Spring/Summer months. We don't need to see them in pretty pastel colours. Let's just keep them for the autumn/winter months. Chewing on the idea, don't they defeat the purpose? Jeans are warm, multiple holes will surely send a breeze up your, you know what...?

#3: Juju Shoes

A caption isn't necessary... 

There isn't many things that I HATE, but my God. Even though it's Winter where the temperature is in it's low-teens, people still find it socially acceptable to wear these horrid shoes. My personal opinion, I find them uglier than Crocs, yes, Crocs. I never thought it could be possible, but there you go. They come in an assortment of colours from the brightest pinks to the darkest blacks. They're typically a shinny and sometimes transparent rubbery material. They are indeed very 90's early 2000's. They don't seem to be slowing down anytime soon. I guess when the summer months hit, I can only make eye contact with the wearer (I should be doing that anyways, oops).

#4: The Blanket Cape

Olivia Palermo one of the first to wear

the stylish Autumn/Winter staple

On to a much lighter trend: The Blanket Cape. From the moment Cara Delevingne set her foot on the Burberry Spring/Summer 2015 runway, I knew we were onto a winner. Despite the practical aspect of the blanket cape, it's also very stylish. If you're not prepared to settle with the est. £1,000 price tag, the highstreet have rinsed the trend by recreating the cape with many prints and patterns. There isn't must more what I can say about the blanket cape without pouring my heart out. I lurrrve it. You should get on. 

If you think I'm missing out any other trends that are equally brilliant and horrifying, make sure to leave a little comment. Please follow this blog too to say up to date.

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