After the low-rise pants that have flooded much of the stores, the wide waist belts that just appeared in the latest Miu Miu show, and the return of the silver ballet flats, we should have seen it coming. Yes, we definitely should have waited for push-up bras or the (slightly flaky) gutter to return to our lives, because the signs were there. If we have already resumed with more or less success most of the trends that we experienced and wore in the late 90s and early 2000s, it should come as no surprise that the trend concerning the neckline is in the space invades. In society’s defense, it must be said that the last few years have not been particularly prosperous for the fillers, but as soon as celebrities come into action, the story begins to change. At least in theory.
Alessandra Ambrosio at the GCDS show at Milan Fashion Week. Photo: Getty
Videos and photos of Kylie Jenner at Paris Fashion Week have been circulating the internet several times, especially when the littlest of the clan arrived at the always viral Schiaparelli show. On this occasion, there was no lion on the chest, but the lack of embellishments ensured that this area shone more than the sequins on the dress itself. There was the magic of the look: seemingly simple lines that shaped Jenner’s figure and even which obscured what was supposed to be the central focus of the style, the keyhole-shaped opening. And the bra? It doesn’t seem so. The curious? Nevertheless, the effect of lifting and contracting the chest is visible.
Olivia Rodrigo wore a very similar look to the MTV Awards days earlier. It was a silver Ludovic de Saint Sernin dress with 150,000 Swarovski crystals sparkling under the spotlights and flashes. But of course: a V-neck and a bra with a push-up effect were also included. As with the Wonderbra campaigns in the United States, which starred Eva Herzigova, the “Look me in the eyes… I said in the eyes” seems to thunder. But it’s not the first time that the singer has opted for such an outfit, especially when she resorts to canonically sexy (that is, the outfit in which the traditional male gaze is implied); A quick look at his Instagram profile confirms this.
Olivia Rodrigo at the MTV Music Video Awards. Photo: Getty
Something similar happens with Selena Gómez. The performer has been under pressure about her appearance for years, and in an interview she gave to S Moda in 2011, she said she heard daily that she was “not sexy.” It wasn’t the first time, nor would it be the last, that one of the most followed women on Instagram spoke loudly and clearly about her body, which has been the subject of public debate on numerous occasions. Additionally, earlier this year she quoted a quote that many people might interpret as liberating: “I’m a little fat right now because I had fun on vacation.” So, without further ado. She unapologetically exposes her cleavage in most of her outfits: it’s a part of her and she doesn’t hide it. She hit Paris Fashion Week with two short dresses: one with polka dots signed by Jacquemus and another black one from the label Versace. She did it on her last birthday and wore a red mini dress covered in flowers. She did it at this year’s MTV afterparty, wearing another intense purple minidress with a corset top that further enhanced the breast push-up effect. She even did it in one of the scenes at the end of Only Murders in the Building (2021) when she wears a wedding dress with a strapless neckline. Court, which he seems to have taken a liking to in recent months, as he also appeared in an orange strapless dress in some photos and videos announcing his single, released at the end of August. Yes, cleavage included.
Kylie Jenner arrives at Schiaperelli’s. Photo: Getty
If this list of outfits made you think of Lindsay Lohan in Mean Girls (2004), walking down the stairs in a short black and pink strapless dress with her chest nicely gathered, we can’t blame you. In addition, the pink and white Prada that Scarlett Johansson wore at this year’s Cannes Festival highlighted the importance of bras in these months’ fashion trends. The difference is that this gesture, which shows part of the breast, had a number of negative meanings in the film scene: the femme fatale is dangerous and, depending on how she is portrayed in the script, also hollow. Suffice it to recall the professional and public treatment accorded Pamela Anderson over the years, another of those women who are now being given a little poetic justice. The narrative told us that swagger and smarts can’t go hand in hand, but what if these young celebrities helped change the rules of the game? What if they could polish what was reviled?
Margot Robbie during the promotion of the film “Barbie”. Photo: Getty
The rise and fall of WonderBra, the flagship push-up bra company, is the perfect example of how people with breasts’ relationship with underwear has changed: In 1994, a bra was no longer sold every 15 seconds (as shown in a study from emerges). the University of Michigan Business School) and more than $120 million in revenue, making it difficult to find them on Google or even Instagram, where they have just over 25,000 followers. In fact, there were few offers to buy DBApparel, the group that owned WonderBra (along with Dim and Playtex), in 2013, and even though the company was acquired by HanesBrand in 2014, the company’s earnings reports were reportedly not at all encouraging. the current business newspapers. Because although Kate Moss praised the benefits of bras for creating cleavage even on small breasts, before the New York Times Magazine or Christina Aguilera said that “everyone should have a WonderBra,” the truth is that there is no longer any padding that can be used to enhance cleavage breasts contributed. They were exclusive to the brand: every underwear brand had similar models on offer.
There are some parallels between the Canadian brand’s fluctuations in popularity and those of Victoria’s Secret. Now the brand that has classified a type of white woman, tall and thin as an angel, is immersed in an image innovation that, to the biggest skeptic, seems straight out of “The Leopard”: change everything so that nothing changes. Because Adriana Lima, Candice Swanepoel, Lily Aldridge, Gigi Hadid, Valentina Sampaio and Hailey Bieber are still there and perpetuate the previous aesthetic. Candice Huffine or Jill Kortleve are trying to create more diversity, but it’s not easy to let go of ingrained habits, even if they don’t seem to bring any benefits: the company’s losses continue, and although there are fluctuations from quarter to quarter, they fluctuate Data isn’t particularly optimistic, and not just because we haven’t recovered from the braless effects of the pandemic. Because be careful: even if it is true that intimate clothing has withstood the appeal of these months in which general fashion consumption fell, the latest study carried out by Kantar for MODACC shows that “it was the underwear category that fell most was least affected by it.” had suffered during the pandemic in the last quarter [de 2022] “The value and volume have dropped.”
Nuria Sarda, creative director of lingerie and swimwear brand Andres Sarda, says her customers have not shown particular interest in bras with increased padding. “The push-up sells, but it’s not the most successful,” he explains. “In recent years the demand for lighter, more transparent and more comfortable garments has increased and I think that at the moment it will be difficult for push-ups to become a trend as we knew it years ago: now the focus is on comfort and naturalness. “ ». Of course, he clarifies: “That doesn’t mean that we put on a push-up at a certain time when we feel like it or if it makes a dress look better on us.”
That may be (partially) the key to this problem: that the bra has become something decorative, an accessory rather than an essential part of the look. And on top of that, one that (let’s not kid ourselves) presses certain parts of the breasts. Between the Free The Nipple movement that was ubiquitous in 2012, the emergence of bralettes in 2016, and the pandemic’s impact on personal style, the voluntary re-constriction of the body seems to follow a visual rather than a social reason.
There is one final factor that should not be lost sight of, and that is false nostalgia. Selena Gómez may have grown up with Pamela Anderson starring in Baywatch and the Victoria’s Secret Angels as push-up champions, but Kylie Jenner and Olivia Rodrigo aren’t old enough to have had those references growing up. What does that mean? This allows them to recapture the aesthetics of those years without having to burden themselves with memories; perhaps with less prejudice than those who have already experienced it. A kind of blank slate that offers them the opportunity to see the push-up not as a physical imposition intended to unite and lift to meet expectations, but as what it should always be: a tool , which can be used with personal and intentional intentions . not transferable.
Pamela Anderson in a picture from 1992. Photo: Getty
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