Nipples, once relegated to a hidden domain beneath blouses and gowns, are no longer an uncommon sight on red carpets. The postpandemic era has brought the rise of a style known by the oxymoronic, vaguely dystopian term naked dressing, distinguished by sheer fabrics and laxer notions of propriety. But among the masses of barely concealed flesh, one event has stood above the rest: Cannes.
Maybe it’s the late-spring weather. Maybe it’s the topless tradition of the French Riviera. Whatever it is, the film festival often sees outfits that push fashion boundaries of all sorts. And while side boobs, bikini lines, and various other body parts have been out and proud at Cannes since at least the 1980s, recent years have seen an explosion in the form.
But last year, Cannes issued a new dress code that threatened to put a damper on the freewheeling vibe. “For decency reasons, nudity is prohibited on the red carpet, as well as in any other area of the festival,” it read. Possibly provoked by Bianca Censori’s virtually nonexistent “dress” at the 2025 Grammys, the rule posed a dilemma to celebrities who’d gotten used to letting their exposed bits and bobs bring a certain je ne sais quoi to their black-tie ensembles. Should they tone down their trendy nude-adjacent outfits or risk the embarrassment of being turned away at the door?
At this year’s festival, currently in its second week, many have gone the latter route. The model Natasha Poly was nipple-forward in a Ferragamo gown with a totally sheer top. Maia Cotton’s garment was slit on the side from shoulder to toe, barely gathered at the hip. Natasha Lyonne flashed her bare chest under a glittering, lace-edged minidress that was so transparent it could double as a bridal veil. When the light shone through Daisy Edgar-Jones’ draped Balenciaga gown, you could see all the way up her legs to her crotch. (Strategically placed sequins did some heavy lifting.) Several other attendees you’ve never heard of brushed up equally close to the edge of nude.
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The naked-dressing icon of Cannes is Bella Hadid, whose breast-baring Saint Laurent dress at the 2024 event made headlines across the globe. This year, dress code be damned, she showed up in a ruffled see-through top with a see-through bra underneath. In this case, two negatives did not make a positive, and her nipples peeked out from beneath their double-layered casing. It was a clever way to thumb her nose at the loophole-ridden rule: If she’s wearing two pieces of clothing on top, it’s not nudity, is it?
Indeed, the undimmed popularity of the Cannes nipple calls the whole concept of nakedness—and the intent of its prohibition—into question. Like smut, nudity is in the eye of the beholder. On contemporary red carpets, exposed breasts and butts are accessories to the garments, often visible only beneath sheer fabric. They’re in conversation with the clothes, and clothes are the antithesis of nudity. If Cannes had wanted to ban the exposure of certain body parts, the dress code should have made that explicit. Instead, festival leadership made it vague, perhaps intentionally so, to be able to exercise discretion over whose flesh is fashion and whose is obscene.
That may be why festival employees have let all these boobs have the run of the red carpet. Or maybe Cannes has realized that although trends will change over time, there is no returning the topless genie to her bottle. Nipples are now so commonplace that when stars wear sheer outfits that have undergarments, as many did at the Cannes opening ceremony last week, it looks positively modest. In a crowded attention marketplace and a society growing increasingly jaded to celebrity displays of nudity, it takes a full Censori situation to stand out. Gone are the days when a sheer, tropical-print Versace gown with a plunging neckline—and fully covered swimsuit region—could power an entire news cycle. The Overton window of fashion has shifted decisively toward the nude.
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But in an ironic twist, the Cannes dress code has lent a newfound air of rebellion to stars who don’t dare free the nipple but are willing to give its prison cell a bit more natural light. News outlets have absurdly implied that celebrities are profiles in courage for wearing translucent outfits to Cannes, even with full sets of lingerie underneath. To wit: “Riley Keough Defies Cannes Dress Code in Totally Sheer Naked Look That Bares Her Bra”—a full-coverage bra, mind you, that screams “I just walked in on my great-aunt in the changing room”! According to W Magazine, Kristen Stewart exhibited “dress code defiance” with the diaphanous Chanel ensemble she wore over a camisole and shorts. That’s two entire outfits, one over the other! You can’t get less nude than that.
If Cannes employees worry that naked bodies detract from the artistic feats of the festival’s films, its dress code has clearly backfired. Now the relative nudity and non-nudity of attendees is one of the main themes for celebrity-focused publications, leading to roundup after roundup of outfits that allegedly bend the rules. By banning nudity in an era of naked dressing, the festival has lowered the threshold for garments to seem as if they’re stretching the bounds of respectability, drawing more attention to the nipple than ever before. And if a festival employee ever decides to eject one of these women from an event for an ensemble it deems too risqué, it will be a PR disaster that pushes all discussion of the film slate below the fold. When you imbue the nipple with too much power, it may well wield that power over you.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source slate.com ’
