Free the Nipple
The societal shift toward more expressive and less constrained fashion choices signifies a broader move toward empowerment and individual freedom for women.
Actress and model, Lily-Rose Depp for i-D magazine shot by Karim Sadli (Spring 2023), wearing a sheer custom Martin Keehn gown. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
The new year has shown us that sheer is in, with celebrities embracing the controversial trend and brands utilizing it in their recent Spring/Summer 2025 collections during fashion week. With the fashion industry increasingly showing their support for the ‘free the nipple’ and modern-feminism through the rise in sheer or cut-out garments this season, specifically, ‘free the nipple’ has, as a result, grown incredibly mainstream, but with this comes controversy and complaints. This campaign aims to empower women in their bodies, challenging the pressures and sexism women face surrounding their bodies, especially regarding their breasts. It is a movement not just to promote body positivity and empowerment, but also to show freedom of expression and power over the fact that we, as women, choose what we want to do with OUR bodies. The shift it has created societally in terms of how we view fashion ‘norms’ and expectations for women is significant. Actress and model, Lily-Rose Depp, being a regular demonstrator of how fashion trends don’t make her style and individualism, it's her freedom and personality that does this; her sense of individualism and unbotheredness of the opinions of others shine through her fashion campaigns and her general fashion sense. Where we may see ‘free the nipple’ a lot through celebrities, they are simply a vessel for promoting body positivity and empowerment to ALL women; ‘free the nipple’s purpose is to empower women in society who face conformative environments in day-to-day life, be that school, work, or public spaces. The reactions to this campaign have been varied, with differences in cultural views as well as societal, the promotion of something so controversial for some meaning that it would always cause a stir, much like it very publicly did with pop-sensation, Charli XCX at the Brit Awards.
Musician, Charli XCX, received her award at the Brit Awards in 2025 wearing a sheer Dilara Findikoglu dress. Image courtesy of Samir Hussein/Getty Images, available at Men’s Journal. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
Charli has never been shy when it comes to body confidence, a source of empowerment for women, driving the message of ‘who cares?’ when it comes to opinions. However, she came under a wave of criticism after her Brit Awards 2025 look, rocking an extremely sheer Dilara Findikoglu gown; this high-fashion look left little to the imagination and seemed to offend some viewers, stating in one of her speeches, “ITV complained about my nipples”. Her refusal and unacceptance of the complaints against her own body shed a lot of light on ‘free the nipple’ and modern-day feminism - but this was not the only occasion of 2025 so far.
Paris Jackson at the Le Grand Dîner du Louvre wearing a cut-out Iris van Herpen gown. Image courtesy of Corbis/Getty Images, available at: Hello Magazine. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
Another famous face that has recently been discussed within the fashion community is model, actress, and singer, Paris Jackson, proving in these recent appearances that she firmly stands by ‘free the nipple’ alongside Charli XCX. She wore a stunning Iris van Herpen gown with intricate cutout details around the torso at Le Grand Dîner du Louvre, slightly revealing her breasts. The star has never been one to conform to stereotypes, expressing her natural, unique sense of style, constantly embracing her freedom of choice over her body and what she chooses to wear. Jackson has been a consistent supporter of feminism, never being one to back down after sexist criticism from the media surrounding her style decisions. Jackson is reinforcing the current spring/summer trend of sheer and cut-out garments, but showing her alliance with the campaign.
These examples demonstrate the changing expectations of women’s clothing and bodies, the norms we have to face altering as we (and society) begin to embrace individualism, expression, and empowerment. The shift from modest, ‘respectable’ styles that were heavily gendered and aimed at pleasing the male gaze has grown to encompass feminism and freedom of choice and the art of not caring. Where women used to be expected to wear ankle-length skirts and long-sleeved blouses, it has now become mini skirts and sheer blouses, embracing our bodies, features and personal sense of fashion and acting against the conventional standards for women and what they wear that still exist today. Stars like Charli XCX, Lily-Rose Depp, and Paris Jackson are just a few of the worldwide campaign that may be promoted recently by celebrities, but stretches so far beyond this to all women in society; these celebrities using their huge following and platform to simply shed light on such an important movement for women, encouraging the public to follow suit and do the same. With this being said, even today, women still face conformative environments where individuality and expression are rejected and traditional expectations are upheld, such as school uniforms, strict workplace dress codes, and in public spaces. The attempt to suppress a woman’s freedom and individuality remains for so many, a sense of fear to be unique and feeling the need to fit in and follow the unwritten rules of society and, I believe that the ‘free the nipple’ movement that is being promoted and supported by huge faces within popular culture today is aimed at women who feel and face this pressure. The women who are victims of caring what others think or unfair dress codes and who are being forced to suppress their personality and uniqueness are the women at the center of the reasoning for this campaign; the target audience for the meaning of ‘free the nipple’ that these mainstream celebrities and brands are pushing.
However, the arguments surrounding the possible objectification it promotes surrounding women’s bodies is also a prominent one; how, instead of promoting body confidence, ‘free the nipple’ promotes public indecency and the opposite of empowerment. An extreme example of this is Bianca Censori’s multiple naked or highly revealing looks while she was married to her then-husband, Kanye West. The uproar she faced through the media surrounding her highly revealing fashion choices made people question the extremities of individualism and how, if taken too far, it can go against feminism and confidence and become objectifying, offensive and inappropriate for public spaces. Despite arguably showing her freedom of expression and body positivity, it was considered more of an act of public indecency rather than personal freedom, not being representative of the meaning behind ‘free the nipple’, instead being the opposite.
Bianca Censori in a completely sheer dress at the Grammys 2025, accompanied by her now ex-husband Kanye West. Image courtesy of David Fisher, available at Page Six. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
Furthermore, with more and more fashion brands including sheer garments in their lines, the commercialization of ‘free the nipple’ is becoming an increasing concern, the true values and purpose of the feminist campaign being lost through sales and its profitability due to it being seen as ‘trendy’ - possible as a result of mainstream celebrities promoting sheer garments and consumers seeing this as ‘fashionable’ rather than understanding the true, empowering meaning behind them. The exploitation that ‘free the nipple’ has experienced through the over-marketing within the fashion industry could result in it being viewed as a trend rather than a positive change.
With this being said, I do believe the mainstream attention ‘free the nipple’ is gaining is more beneficial rather than acting against it, the messages it's promoting to women all over the world are positive and empowering, with the help of mainstream faces in popular culture, and promoting a sense of individualism and freedom that women have been restricted from for so many years. Where you could view brands' use of sheer garments in their Spring/Summer collections this season as commercializing the trend and being ethically inconsiderate of the meaning behind the movement, it can also be viewed in a positive light for women and feminism; the vast promotion of body positivity and freedom of expression gaining a wider reach through the fashion industry and celebrities. This allows them to teach women to embrace their personality and express it through their UNIQUE sense of style rather than conforming to what other people want you to wear; if you want to stand out - stand out and by all means, free the nipple.
