Sheer dresses are a new normal, but why people wear them, notably female celebrities on red carpets?
The fashion industry is vast, with a past stretching back as far as ancient Egypt. It has existed wherever women and men have had the desire and the resources to look good. Dressing reflects empowerment as well as cultural shift. Celebrities are the role models whose styles and clothing often followed by the public, changing the clothing preference from decency to bold. Often mainstream celebrities wear bold clothes that reveal too much skin. This article explores why celebrities choose these looks and are there any event guidelines to discipline this.
Historical Roots:
Egyptian is the most inspiring history for humans mainly due to the pyramids, which reflect their intelligence, luxurious lifestyle, and human power. The Ten Commandments movie shows the Egyptian culture. One of the prominent aspects of the movie related to this topic is Anne Baxter’s or Queen Nefertiri’s sheer or transparent dresses. The sheer dresses were used for two reasons: (1) show glamour, grandeur, or exoticism and (2) add sexual appeal to make Nefertiri seductive over Moses. However, the dressing also highlights moral failure and indecency of that society. Unlike Egypt, many cultures in the history including Byzantines, Mesopotamia, Sassanid Persia, the Greeks, Banu Ismail, and Banu Qahtan, promoted decent clothing for women and even considered such attire respectable and prestigious.
The last half of the 20th century popularized sheer or see-through dresses. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science require women to wear decent dresses, so they recruited Edith Head in 1953 – a critically acclaimed designer. Despite the existence of Head, female celebrities violates the dress code intentionally or unintentionally. For example, in 1968, Inger Stevens broke the dress code by wearing a mini skirt, and in 1969, Barbara Streisand wore an outfit that showed her body in camera flashes. While the jury notified such incidents and issued warnings to celebrities, Edith Head also warned the jury about an indecent fashion trend ahead. In 1970, Edith Head left his consultancy position, which allowed celebrities to wear what they want.
Why celebrities choose sheer or see-through dresses?
Celebrities wear body-revealing dresses for different reasons. For some, this is autonomy instead of titillation. For others, it is empowerment to reflect body with confidence and oppose objectification. Marketing research argues that clothing, sunglasses, or wrist watches are the things that are self-expressive and inform about the personality traits of a person. When celebrities wear see-through dresses, they actually show their confidence, boldness, or willingness to oppose societal norms. This conveys to the media and industry that the celebrity likes trends, is stylish, and fearless, opening their recruitment in bold roles, like nude scenes or extensive intimate roles.
Celebrities wear sheer or see-through dresses to overcome their fear of shaming. For example, small breasts are a shame for some women, so revealing dresses overcome this fear. This was exemplified in Florence Pugh’s Instagram post when she wore a sheer pink gown in 2022. Sydney Sweeney also wore a sheer dress to show confidence, challenge perceptions, and embrace bodies. Reasons including empowerment, autonomy, confidence, challenging perceptions, and embracing bodies reflect Feminist views
Celebrities also wear sheer dresses due to female inersexual competition. For example, if an actress wore a sheer dress, then other actress will try to outshine her by wearing a more revealing dress to get attention and status. Women have a habit to do so out of evolutionary and social pressures in celebrity cultrue. The intersexual competition does not just stays to apparel, it also extends to physical features, such as expensive and unnecessary cosmetic procedures to look good.
Backlash from Fans and Disciplinging Dress Code:
Sheer or see-through dresses provide visibility to female celebrities but at the expense of public backlash. Fans expect celebrities to wear decent and modest dresses, reflecting that most of them are not interested in or attracted to bold attire. For example, Elon Musk recently commented on Sydney Sweeney that it is not easy to cary big tits. Â
Even the law requires the adoption of decency. For example, French law (Article 222-32) considers sheer dresses in public as a sexual offence resulting in imprisonment and penalties. Technically speaking, when a female celebrity wears a sheer dress on a red carpet, she is wearing it publicly, and the law applies to them. Film festivals also try to regulate dressing of celebrities. For example, Cannes red carpet openly mentioned about dress code on its website, which prevent female celebrities to wear sheer or nude dresses as well as long tail that can obstruct other celebrities and create congestion. The festive aims to maintain decency. However, Oscar or Golden Globes are flexible in the dressing.
That explains that if festivals provide clear guidelines regarding dress codes, celebrities won’t wear revealing clothes. Other festivals should follow the Cannes standard to promote decency instead of nudity or vulgarity. The key takeaway is that deceny is what defines women. Showing body to others highlight insecurity and a below par atempt to get attention of others
