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Nudity and fashion: who needs clothes?
Written by Daniel P Dykes
Move over sex, drugs, and rock and roll, here comes sex, nudity and fashion. Or, if I may: here it comes again + some.
You see fashion and sex have always gone hand in hand, but an utter lack of clothes used to promote clothing and accessories? Yes, sex sells, but it's not all marketing. Rather, some key factors have come into play in recent years; all of which have become distinctly prevalent in 2009 and will affect 2010 fashion greatly.
Updates / Further Reading
Natalia Vodianova subtle nudity for V Magazine
Hot and sensual with Anja Rubik
Magdalena Frackowiak naked for Man about Town
Mariacarla Bosconi nude in i-D magazine
Masha Novoselova: nude in Vogue Spain
Lingerie as outerwear in Flaunt, September 2009
Boudoir: Marie Claire Italia's soft nudity
Interview: fetish, leather, lingerie, nudity
Dree Hemingway: nudity + thigh high boots
Tom Ford Autumn (Fall)/Winter 2009/2010
Fetish & nudity in Numero: 'Best Friends'
Purple Fashion magazine issue 12: pictures
Eniko Mihalik nude in Vogue Italia, August 2009
Keira Knightley wears less and less for Chanel
Eniko Mihalik topless for Self Service S/S 2009
Abbey Lee & Catherine McNeil strip off for Vogue
Daria Werbowy for Flare Canada, September 2009
Street style: forget sheer, confidence is in
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley for Exit Magazine (NSFW)
Dree Hemingway strips off for Vogue Russia
Miranda Kerr just can't keep her clothes on
Nudity in ADN de la Mode: a shoot of epic proportions
Gisele Bundchen strips off for London Fog F/W 09/10
Lily Allen topless for ID Magazine
Catherine McNeil is a femme fatale
Ripped stockings & nudity: Regia Magazine
Pool service: male nudity in Numero Magazine
2010 Pirelli Calendar: more pictures
Pirelli Calendar 2010 pictures: preview
Malgosia Bela naked for Self Service
Russian Ribbon: Natalia Vodianova in Vogue Russia
Miranda Kerr: naked for Rolling Stone magazine
Tiiu Kuik naked for Marie Claire Italia - again
Nudity in V Magazine's Swimsuit Issue, May 2009
Natalia Vodianova's naked cover for Vogue UK
No clothes, sexy model in Marie Claire May 2009
Malgosia Bela in Vogue Paris, May 2009
Gisele: not naked when you're topless?
Cindy Crawford could only be slightly more naked
Malgosia Bela naked in i-D-April 2009
Ripped stockings and nudity in Vogue Nippon
Full frontal nudity in V magazine March/April 2009
Morgane Dubled naked: Plastique Spring/Summer 2009
Doutzen Kroes naked for VMan Spring 2009
Five top models get naked for Purple Magazine
Lindsay Lohan: naked for Hedi Slimane
Lara Stone nude yet again; W February 2009
Freja Beha Erichsen in i-D epitomises nude trend
Lara Stone naked in Vogue Paris February 2009
Nicole Trunfio strips off for Jalouse magazine
Lara Stone in Vogue Italia, December 2008
Daisy Lowe gets naked for Paradis Magazine
Natasha Poly: hotter than most in torn denim
Preview of Lily Cole for French Playboy
Lindsay Lohan naked as Marilyn Monroe
Vogue Paris w/ Lara Stone uses sheer trend
Lydia Hearst for Playboy France; November 2008
What's Caused It
We see more of it, we want to consume more of it, and we're certainly not bashful about it: so what has changed to make us so comfortable and expectant of nudity in the world of fashion?
'Porn' Photographers Weren't Main Stream
I use the term porn in a very tongue in cheek matter; society has simply come too far for their art to be deemed 'porn'; and I also use the term to drive a point. To older generations the work of the likes of photographer Terry Richardson is at the very least smut and (particularly his racier work), without-a-doubt, porn. But Richardson has become main stream, and with a massive following internationally there are few major names he hasn't photographed. But when you consider the bulk of his work, it's not that hard to realise that it wouldn't have been all that long ago that major names would have avoided his lens like the plague.
Of course Richardson is not the first to blur the lines between fashion and the nude body; Helmut Newton perfected that art many moons ago. But Newton's raciest work never graced the pages of any magazine. And the Internet didn't exist to proliferate it.
'Porn' Wasn't Main Stream
But in this day and age the Internet is freely able to proliferate everything, which brings us to the next big cause on the blurring between nudity and fashion. 'Porn', as other generations would have viewed it, has become mainstream. The likes of Terry Richardson and Mario Testino can easily shoot a high-fashion editorial and one lacking any semblance of clothing and we, the consumers, will see them both, make an association, and label them both fashion.
Advertising Was More Subtle
And with the association made, someone is going to try and make a quid out of it. Yes, sex sells but it's also great for getting a person's attention span. Thus, nudity and advertising has worked for years on end. But with 'porn' now main stream, fashion labels no longer need inference, subtlety, or even class to promote their fashion and lifestyle products; and that goes for all players in the industry, from the high-end likes of Tom Ford down to cheap-cotton wares from the likes of American Apparel.
Fashion models didn't strip off quite so readily
It wasn't that long ago that a fashion model was simply that: she modelled fashion. But throughout the naughties the concept of a nude model and a fashion model being two separate professions has become heavily distorted; and there's no better example than that of Lily Cole. One moment she's the face of Marks and Spencer, the next she's naked in French Playboy and Paradis magazine. Yes, other models had stripped off before her:
But naked shoots of major fashion models had never been so ubiquitous nor full front, nor had there been entire magazines dedicated to the subject matter.
Which brings us onto the biggest influence of all.
Fashion magazines are dead. Long live fashion magazines.
We've been saying it since Fashionising.com launched:
Fashion websites will kill off fashion magazines
That said, they category will survive.
Just not in the shape of the glossies we've consumed over the past decades; site's such as Fashionising.com simply mean that magazines can no longer print what to wear and new fashion trend articles and hope for readership. Even token celebrity articles will have to fall by the wayside.
And what is it that we now want from our magazines? Pictures. Big, glossy, double-page pictures printed on great stock. Undoubtedly you've noticed it, but several new fashion magazines have noticed the change in consumers tastes and responded; responded by delivering amazing editorials in magazines that are more like coffee-table books; responded by getting big names onto their pages; responded by pushing the envelope.
And the easiest way to push the envelope?
Find a big name in the fashion field, and get them naked. What else could so easily differentiate you between your stock-standard, monthly fashion magazines? What else could so easily make your title appeal to prosumers of fine fashion? Hence we now have the likes of Paradis magazine and the new French Playboy; both able to have big name fashion-scenesters such as Lily Cole and Daisy Lowe strip off without a moment's hesitation, and in turn change the slant of their magazine. After all, when it comes down to it Playboy is not a fashion brand, and certainly didn't begin life as a fashion magazine. But French Playboy has become just that: a fashion magazine by association.
Author
Written by Daniel P Dykes.
Traditionalist and futurist are two of the labels applied to Daniel, but he sees the two as being in perfect balance. With a keen eye on the future and his finger on the pulse he helps keep fashionisers everywhere ahead in the fashion stakes as Fashionising.com's lead fashion trend analyst. Believing that the late-2000s credit crisis will be ultimately good for fashion, Daniel sees a future for fashion where grounded in traditional values; where luxury fashion again comes to represent quality production as opposed to being solely label driven.
Currently based in Melbourne, Daniel is Fashionising.com's Editor in Chief and Chairman.
