A Woman Speaks

Weird But Not

I wish I could be better at organizing my thoughts about all this. Being a Mid-Boomer, raised on a rather strange mix of Methodism and Playboy Magazine, my brain goes a little fuzzy when it comes to the thought of nude women.

I think I know enough to say 'Naked Dressing' isn't exactly a new thing. We've seen it now and again for as long as I'm been alive, and it goes way way back in history.

IMO, this new development is partly about women telling men to move over and make room.



‘Naked Dressing’ Is Spreading and It’s Making Things Awkward

Barely-there outfits are moving from the runway to weddings and business conferences; ‘I have no idea where to look right now.’

When Jennifer Epstein wore a sheer lace skirt that showed off her underwear to dinner with her husband, his response—after he regained his ability to speak—was “Where is the rest of your outfit?”

Epstein, a pharmacist in Fort Washington, Pa., said she wasn’t looking for his approval. “It feels empowering,” the 43-year-old said. “It’s a modern kind of feminism that embraces self assurance and femininity on your own terms.”

“Naked dressing” started as a look for publicity-seeking celebrities and fashion designers. Now it is migrating from the runways and red carpets to everyday shoppers—and it’s not exactly going smoothly.

People are showing up in barely-there outfits to business conferences and weddings, prompting shock and discomfort among other attendees.

When Christian Espinosa walked into a dinner during a cybersecurity conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., he did a double take. Seated near him was a woman in a bralette and sheer black skirt.

“I’m not someone who rattles easily,” said the 47-year-old founder of a cybersecurity company. “But I remember thinking, ‘I have no idea where to look right now.’”

The woman turned out to be the keynote speaker. She killed the speech. But Espinosa said attendees spent more time whispering about her outfit than talking about her presentation.

Naked dressers have more options than ever. Zara has a page on its website devoted to lingerie dresses. L’Agence is selling sheer lace dresses through which bra and panties are visible. Michael Kors is pairing triangle bralettes with trousers. Aerie has an entire collection called “Show Off,” including a bra embedded in a sheer lace camisole.

“We’re not pairing the bra tops with underwear—but with pants,” said Haley Palese, who runs merchandising for Aerie and its sister chain Offline.

One of Victoria’s Secret’s hottest product launches this spring was a strapless bra that could be worn sans shirt. Hailey Bieber modeled it with an unzipped jacket.

“It’s innerwear as outwear,” said Hillary Super, chief executive of Victoria’s Secret, which also owns the PINK brand. “You are seeing people wear less and less.”

Some women say showing skin makes them feel liberated. Others see it as another form of female objectification.

“A lot of people aren’t comfortable looking like they are wearing a bikini as an outfit,” said Brooke Rounick, a stylist in New York.

Pulling off the look requires a certain amount of confidence and an investment in nipple covers, boy shorts and other undergarments designed to be visible while hiding the most private parts.

“It’s a hard no,” said Regina Levy, a 41-year-old attorney in Westchester, N.Y. “I have two prepubescent boys. They would go insane if they saw their mom dressed that way.”

Women have been shedding clothes for over a century, starting with the corsets and structured undergarments of the Victorian era. In the 1930s, film star Mae West wore a sheer lace dress with strategically placed floral appliqués.

• Actress and singer Jane Birkin later immortalized the see-through crochet dress.
• Madonna’s Jean Paul Gaultier-designed cone bra was a star attraction of her 1990 “Blond Ambition” tour
• Women still talk about the sheer, silver slip dress that Kate Moss wore in 1993 that showed just about everything.

The look has become so ubiquitous among celebrities that last year the Cannes Film Festival adopted a no nudity policy. That didn’t stop stars from Bella Hadid to Riley Keough showing up at this year’s festival in barely-there gowns.

Weddings are another challenge.

At a recent Hawaiian-themed wedding in Sausalito, Calif., most guests arrived in Hawaiian shirts and hula skirts. But one wore a nude colored thong bikini bottom and bandeau top, said Nikita Khandheria, whose events company hosted the affair.

Khandheria told the woman there was a dress code and if she didn’t put on more clothes, she would be asked to leave. She walked her across the street where she bought a cover-up.

Nikita Khandheria said the style is so pervasive that she now includes explicit instructions on invitations.

Some brides are bringing extra dresses in case of guest-related wardrobe violations. An attendee at one black-tie wedding wore a white dress that was practically see-through. She wasn’t wearing a bra.

Khandheria borrowed the photographer’s camera and showed the woman how her dress looked in the photos. She suggested the woman change into a fully-lined blue dress the bride had brought for just such an emergency.

“At a wedding, the bride should be the center of attention,” Khandheria said. “Not some friend who is basically naked.”

Epstein’s husband Brian Epstein is still getting used to his wife’s fashion choices.

“It’s shocking when she wears something see-through,” said the 55-year-old entrepreneur. He has learned not to argue with her about fashion. “She tells me I don’t know what I’m talking about and I say, ‘You’re right.’”

Today In 1969

Launch Control Center personnel rise to watch through a window

as Apollo 11 lifts off from the pad, 3½ miles away

JoAnn Hardin Morgan (born December 4, 1940) is an American aerospace engineer who was the first female engineer at NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center and the first woman to serve as a senior executive at Kennedy Space Center.

For her work at NASA, Morgan was honored by U.S. President Bill Clinton as a Meritorious Executive in 1995 and 1998. Prior to her retirement in 2003, she held various leadership positions over 40 years in the human space flight programs at NASA.

Morgan served as the director of the External Relations and Business Development during her final years at the space center.

On Men And Women

A Poem

Worth A Try

I'll say it again:

Women will save us. And all we have to do is shut up

and stay out of the way.

Overheard

Not to offend anyone, but I was raised to take care of my husband. Cleaning up, washing his clothes, wearing gloves and an apron while handling the body, and acting very sad at the funeral.

About Those Lonely Men

Man vs Bear

Notice how the bear hears "No!" and fucks off.

Are we clear on this now, guys?

The Women

Dale Spender

1943 - 2023

Feminism has fought no wars. It has killed no opponents. It has set up no concentration camps, starved no enemies, practiced no cruelties. Its battles have been for education, for the vote, for better working conditions, for safety in the streets, for child care, for social welfare, for rape crisis centres, women's refuges, reforms in the law. If someone says, "Oh, I'm not a feminist", I ask, "Why? What's your problem?"

Overheard

If it was actually possible for women to sleep their way to the top, women would be running the whole goddamned show by now - you dumbass.

The far more likely reality is that men have been engaging in sexual extortion, withholding the rewards and promotions women have earned in order to get sex.

Look At Yourself

• When a young girl is raped, and you defend the rapist.
• When a guy shoots and kills a woman on the street, and you defend the shooter.
• When a guy is being totally disrespectful of the women around him, and you say nothing.

• Your cynicism doesn't make you interesting.
• Your smug dismissal of anything that moves normal people to feel sorrow doesn't make you manly.
• Your support for somebody who gets a kick out of pushing people around sure as fuck doesn't make you strong.

Women see and hear your reactions to the shitty things going on all around us - especially when you cheer it on, or you just shrug it off with some stupid epithet that you think is cute.

You're not being clear-eyed and pragmatic - you're being an asshole.

So the "crisis of male loneliness" isn't because there's a problem with women - it's because women are very much aware of what a big fuckin' jerk you are.

Leopards Are Eating His Face

"You need a man's protection from the monsters. And never mind that men have pretty much always been the monsters you need protection from. But hey - you think it was bad before? You ain't seen nuthin' yet, sister."

Dude - the Plutocrats are the ones beating you down. It's the billionaire parasites and their coin-operated politicians.

This is not Men vs Women, any more than it's Red vs Blue, or White vs Brown, or Libs vs MAGA. If you'd figure that out, and stand up against it, you'd find plenty of women fighting at your side. Because women have been fighting that battle for millennia, and they've got plenty to teach us. So shut the fuck up and learn, dumbass.

Overheard

Women don't owe the world babies.

They don't owe men babies.

And they don't owe anyone

an explanation for any of it.

Maybe we could all just

mind our own fuckin' business.

The Supreme Strength In Perceived Weakness

Nobody's coming to save you with a flag and a casserole.

Today's Monte

Women's standing in just about any segment of any society is a pretty good barometer of the overall health of that society.

And if my goal is to subjugate people in general, why not enlist half the population to help subjugate the other half?

Divide-n-Conquer works wonders, and there are so many different ways to apply it.

Today's Today

Happy International Women's Day

Questioning

I've said (on more than a few occasions), "Women will save us - all we have to do is stay the fuck outa their way and let 'em do it".

My intention was to acknowledge women's strength and capabilities. But apparently, in some quarters, it's not welcomed as any kind of encouragement, and has garnered some clapback.

So I'm having to reassess and recalibrate.

I didn't mean to put anything extra on your shoulders, ladies. You owe me exactly nothing.

Like I said, I've been hearing quite a bit about this. And though it's not aimed directly at me, I take their meaning. So I'm sorry. I'll try to be more mindful, and do better.

Today's Belle

In 2008 they told McCain that if he was more than 5 points underwater with women, he was gonna lose. He was, and he did.

And I'll say it again:

Women will save us. All we have to do is stay the fuck outa their way and let 'em do it.

Go get 'em, ladies.

I'll hold your stuff

while you fuck 'em up.

I'm right behind you,

and I'll be here when you're done.

A Poem

... by Danielle Coffyn

If Adam Picked The Apple

There would be a parade,

a celebration,

a holiday to commemorate

the day he sought enlightenment.

We would not speak of temptation

by the devil, rather,

we would laud Adam's curiosity,

his desire for adventure

and knowing.

We would feast

on apple-inspired fare -

tortes, chutneys, pancakes, pies.

There would be plays and songs

reenacting his courage.

But it was Eve who grew bored,

weary of her captivity in Eden.

And a woman's desire

for freedom is rarely a cause

for celebration.