Look of the Week: Katy Perry reinvigorates the naked dress trend

Editor’s Note: Featuring the good, the bad and the ugly, ‘Look of the Week’ is a regular series dedicated to unpacking the most talked about outfit of the last seven days.

On Sunday, at Place Vendôme in Paris, Anna Wintour and her team launched the third installment of Vogue World — this time a theatrical celebration of French fashion and sport, in honor of the upcoming Olympics Games.

On the eve of the city’s prestigious Haute Couture shows, famous faces — and paying guests willing to fork out thousands of dollars for a seat — piled into the cobbled plaza to watch a thematic runway tracking the 100 years between the last Paris Olympic Games, in 1924, and now. Sporting categories were twinned with time periods, and while dancers re-enacted the careful choreography of 1960s fencing or 1970s gymnastics, models strutted alongside in loosely corresponding looks.

But a catwalk filled with leggings and track shorts, this was not. One of the most surprising ensembles came from Katy Perry, in an archival Noir Kei Ninomiya cut-out gown for the show’s section on 1980s martial arts.

Fashioned entirely out of perfectly placed interlocking leather petals, with a full, tulle-flower skirt to boot, Perry’s outfit looked more like a feat of geometry than physical education. “It’s the first time I’ve ever walked,” she whispered into the camera in an Instagram story posted before her appearance. “I mean I’ve walked before in life. Like I walk everyday, but… It’s couture.”

Naked dresses have been enjoying a steady revival of late. From Elle Fanning, Kim Kardashian and Doja Cat at the Met Gala, to Charlize Theron, Jennifer Lawrence and Florence Pugh at the Oscars, more and more celebrities have been embracing a full-frontal look. But while most naked dresses rely on flesh-coloured mesh or crystal netting to subtly suggest nudity, Perry’s frock featured more skin than skirt — with just a small percentage of her body covered by the leather shapes.

Perry wasn’t the only A-lister flirting with a state of undress. Jared Leto, too, arrived at Vogue World in a transparent sleeveless tunic and a pair of black briefs. He completed his look with black patent riding boots, red-dipped fingers and a necklace hanging with wooden stake-turned-crucifix pendant. While the trend has so far been dominated by women in translucent gowns, the urge to wear less reveals sheer confidence which, of course, is not gender exclusive.

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