13 Iconic Topless Moments in Runway History
The past few years have been monumental for body liberation, and this past Paris Fashion Week was no different. Along with the body positvity movement that’s instilling confidence in women of all sizes, modesty is being redefined as a personal choice rather than a societal requirement for self-respect.
The fashion industry, however, has been practicing this for decades. In the '70s, Gaby Aghion, of Chloé fame, sent a model down the runway in a sheer lace top, embracing the free will of the day. In Paris during the Fall/Winter 2024 shows, new Chloé designer Chemena Kamali embraced that same idea and re-created it for 2024. Two decades after Aghion, well-known '90s fashion provocateurs like John Galliano and Jean Paul Gaultier pushed the envelope further by empowering models to walk topless down the runway. Today, French designer Jacquemus' has shown topless models on the runway. Most recently, in February during Paris Fashion Week the designers behind Vaquera inverted the idea of the traditional French bourgeoisie by showing a topless model on the runway during their Fall/Winter 2024 show. In addition to showing a topless model, their models also walked dressed in dollar bill fabric, against the background of a beautiful Parisian interior—true fashion provocateurs, they are.
L’OFFICIEL gathers the 13 most iconic topless moments in runway history that bared it all.
