| Wednesday 12 November 2014 |
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Overexposed celebs: give it a breast
On Monday night, actress Jennifer Lawrence gave onlookers an eyeful while leaving an after-party for the London premiere of "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1". Dressed in a white Thierry Mugler gown with a barely there halter top, she flashed her singer pal Lorde, who seemed mesmerized by the display.
Lawrence is just the latest in a string of stars whose breast intentions have gone awry. Celebrity necklines are plunging wider and deeper than ever before to reveal side-boob, underboob and inner-boob. In fact, many event dresses these days are just a few threads away from exposing the entire kit and kabooble.
Thanks to fashion houses like Versace, Balmain and Calvin Klein, the down-to-there cut has become a dime a dozen on the red carpet, with once-modest stars like Amy Adams, Vanessa Hudgens and Olivia Munn embracing the titillating - and increasingly tiresome - trend.
When Adams wore a swoop-neck lavender Prabal Gurung dress to a 2013 premiere, she looked like an exhibitionist next to Olivia Wilde, whose white shirt was buttoned to the neck and paired with billowing pants. Did the beautiful and talented Oscar-nominated actress really need to flash so much flesh?
"It's a game they play," says celebrity stylist and television personality Robert Verdi. "How naked can I be while remaining dressed?" In the age of online image sharing, flaunting cleavage has almost become a business decision. As stars compete for the valuable media coverage and cultural relevance that can increase their earning potential, nearly topless shots are an easy way to get attention.
"It's not overexposure, it's necessary exposure," explains Paul Levinson, Ph.D., professor of communication and media studies at Fordham University and author of "New New Media" (Penguin Academics). "There are so many people who have access to social media that you need to be out there in as many ways as possible to stay a major-league celebrity."
But the reward for baring skin isn't limited to recognition. "The higher the profile celebrities have, the more money they can command," says Levinson. "Fame is 100 percent convertible into money." Take Kim Kardashian, who scored second in the Forbes/E-Score list of the Most Overexposed Celebrities in March, only to appear on the cover of Vogue in April and see her annual earnings hit between $25 million and $35 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
She's by far the biggest abuser of the style today. In the last three months, the reality show personality has busted out of 12 outfits, including a tux jacket she wore without a shirt or bra to the Lanvin show in Paris. Her trademark look, it's fair to say, is trashy, bordering on obscene. In the rush to bare skin, the dress slashed to the navel has gone mainstream and is rapidly losing its ability to shock.
"It doesn't make anyone blush," says Hal Rubenstein, fashion expert and author of "100 Unforgettable Dresses" (Harper Design). Not only that, but it doesn't always achieve the desired effect. "Just because somebody shows an expanse of skin doesn't necessarily guarantee that a dress will be sexy," adds Rubenstein. "They're oddly less sexy than maybe a dress that had a deep V or a square neckline in the '50s and '60s."
Flashing back through recent fashion history, Elizabeth Hurley was the first modern celeb to go off the deep end in her Versace safety-pin number, which she wore to the 1994 London premiere of then-boyfriend Hugh Grant's "Four Weddings and a Funeral". She rocketed to fame and fortune on the strength of that curvy black gown, described by Rubenstein in his book as "the sartorial equivalent of the shot heard 'round the world".
The next two watershed dresses graced Jennifer Lopez and Toni Braxton at the Grammys. In 2000, J.Lo stole the show in a jungle-print Versace split past the navel. A year later, Braxton outstripped Lopez in a Richard Tyler gown that was the equivalent of a towel draped around the neck: it had no front, no back and no sides. In fact, it could hardly be considered a dress at all.
Today, the style has started trickling down to the mass market, and versions of it can be found at Forever 21, Topshop and Asos. "We're really going to see it this upcoming spring season," says Noelle Sciacca, a fashion editor at Lucky magazine. "It's a wearable trend."
Most women don't want their party dresses to play peekaboob, but this type of bodice is typically adjustable. It can be pinned or sewn shut at a level appropriate to the wearer. Deep V necklines work best on breasts up to a C cup, according to celebrity stylist Olori Swank, who has dressed Nicole Murphy and Christina Milian in them.
Swank uses Topstick double-sided tape to avoid wardrobe malfunctions and Hollywood Fashion Secrets Breast Lift Tape for a push-up effect on fuller bosoms. "It's almost like having a bra on," explains the blue-haired stylist. Kardashian is an ample D, which is why she's always on the verge of a nip slip. "I think it's more Kim's chest than the neckline," says Swank. "You're just wondering if one of her boobs is going to pop out!"
Dangerously low necklines can get you the wrong kind of attention. "Unless you have a somewhat minimal chest or a good boob job, it's pretty tricky to pull off," says celebrity stylist Logan Horne, whose clients include Chanel Iman, Jessica Stam and Leighton Meester. (New York Post)
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