Not-So-Naked Dressing

At some point, naked dressing was bound to run out of clothes to remove. In recent years, the red carpet has become a game of one-upmanship, with celebrities in increasingly transparent gowns competing to reveal more and more, to the point that step and repeats seem one wardrobe malfunction away from requiring a censor bar. Then, with a surprise show on the eve of New York Fashion Week this past February, fashion’s soothsayer Marc Jacobs made a compelling case for leaving a little more to the imagination. He sent out a trinity of long sheer slips — white, ice blue, and bubblegum — layered over tonal tops that were completely opaque and just long enough to cover the crucial bits, leaving legs for days visible through a veil of nylon. The effect was a delicious contradiction: naked, but also not.

Across the Fall/Winter 2026 season, this business-on-top, boudoir-below proposition was everywhere. At Fendi, Dolce & Gabbana, Tom Ford, Antonio Marras, and Carven, sheer silk and lace slips in both mini and midi lengths emerged from the hems of sharply tailored blazers. Valentino and Saint Laurent achieved a similar effect with plush faux-fur and leather wrap coats, while Victoria Beckham and Zankov heightened the contrast with sailor sweaters and grandpa cardigans. Mytheresa Chief Buying & Group Fashion Ventures Officer Tiffany Hsu says the retailer is “really going to town with” negligées paired with “shapely, structured silhouettes” this season. The appeal lies precisely in the mismatch: lingerie-like layers removed from their come-hither context and paired with more traditionally masculine-coded pieces that telegraph strength.

“There is something intriguing and seductive when one mixes transparency and opaqueness in the same look,” says Henry Zankov of the material meet-cutes in his collection, including upcycled polyester mesh against merino wool and cashmere stripes and Japanese paper organza with brushed alpaca. “It feels subversive and doesn’t give it all upfront,” he adds. “You have to get to know her first.” For Antonio Marras, that juxtaposition speaks to something deeper. “When we pair the rigorous tailoring of a men’s jacket with the ethereal lightness of a sheer slip, we are not simply combining two garments; we are telling the story of the complexity and layered nature of the human being,” Marras says. “True strength — the kind that endures over time — lies in the ability to embrace opposites and allow them to coexist in harmony.”

Even as designers rewrite the naked-dressing formula, the original still exerts a powerful hold: This past summer, “Kate Moss 1993 sheer dress” — the infamous Liza Bruce slip rendered transparent by paparazzi flashbulbs — was a breakout Google search term, as was “Jessica Alba sheer lace dress” — a Fendi number the actor wore sans jacket to the house’s July couture show in sweltering Rome. But women aren’t just scrolling the fantasy; they’re asking how to wear sheer IRL. “As people begin building their fall wardrobes, the focus has shifted from if they should wear sheer to how to style it practically,” says Sagal Mohammed, editorial and creative lead for commerce at Google. Her prescription? “Nostalgic ’90s Kate Moss slip-dress energy, but modernized with strategic layering for everyday wear.”

So, how to layer strategically? Start with proportion. For the top layer, stylist and former model Ana Tess recommends choosing something “long enough that you’d be comfortable wearing it on its own.” Having spent years on the other side of the camera, she knows real life demands a greater range of motion than walking up and down a runway. “My test is, can I bend over on set without showing everything?” she says, noting that adding a pair of bike shorts underneath offers extra insurance. Tess sees this approach to sheer working everywhere from lunch with girlfriends to a date or cocktail party — but maybe not the office. Her life hack for corporate girls: “Wear the full suit to work, stash a sheer slip in your bag, then ditch the pants after hours.”

For the sheer-curious but exposure-shy, Prada offered an object lesson in flipping the script: Get dressed first, then add something diaphanous. Fifteen models made four exits each, adding as they went. One look topped a chunky cardigan, poplin shirt, satin pencil skirt, and floral knee socks with a sheer organza half-slip tied at the waist. The idea carried over to Miu Miu, where Miuccia Prada’s aptly titled “Mindful Intimacy” collection went three deep: a sheer tulle dress over a red silk dress over a peach nightgown. To keep all that fabric from overwhelming the body, Tess suggests either choosing a very loose slip, as at Rabanne, or cinching a half-slip tightly to “carve out a waist,” à la Prada and Alainpaul. After years of baring it all, the real power move this season may be choosing exactly what — and how much — not to show.

Read GRAZIA USA’s Fall/Winter 2026 Issue