By now, we’re all so familiar with naked dressing that the threat of a nip-slip on the red carpet scarcely warrants a second glance. The origin of the trend can be traced back to the likes of Elizabeth Hurley and her safety-pinned Versace dress, and followed all the way up to this year’s Met Gala, where barely-there looks dominated the carpet, with everyone from Tyla to Gigi Hadid and Simone Ashley getting in on the action. There’s also an (arguably) more subtle take on the look that’s been bubbling away in tandem: the bra-first fit.
As reported by Julia Hobbs earlier this month, if Coachella 2026 was anything to go by, we are firmly in the era of the Going Out Bra. The latest star to sign up, Sabrina Carpenter, made a compelling case for the occasion bra, sporting a lace-embroidered set beneath a sheer Dior dress (she had first dibs on the opening look from Jonathan Anderson’s collection) at the cruise show in LA on Wednesday night. She ticked off a number of summer wardrobe hits all at once: butter yellow, sheer layers and bra-first styling.
It’s typical of Carpenter. As one of the underwear-as-outerwear headliners leading the Coachella resurgence, the star performed her way across both weekends in a whirlwind of Madonna duets and glitzy custom bras, also courtesy of Dior. Consider this your cue to embrace the bra-first memo this summer – although perhaps cross-reference the dress code before testing the trend at a family gathering.
