8 Years Ago, Emily Ratajkowski Wore Her First Controversial Naked Dress

Emily Ratajkowski has never met a naked dress she didn’t like. The My Body author has memorably freed the nipple in sheer, iridescent creations at star-studded events like the 2024 Met Gala and the 2023 Vanity Fair Oscar Party, but she also loves a good ab-flaunting cutout and plunging neckline that shows off her toned physique. It’s hard to remember a time before EmRata’s naked dresses became a red carpet staple, but it all started with the barely-there plunging sequin LBD she wore eight years ago.

While her outfit was comparatively tame by today’s naked dress standards, Ratajkowski has since called her Julien Macdonald gown “probably the most controversial dress” she’s ever worn. At the time, the model had no idea that the plunging cutout dress that she wore to the 2016 Harper’s Bazaar ICONS Party would cause such backlash, including being labeled “extremely vulgar” by Tim Gunn.

Ratajkowski’s Black Cutout Naked Dress

The Gone Girl actor unknowingly championed the rise of the barely-there gown as she attended the A-list event at the Plaza Hotel. Ratajkowski’s black sequin Julien McDonald dress featured a NSFW cleavage-baring halterneck style that plunged all the way to her belly button. Furthering the naked illusion, sheer panels on the sides dipped all the way past her hip bones, showing off her toned torso.

See-through cutouts wrapped around the back of her ankle-length dress, which appeared to be held together by a few pieces of sequined fabric in the back as well as the halterneck neckline. A pair of strappy black sandal heels and black stud earrings were her only accessories.

The star leaned into the bombshell memo, styling her brown layered hair in a tousled bedhead style and lining her eyes with smudged black eyeliner. Bronzed skin and a neutral glossy pout completed her red carpet transformation.

After the event, Tim Gunn criticized the look, telling his Fashion Police co-hosts, “If I saw this at a party, all I could do would be to drink. I couldn’t eat. There’s absolutely no way. This dress is so appallingly vulgar and revealing. Why wear anything? Why not just take it all off?”

EmRata Defended Her “Most Controversial Dress” In 2022

In a 2022 interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Ratajkowski reflected on the backlash to her NSFW dressing moment, saying, "Somebody called it 'extremely vulgar' and it became this huge controversy on the internet.”

“I was in my 20s and just, like, hadn't registered that it was so sexy, because there is a panel in the middle, but it looks like there isn't,” she continued, adding, "I was basically called out for wanting attention, which I think is interesting because you go to red carpets for attention, basically."

Despite the negative commentary, the model said she didn’t let the criticism get to her with the most EmRata clap-back ever. "I still think I look great," she told the publication.