The fashion industry is in a state of undress. When style stars aren’t stirring lingerie-forward revolutions (looking at you, Kendall Jenner), the field’s tastemakers continue spotlighting erogenous zones. In style-speak, those mean navels, toes, and the highly controversial nipple.
While the nip has long been censored, fashion’s cognoscenti have been demystifying the general public’s fuss surrounding the body part, especially during fashion week. Every season, runways get nipplier and nipplier. And on New York Fashion Week’s Spring/Summer 2025 runways, the disrobing continued — with a few chic updates.
Freeing the body part was no longer the radical act it once was. If the trend in the past was the fact that clothes were nip-flauntingly see-through, this season, the bare breast is now officially a fashion week mainstay and casually folded into some of the biggest trends, or cores, as TikTok calls them.
From veterans to contemporary stars, designers leaned into burgeoning trends poised to takeover wardrobes, but with a risqué twist. Behold, the biggest “free the nipple” moments to come out of NYFW Spring/Summer 2025.
The Nippliest Runway Moments
NSFW Corpcore
Like last year, Prabal Gurung continues to lead the nipply charge. Unlike his previous takes on the daring look, however, which were more lavish texture-wise, he fully leaned into corpcore, the office-friendly trend that you can take from the boardroom to a night out. One model, for example, paired her oatmeal suit with a flowy, diaphanous top, while another exposed her breasts in a top paired with corporate-appropriate trousers.
The NSFW-work look was also spotted on other runways. The typically conservative Tory Burch joined the sheer, braless club in office-coded looks including collared shirts and conference room-ready trousers. Even high-street brand Cos joined the revealing spectacle with a woven top and trousers.
It was a similar corporate-adjacent vibe at Luar, albeit more sculptural and avant-garde. Meanwhile, Monse, already known for its affinity for deconstructed workwear, also leaned into the sheer trend with a sequined collared top and skorts.
Make It Coquette
Didn’t think one could flaunt nips while also wearing bows? Think again. The beribboned coquette trend is poised to last a while, so it’s about time it got the nipply treatment. At LoveShackFancy, baby pink slip dresses with sheer lace panels were topped with bow after bow on cardigans, necklaces, and bags.
Over at 3.1 Phillip Lim, completely diaphanous dresses were covered in rhinestones and accented with bedazzled ribbons.
Pure Decadence & Lavish Textures
Though in past seasons, nips were the focal point (err, points) of outfits, this season, bare breasts were but the background of the most decadent ensembles.
At PatBO, for example, quasi-bubble dresses featured utterly translucent bodices covered in glass paillettes and other sheer tops were paired with skirts blanketed in massive Y2K-inspired butterflies.
All sorts of textures — gritty, frilly, and laminated and gilded — also made the rounds. At Off-White, beaded net outfits were sporadically adorned with metal rings, while some looks from Ulla Johnson’s runway featured embossed doodles and tiered tulle.
Then there was the Christian Cowan show, where the touch of glamour was more low-key but equally dazzling. Models were dressed in completely see-through lightweight fabrics painted with gold foil elements.
Pasties, But Make ‘Em Jewelry
At Area, models didn’t bare nip — at least, not really. Instead, they adorned theirs, a move potentially even more controversial than eschewing brassieres altogether. Models sashayed down the catwalk with whole breasts out and adorned with different kinds of nip jewelry; silver medallion-style covers and two-toned pieces reminiscent of Byzantinian jewels of gold paired with lapis lazuli.
Even The Streets Were Nipply
Nip-baring looks weren’t just on the runways — front-row fixtures, influencers, and attendees also bared breasts, proof positive that the style is for the general population. They too, styled it in a range, from corpcore to ’90s-era slips and flowy, free-spirited vibes à la the 1970s.
Freeing the nipple isn’t simply a trend, it’s here to stay and slay.
