What It Means to Be Body Conscious in 2021

This past spring ’21 haute couture fashion week, amidst a sea of billowing silk and structured jacquard, Schiapparelli’s models clad in what Vogue runway director Nicole Phelps so accurately dubbed a “six-pack bustier” immediately gave us pause. Multiple Daniel Rosenberry ensembles featured anatomical allusions, from a cutout framed in gold teeth to finger covers that appeared to sprout metallic nails which curlicued into the air. “These are clothes that make you aware of the fact of your body, that make you think about how you move through the world,” writes Daniel Rosenberry in the show notes.

Other couture designers also invoked sartorial allusions to the human form. Buzzy brand Area designers Beckett Fogg and Piotrek Panszczyk created crystal-embellished rib cages and toyed with tantalizing cutouts. In Alber Elbaz’s return to the fashion spotlight with AZ Factory, the designer took a less literal approach and instead catered ergonomically to the body in all its shapes and sizes in what he called an “anatomical knit.” Between the two labels, both refreshingly paid homage to different body types, aside from the stereotypical slender model.

After years of a Phoebe Philo–induced less-is-more approach to sexuality in fashion followed by a loungewear-clad pandemic, the fashion pendulum has swung towards sex appeal by embracing a newfound focus on the body. This spring we will likely see that same energy reflected in consumer purchase decisions. In Moda Operandi’s spring ’21 Runway Report, they found that the Naked Dress, defined as “essentially anything that enhances the female form through soft and sensual fabrication,” was a major hit among pre-order clients. Designers from Jacquemus to Altuzarra to Cult Gaia all created their own forms of the Sex and the City–coined term. “It can be slinky, slightly sheer, backless, or body-con,” the report states.