If underwear is truly meant to live underneath our clothes, why are so many brands making such cute bras? The answer—underwear doesn’t need to live under anywhere. The time of the exposed bra has returned.
Whether you’re a Victoria’s Secret shopper or a Calvin Klein girl, we all spend a lot time and money selecting the perfect-fitted and best-shaped bra. So ladies, let those brassieres shine. It’s a time of retro throwback trends, so please don’t say you’ve forgotten the 90s—when starlettes and style icons flaunted their undergarments left and right. This is not to say that we should dive back into that whale-tail exposed thong craze, but the 90s did make some good points when it came to bras.
Fashion trends as of late are all about exposals.The industry went on-board on the PVC shoe look without a second thought, and quickly let that look spread throughout accessories and even to some clothing styles. And the transparency just keeps on coming, with luxury brands from Fendi to Dries Van Noten to Saint Laurent displaying bras on the runway.
And the look is far from an outrageous runway trend—it’s made its way into the streets. Whether you want to let some lace from the top of a bralette poke through a neckline, pair a stunning bra with a lace or translucent top, or even just call a bralette a top, it’s a perfectly fine street style practice.
And London-based designer Marta Jakubowski certainly agrees. Her Fall/Winter 2018 collection was an homage to the best aspects of this slightly shocking 90s trend—we’re talking empowerment themes, laced bras peeking through looks, and impeccable styling. Jakuboswki’s models were even trained by choreographer Ryan Chapell to strut down the runway with the same moves as the OG 90s supermodels, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, and crew. And it gets better—these millennial models walked to the sounds of Whitney Houston’s “I’m Every Woman.”
“Beautiful models always look moody when they walk down the catwalk,” Jakubowski tells COOLS. “I remember watching fashion shows on telly when I was younger. The models used to smile, strike a pose, be sassy and confident. That’s what I wanted to relive in my Autumn/Winter 2018 show.”
But back to the style. Where Jakubowski’s presentation itself was an upfront and center throwback, her designs for the upcoming season took a more subtle approach to harkening the 90s. Bras were on full-view—a whisper to the retro. But Jakubowski has an affinity for tailoring, and her well-crafted suits were the highlight. “A woman in a suit looks most sexiest, in my opinion,” the designer shares. She finished her suited pieces with a cheeky, deep scoop neck, the perfect window for brightly-colored, lace push-ups.
“[In my collection], I wanted to make sure the models look confident, strong and happy at the same time. I’m missing this a bit in fashion today, especially in womenswear,” Jakubowski says. “I was a little girl [in the 90s] and was inspired by what my mum used to wear and the magazines she was looking at. That was my first memory of fashion.”
Women’s equality might have advanced in the last two decades, but 90s women had a sense of confidence that’s been missing for a while.It’s called female empowerment, kids, and it was around in 90s fashion. If you want to show off your pricey bra and you think you look good, you’re empowered to.