Truly, we live in an age of fashion innovation. Who would have thought, at the turn of the millennium, that we were facing a heyday of underboob, sideboob and even‘circumboob’? Who knew that after centuries of straightforward cleavage, designers could invent new ways to display?
The names for these trends might be comical, but the effects can be surprisingly sophisticated, as Selena Gomez showed in a red Giorgio Armani Privé prom dress – with cut-outs – at this month’s Golden Globes. Jennifer Lopez also made underboob downright chic in December, in a cropped chrome breastplate by the New York brand Grace Ling.
Anything goes when you wear it with confidence – and with Valentine’s Day around the corner, some of us might be tempted to experiment. Knowing how your boobs work with gravity can be helpful. Some are cooperative, while others are a handful; I couldn’t trust mine to hide obediently behind that breastplate.
‘J-Lo’s look is a really good way to show smaller breasts,’ says Sarah Shotton, creative director of luxury lingerie brand Agent Provocateur. ‘But I wear a 34F, and what works for me is a deep-V neckline or a bustier corset. For a big bust, you want support that will stop you going east and west and project you forwards instead.’
It’s hard to talk about boobs without conjuring up the misogynistic leering that we remember from the Page 3 days, yet there’s nothing unfeminist, argues Shotton, about wanting to look and feel sexy. It’s as much about the female gaze – including your own – as the male one.
‘Celebrating the body is back and feeling confident is addictive,’ she says. ‘I’m a proper feminist and I dress to my mood, which means that I might be in a football shirt and tracksuit bottoms one day, but a low-cut top, pencil skirt and high heels the next. What’s really nice now is that women just dress how they want to dress.’
In terms of sexy fashion, the low-cut look dominated the second half of the twentieth century. After a young Prince Charles met actor Joan Collins, he reportedly wrote about her ‘unbelievable cleavage... all raised up and presented as if on a tray’. In the 1990s, that aesthetic inflated when implants became popular. Those who didn’t have them could fake the look with a push-up Wonderbra – or you could veer the other way by going au naturel in a slip dress, as Kate Moss and Angelina Jolie did.
It was in 1999 that things started to get interesting, when Lil’ Kim showed up at the VMAs in a jumpsuit that only covered one breast. The other was adorned with a pasty. Little did we know that the rapper was kicking off a cultural metamorphosis – or a metamorphotits, if you will.
Another headline moment came in 2004, when glamour model Jodie Marsh fashioned an ‘outfit’ from three belts: one across her pelvis and two over her chest. It concealed almost nothing and, in retrospect, belongs to the noble tradition of ‘naked dresses’.
By 2013, Karlie Kloss was modelling underboob at a Victoria’s Secret party in a dress with a strategic cut-out – but the look really took off two years later, when Love Island launched. Islanders have since found myriad ways to reveal as much skin as Ofcom will allow, and it’s turned elaborately sexy swimwear into a solid mainstream trend.
We’re not just talking underboob and sideboob, but what The New York Post dubbed ‘circumboob’ – achieved with a very small bikini in which the fabric really only covers the nipples. (Side note: even with everything covered, it’s now possible to direct attention to the bust via fake erect nips, thanks to Kim Kardashian’s Skims nipple bra.)
For those loyal to old-fashioned cleavage, there are still celebrities such as Salma Hayek providing inspo – her Gucci dress at the Academy Museum Gala was glorious. The Joan Collins look is also having a renaissance: as everyone binge-watched the heaving Regency bosoms of Bridgerton, corset sales soared and are still growing.
For me, a corset sounds easier than circumboob, which would be like trying to carry two trifles in a satsuma net. Still, Shotton assures me there’s a huge market for that style. ‘Our Berry bikini is tiny and, if you’ve got a large cup [size] then it would give that effect,’ she says. ‘When I designed it, my CEO said, “You need to make that bigger,” which I ignored. Irina Shayk wore it on the beach and it sold out immediately.’
If you’re planning on spicing up 14 Feb, there’s plenty of lingerie that will take on these technical challenges: at Bluebella, the Thalia halterneck bra (£39) frames the bust while hiding nothing. At Savage X Fenty, the laced Vigilante Vamp Mesh Teddy (now £25) is cut to the navel.
Meanwhile, at the high end, Agent Provocateur offers the Whitney (£195) – a bondage-style bra
with clever straps that can be adjusted to conceal or reveal your nipples.
Regency ladies would never have believed that such feats of engineering were possible. All this progress can be pricey, of course – but if you don’t have a budget, it costs nothing to repurpose your belt.