Sometimes fashion is about clothes, but sometimes it is really about bodies. The Council of Fashion Designers of America awards are the highest honours awarded to US fashion designers, so you would expect the star-studded New York gala to be a showcase for extraordinary clothes. But last week the red carpet was won not by a dress, but by a body. Uncut Gems actor Julia Fox wore a cutout dress that was mostly cutout, with a side order of dress. Baring Fox from her breastbone to her thighs, it revealed a black bikini and highlighted a carved-out, rock-hard midsection, visible ribs and sinewy glutes. Her slender body, not the dress, was the outfit.
The standout trend at this season’s catwalk shows was the flat stomach. At Fendi, ribs were visible under tissue-thin knitwear tucked into cargo pants that hung below the models’ hipbones. At Versace there was a long plane of taut bare flesh between the bumster-style waistband on a pair of jeans and the tiny bra top. Second-skin catsuits came in black lace at Burberry and crystal mesh at Stella McCartney. All of these were worn on the catwalk by models with the low body fat necessary for bones, cavities and ridges of muscle to be clearly visible.
