Jennifer Lopez may not have invented the naked dress, but she certainly has perfected it. On Thursday night, Lopez attended the Billboard Latin Music Awards in Miami wearing a low-cut sheer dress by Julien Macdonald. The dress featured carefully placed sheer paneling and a thigh-high slit, making it one of her most naked naked dresses.
Beginning with her famous Versace dress at the 2000 Grammys, Lopez has made the naked dress her signature for well over a decade. She’s been particularly fond of the style since 2010, when she joined American Idol as a judge and, in her 40s, experienced yet another dominant phase of her career. (What better way to prove that you’ve still got it than being back on top and looking incredible while doing it?) Look to her Zuhair Murad gown at the 2013 Golden Globes, Charbel Zoe at the 2014 Video Music Awards and 2015 Billboard Music Awards, and Zuhair Murad jumpsuit at the 2016 Latin Grammys. If this is Lopez’s trick to keep all eyes on her on the red carpet, it’s working.
Though Lopez has perfected the naked dress, she’s far from the only star to embrace it. The Kardashian and Jenner women, specifically Kim, have shown a special appreciation for it. One of Kardashian’s most- famous red-carpet moments include her 2015 Met Gala dress, a sheer-paneled white gown with a train of feathers. That same year Beyoncé also wore a sheer, crystallized gown by Givenchy to the Gala.
The style has become so popular that Carolina Herrera felt it necessary to publicly denounce it in an interview with The Washington Post in June 2015, saying that some designers think “it’s so modern to be naked or almost naked. They think it’s going to attract younger people if they do those dresses. No! The almost naked! Oh, God! They’re trying to get people to pay attention to them. In life, there should be a little mystery.”
Speaking to Billboard about her red-carpet look, stylists Rob and Mariel said they wanted Lopez’s latest gown to personify “who she is: confident, bold and glamorous. Though we love pushing the envelope and experimenting with different colors, textures, and shapes, everything circles back to Jennifer’s iconic style.”
