FASHION

Kate Moss Reminds Us Why She’s the Queen of the Naked Dress


Kate Moss wearing a barely there dress
Ricky Vigil M/GC Images

One of the reasons why the “naked dress” is so beloved by celebrities is because it creates some shock value and elicits a sweet jolt of attention. These days, basically all of your favorite stars have, at one point, tried out the trend. Beyoncé and Zoe Kravitz bared it all at the Met Gala, Megan Fox wore an extremely see-through Mugler to last year’s MTV VMAs, and Emily Ratajkowski even recently tried out the trend at W’s 50th anniversary party. These days, celebs step out in their barely-there dresses, and we hardly blink an eye, but Kate Moss remembers a different time. While the model by no means invented the sheer trend, she did wear one of the most famous “naked dresses” to date, and on Wednesday, she seemingly referenced that past moment with her look for the evening.

Moss stepped out in London for an event at Annabel’s celebrating Diet Coke’s 40th Anniversary. As a reminder, Moss was named creative director of the brand in the UK earlier this year, and she’s now enjoying the spoils of the position. For the event, the model wore a sparkly black gossamer-like dress, with a draped neckline that plunged down, and hit her right at the navel. Moss then decorated that extra space with layers of necklaces. Of course, the model opted to not wear a bra, or risk ruining the aesthetic of the entire look, but she did throw on some black underwear, which was very visible through the dress.

David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Diet Coke

The dress is reminiscent of one she wore back in 1993 for the Elite Model Agency Look of the Year party. For the occasion, she wore a sheer slip, again sans bra, but with black underwear. It’s a moment that has gone down in fashion history, but Moss revealed the whole thing kind of happened by accident. “I did not know that this dress was see-through until the pictures came the next day in the newspaper,” she admitted to British Vogue. “It was the flash that made it look naked.”

Dave Benett/Getty Images

These days, though, when Moss wears a see-through dress, she knows it. Like earlier this month, when she attended the WSJ. Magazine 2022 Innovator Awards in support of Anthony Vaccarello, wearing an olive green dress from Saint Laurent’s spring/summer 2023 collection, which was, yet again, see-through. Almost thirty years later, and she’s still the queen of the “naked dress,” and now she’s passing on her knowledge to the next generation. When her daughter, Lila tried to wear nipple pasties under a sheer dress, Kate was aghast. “Never wear a pasty!” she said. “That’s my advice to the younger generation. They are so prudish nowadays.”