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The big trend in Cannes? The bra flash

Scarlett Johansson at the Asteroid City premiere at Cannes film festival - Getty
Scarlett Johansson at the Asteroid City premiere at Cannes film festival - Getty

At first it looked like a wardrobe malfunction. At the glossiest parties and biggest premieres of the Cannes Film Festival, actresses appeared to have forgotten how to find a suitable bra. But this was no mistake – and it turns out the most fashionable accessory of the season has been lurking under your shirt all this time.

Yes, the peekaboo bra is back – and this year it’s less subtle than ever. For a while now, celebrities have been wearing sheer dresses with visible thongs, but now the focus has moved firmly to our top halves.

First up, Scarlett Johansson who wore a custom candyfloss-coloured Prada gown to the premiere of Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, the top of which created the effect of a standard M&S white bra poking out over a strapless dress. On the rest of us, it might look like we had wandered outside halfway through a fitting, but on Johansson it made a simple outfit feel modern and fresh.

Then there was The White Lotus star Sydney Sweeney, who was photographed wearing a pale slip dress from Prada’s sister brand, Miu Miu, with a boned bodice, spaghetti straps and a not-so-subtle blue bra visible underneath as she made her way through the lobby of the Hotel Martinez to the Chopard party.

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in a white Fendi gown with a gold bra-effect on the top - Doug Peters
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in a white Fendi gown with a gold bra-effect on the top - Doug Peters

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley – fittingly really, given her successful eponymous underwear line with M&S – furthered the trend elsewhere on the Croisette in a white Fendi gown with a gold bra-effect on the top.

Meanwhile, model Cindy Bruna wore a strapless floral Vivienne Westwood dress with what looked like a standard beige strapless bra very much on show underneath.

Well, the bra is certainly back – but why now? “For a long time, people like Rihanna and Beyoncé would walk the red carpet with what looked like nothing underneath,” says Emily Cronin, a journalist who reports on visible bras (and other underwear topics) on her podcast Hello Girls. “But what celebrities, influencers and stylists have realised is that being nearly naked is actually a lot sexier than being completely naked. So a little bit of underwear on show gives plausible deniability that you’re dressed despite leaving little to the imagination.”

Sydney Sweeney in a pale slip dress from Miu Miu and a not-so-subtle blue bra visible underneath - Arnold Jerocki
Sydney Sweeney in a pale slip dress from Miu Miu and a not-so-subtle blue bra visible underneath - Arnold Jerocki

Fashion has also always excelled at challenging what we like to think of as bad taste by turning it into a desirable proposition – be it white stilettos, clumpy sandals, double denim or visible bras. The question of whether or not it is acceptable to show your bra strap (or even wear a bra) has flip-flopped multiple times over the past few decades as we moved back and forth between Carrie Bradshaw’s early 2000s outfits, which regularly showed off her multi-coloured bras, and the high necked, hidden-support dresses of the 2010s.

This has gone hand in hand with how fashionable breasts have been in general. Around the millennium, plunging necklines were everywhere. But by 2016, Vogue had declared the cleavage was over, noting a distinct lack of push-up bras on the runway or the red carpet. “The tits will not be out for the lads. Or for anyone else, for that matter,” the magazine said. Seven years later, and the lads must be delighted by this new, chest-focused, turn of events.

Not that – Sweeney aside – these peekaboo outfits are about cleavage so much as highlighting the slightly subversive but also tongue-in-cheek impact a visible bra can have. This also makes it a welcome change from the naked trend that has been dominating the red carpet for a while now. Over the past few years, sheer dresses, visible pants and even the occasional bare breast have all become standard black-tie-dressing fare.

Carrie Bradshaw (played by Sarah Jessica Parker), regularly showed off her multi-coloured bras in Sex and the City - WireImage
Carrie Bradshaw (played by Sarah Jessica Parker), regularly showed off her multi-coloured bras in Sex and the City - WireImage

We have seen it everywhere from the crystal layered dress that Marilyn Monroe first wore and Kim Kardashian borrowed at last year’s Met Gala to the major fashion statement that was Florence Pugh’s sheer, voluminous free-the-nipple Valentino ballgown in hot pink. Not that the naked trend shows any sign of dying out, as Irina Shayk’s outfit at the Cannes film festival proved.

The 37-year-old supermodel looked undeniably dazzling earlier this week in a Gucci-logoed bra and pants, a sheer dress, sunglasses and a truck-load of diamonds. But given how few clothes she is actually wearing, this aesthetic – unlike the peekaboo bra one – is clearly not so much about fashion as it is about bodies, and how thin, bronzed and toned they can be.

As for the rest of us, we’re unlikely to be following this trend any time soon (although the high street will no doubt be releasing some version of a visible bra dress). And at least you can know that if you see an errant bra strap slipping out the corner of your top this summer, you can relax – safe in the knowledge that you and your underwear are at the height of fashion.