Is X-rated fashion ‘fake feminism’ or a legitimate statement?

THE boundaries between wardrobe malfunctions and X-rated fashion are becoming increasingly blurred. But is it ‘fake feminism’ or a real statement?

NIPPLE covers, G-string pants and crotch-high splits.

The boundaries between wardrobe malfunctions, attention-seeking fashion and feminist statements are becoming increasingly blurred.

Rapper Nicki Minaj wore a blazer with her entire right boob out (except for a silver nipple cover) to Paris Fashion Week, in an apparent nod to Lil’ Kim’s racy MTV VMAs outfit circa 1999.

Azealia Banks basically went pants-less, sporting denim cut-off shorts with a G-string back that left her booty exposed.

And Emma Watson showed more skin than ever in a Vanity Fair shoot, going topless and revealing her “underboobs” with only a netted cape covering her chest.

So is X-rated fashion fake feminism or a legitimate statement?

Style or feminist statement? Nicki Minaj turned heads at Paris fashion week Picture: Splash

There’s no doubt Minaj’s outfit was provocative but was she really commenting on the unfair censorship of women’s bodies through her revealing outfit?

“I think the misinterpretation with images like this ... is that people then associate feminism with nudity, sexualisation and that woman taking off her bra and burning it,” sexologist Nikki Goldstein said.

“What she’s wearing will go through filters on Facebook and be published, yet it’s one tiny square that’s covering that part (her nipple).

“If that same image was to be here without the nipple cover, it wouldn’t be allowed to be published on Facebook and it would be blurred out (on news sites).

“It does make a statement — what does it matter if she’s showing her nipple or not? Her whole breast is sitting there.”

She made an entrance at the Haider Ackermann show. Picture: Splash

Emma Watson’s Vanity Fair shoot raised eyebrows last week, with some calling her a “hypocrite” and “fake feminist” for flaunting her sexuality when she’s an outspoken women’s rights campaigner.

“Feminism is about giving women choice,” Watson said, defending thephotograph in an interview with the BBC.

“Feminism is not a stick with which to beat other women with. It’s about freedom, it’s about liberation, it’s about equality.”

Watson continued: “I really don’t know what my tits have to do with it”.

“It’s very confusing. I’m confused. Most people are confused. I’m always just kind of quietly stunned.”

Really? Azealia Banks showed way too much of herself in Paris. Picture: Splash

Unlike Minaj and Banks’ outfits, Watson’s had a clear context, Goldstein said.

“It’s artistic, it’s in context with Vanity Fair, it’s in context with Emma Watson,” she said.

“It’s very bold and brave, it may be her coming out of her skin as a woman who is free to make choices.

“I don’t think she (Watson) was so sexualised. You can’t even see a nipple. Yes, it’s a choice, but let’s look at the context where you’re flashing that nipple.”

Fashion statement. Hailey Baldwin showed off her breast under a lace Elie Saab top during Paris Fashion Week. Picture: Getty Images

And while nipple pasties, underboob, sideboob and cleavage are becoming frequent occurrence on red carpets, there’s one trend that remains taboo — exposed vaginas.

The XXX-rated look was most recently seen at the Oscars last week when D-grade actor Blanca Blanco had a “wardrobe malfunction” in her floor-length green frock, accidentally exposing her crotch.

“I had a bodysuit on ... like a swimsuit, for some reason the pictures are looking like I have nothing. It was a nude colour, it matches my skin, so I wasn’t naked,” Blanco told the Mail Online

‘That was not the idea.’ Blanca Blanco didn’t mean to expose herself at the Oscars (or so she says). Picture: Ian West/PA Wire

“I didn’t think ‘I’m going to expose myself at the Oscars’, that was not the idea. It was not a strategy or anything.

“Because I had the swimsuit underneath, I didn’t even think much of it, but when I was walking forward I grabbed the dress because I realised it was slipping and it was moving up.

“When I was watching the show people were texting me and saying ‘You are like everywhere, they are saying you don’t have underwear’’ and I was like ‘What? Oh my god, this is so embarrassing.’”

So is exposing the vagina the next feminist statement?

“We’re not a society where we see guys running around with their penises out so why do we think it’s OK to have our vaginas out? I just don’t think that we’re there yet,” Goldstein said.

“With Nicki Minaj and the nipple argument, there’s a statement being made about why are nipples harmful? And why we need to cover ours and they (men) can expose theirs.

“If we take an equal level that someone is making a statement about flashing a bit of a vagina, I feel like that’s a lost statement.

“Where do you want to go with that? Do you want vaginas to be free and not covered up?”

Originally published as Is X-rated fashion ‘fake feminism’ or a legitimate statement?