Opinion: Bianca Censori’s nude Grammys moment was all Kanye West’s making

Sorry Bianca Censori, unlike scores of women before you, you may have worn the dress, but you didn’t own this moment. Kanye West did, writes Julie Cross.

Apparently skin is in, according to fashion experts. Well, if that’s the case Bianca Censori is not just bang on trend, she’s won the gold medal.

There were plenty of women flashing the flesh at the Grammys this week, but rapper Kanye West’s wife was the only one to stand on the red carpet completely naked.

OK, technically, she was wearing something, but it was transparent. Imagine a dress made of the sheerest pantyhose, leaving breasts and the rest on show.

The 30-year-old architect, who hails from Melbourne, paired her outfit with wide eyes and a face full of apprehension.

Kanye West and Bianca Censori on the Grammy Awards red carpet. Picture: AP

Looming over her, stony-faced and fully clothed, was her husband, giving her instructions on what to do. She let her black fur coat drop to the ground and all hell broke loose on the internet.

So many questions. Was Censori coerced into this by West? Was the fear in her eyes just last minute stage fright? Why did she do it?

Italian fashion designer Donatella Versace once said, “Fashion is a weapon you can use when you need it”.

And, women, in particular, have employed it through the ages to hammer home a message.

Princess Diana’s 1994 ‘revenge dress’ – worn at the same time her husband, the then Prince Charles was on TV confessing that he had been having an affair with Camilla Parker Bowles – shouted “See what you’re missing”.

Princess Diana in her “revenge dress”. Picture: Getty Images

Lady Gaga in her raw beef dress. Picture: Getty Images

Her shoulders, cleavage and knees were exposed all at the same time, breaking multiple royal dress protocols. It was on the front page the next day. The dress did its job.

Others have bared more flesh than Diana; raw flesh when it came to Lady Gaga’s meat ensemble at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards. Her raw beef dress came with matching beef boots, hat and a clutch bag. She wore it in protest of US military policy preventing service people from disclosing their sexual identity. It sparked debate. It revolted. Three months later that policy was overturned.

Rose McGowan, with Marilyn Manson, pioneered the ‘naked dress’. Picture: Getty Images

She recently revealed she wore the beaded outfit for herself. Picture: Getty Images

Rose McGowan was a pioneer of the now popular ‘naked dress’ when in 1998 she attended the MTV Video Music Awards in a completely sheer black beaded outfit with a visible thong. She recently said it was “a reclamation” of her body after being raped by movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. It was a moment of empowerment for her.

Following Censori’s red carpet reveal, it’s West, 47, who has been bragging. It’s HIS wife that is now the “most Googled person on the planet” and of course, she was wearing HIS clothing brand.

Sorry, Censori, unlike scores of women before you, you may have worn the dress, but you didn’t own this moment. He did.

Originally published as Opinion: Bianca Censori’s nude Grammys moment was all Kanye West’s making