You know that phrase, “Leave something for the imagination”? Yeah, we're done with that. Sheer dresses have been having a red-carpet moment for a while now, and at the 2023 VMAs, the see-through look positively dominated. Megan Thee Stallion took lingerie-inspired fashion to the next level with a sheer black corset gown. Karol G made the naked dress naked-er with a transparent skin-color lace dress. Doja Cat's cobweb dress barely used fabric at all.
Arguably one of the grandmothers of red-carpet sheer couture is Gwyneth Paltrow, who practically caused an international incident with her visible nipples on a 2002 Academy Awards red carpet. The fact that Paltrow's sheer black Alexander McQueen gown became so “infamous” in the early 2000s that it made headlines when her daughter Apple borrowed it two decades later seems almost quaint now. These days everyone from Allison Janney to Emma Watson and Ciara has gone nearly naked on the carpet.
And where better to push the transparent envelope than MTV's video music awards?
Megan Thee Stallion
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The rapper's boudoir-inspired sheer black dress was, as she might say, real hot-girl shit.
Karol G
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
