By Sara Steinfeld, Allure
There
are a few things I’ve never quite understood about some of today’s
trends. Like, why does everyone all of a sudden want to be a mermaid or a
unicorn? Or why are so many brands coming out with weird takes on denim jeans?
But most confusing to me is the all-consuming fascination with women’s
nipples. There seem to be so many discussions around whether or not
women should show them, or if social media outlets like Instagram should ban them. Wasn’t it easier when the only question about nipples was, “Why do men have them?”
[post_ads]And yet, here we are: as women storm music festivals bare-chested (save for a generous helping of sparkle,) and companies produce nipple pasties that give the illusion of “headlights,”
the unenlightened among us still insist that women’s nipples need to be
shielded from the world by the fabric firewall of our bras.
The
reality is, we simply can’t keep pretending that the stigmatization of a
body part that (spoiler alert!) we all have is acceptable or normal by
any standard. Even nipple pasties have become the target of criticism,
despite the fact that the very purpose of their existence is to cover up
part of the female body that so many people take issue with.
Miley
Cyrus took some heat when she wore heart-shaped pasties underneath a sparkly cape on Jimmy Kimmel Live! two years ago (one article suggested that it was “hard” for Kimmel to look Cyrus in the eye – I mean, really?), and Nicki Minaj was pinned
as “finding another excuse to parade her naked body” when she chose to
make pasties the focal point of her look. If women don’t cover their
nipples, they’re inappropriate. If they do, they’re shamed. It’s a
classic “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation if ever there
was one.
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So,
dear readers, I want to tell you a story. A story about nipple pasties.
Because if growing up watching Marvel movies has taught me anything,
it’s that embracing the origin story of something that you don’t fully
understand is the fastest route to acceptance. Nip-ceptance, if you
will. You won’t? Okay.
Pasties first came about
as a result of Western fascination with all things considered Eastern
and "exotic." belly dancers and "exotic" performers at the 1893 World’s
Fair wore metal breastplates that covered little more than the front of
the breast, often adorned with a gem or standout metallic detail where
the nipple would be. Circuses began to incorporate these pieces into
their stage acts, and slowly, the metal breastplates evolved into the
adhesive nipple covers we’re familiar with today.
The new style made its way back to burlesque halls, with the first, more modern version of pasties
appearing on burlesque performers in 1920s Parisian dance halls. They
were mainly worn in an effort to abide by rules and regulations that
dictated breasts could not be publicly displayed in their entirety. As
showmanship was one of the highest priorities among these performers
(who were, after all, putting on a show), the first pasties frequently
featured gems and tassels that could be twirled and shaken onstage,
adding an extra element to what was already a veritable spectacle at the
time.
Burlesque performers in the United States quickly picked up
the styles of their French predecessors. As performers like Carrie
Finnell and Sally Rand rose to prominence in the 1920s and '30s, the
pasty evolved, and there was a shift from tasseled pieces to more
realistic ones. Nude, nipple-like pasties began popping up onstage,
testing the limits of the censorship laws of the time.
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Things took
a turn for the (slightly) more modest in the 1930s and '40s. Gypsy Rose
Lee, a well-known name in the burlesque community and the most
celebrated of her time, was known for wearing netted bodysuits with
strategically placed decorations. She, too, wore pasties underneath it
all, and was famous for adjusting them onstage as part of her act.
The
'50s, '60s, and '70s all continued to show pasties within the context
of burlesque halls and striptease acts, ranging in style from simple to
tassel-laden, but there was a general decline in their popularity as
protests around free love and issues surrounding the legality of toplessness
took the spotlight. It wasn’t until a burlesque revival took place in
the '90s that they came back into fashion: shows featuring activist and
educator Jo Weldon (who established the New York School of Burlesque
in 2003) and Dita Von Teese (a style icon in her own right) brought
burlesque into the mainstream, and with it, burlesque style.Thus, the
pasty began to assume its current position in the fashion world.
Pasties have appeared on classic movie stars who’ve donned them for roles, like Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot and Lainie Miller in The Graduate,
and have adorned the chests of some of today’s most iconic celebrities,
including Janet Jackson, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Cher, Britney Spears, and
maybe most famously, Lil' Kim.
Burlesque dancers and exotic performers continue to wear pasties,
either voluntarily as part of their costume aesthetic, or to abide by
the local laws still in place. The neoburlesque movement of the '90s
gave rise to the normalization of the pasty in women’s fashion, and
today we have designers like Tom Ford and Anthony Vaccarello incorporating them into their collection
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The nipple pasty’s official
pop culture trend status is only given more credence as the warmer
months roll around, heralding the arrival of festival season. As music
festivals exploded in popularity over the past 10 years, many clothing
brands saw an opportunity to cash in with festival-ready collections.
And given that so many take place in extremely warm climates, the less
clothing, the better. For some women, these revealing styles make nipple
pasties a necessity, where others simply forgo the extra layer of a
thin shirt in favor of the pasties themselves.
Music festivals
like Coachella, Electric Daisy Carnival, Bonnaroo, and more invite
throngs of women (and people of all gender identities, for what it’s
worth) to take advantage of the culture of freedom and artistic
expression. Many engage with this unique ethos through clothing or the
lack thereof, especially with the recent rise of the body positivity
movement that encourages women to love
That said, not everyone has come
around. There are plenty among us who still feel as though women’s
"modesty" needs to be protected, even though female toplessness is legal in several states.
This begs the question: when did the onus fall on us, as women, to take
care to not offend the delicate sensibilities of those who see the
female form as something to be controlled or deserving of shame or
suppression?
That thought is just the tip of a larger iceberg of a
conversation. But for now, let’s leave it at this: There’s nothing
wrong or scary about women’s nipples, or any sort of nipple adornment,
be it a pasty, piercing, or otherwise, on display. And if the evolution
of the nipple pasty’s history has taught us anything, it’s that times
are always changing, and with them, so must we all.
More on all things nipples:
- Your Perfect Nude Lipstick Is the Color of Your Nipples — But There's a Catch
- Instagram Will Start Blurring Out 'Sensitive' Content With Latest Update
- Free the Nipple: You Need to See This Badass Instagram Account
