Could There Possibly Be a Whole New Way to Think About Our Breasts?

Vogue

a day ago

Elsewhere, subtler investigations have been taking place. The young designer Nensi Dojaka has made a name for herself in recent years with her lingerie-inspired tops and dresses, which can look as though delicate bralettes and underwire have been placed on the exterior of the garment. 'This interplay speaks to a contrast between presence and absence. It's a visual and tactile duality that only structures like corsets and boning can embody,' she told me. At the fall 2025 Valentino show, a public bathroom was the perfect stage for a collection that played with secrecy and revelation: a shimmering satin bra and high-waist underwear represented a thrilling confluence of fit and unfit for the public gaze. Most striking was a full-length see-through gown worn with a playfully baby-girl pink satin skirt. The model, an older woman with white hair loosely pulled back, reminded me how rare it is to see exposed breasts once they have passed a certain age.
Model on the runway at the Valentino Fall RTW 2025 in Paris, France.
PHoto: WWD/Getty Images
'In the '80s and before that, undergarments were very specifically not to be seen,' says fashion historian Natalie Nudell. 'Historically, it was really seen as not proper.' Since the fall of Roe v. Wade, she notes, there has been a lot of backlash against female and sexual empowerment. However, 'women's fashion has almost become more sexualized, but in a way that's not necessarily looking toward the male gaze.'
All this is taking place against a confusing and sometimes contradictory cultural backdrop. On the one hand, there is the cleavage-friendly 'boom boom' aesthetic ascendant in conservative circles, far from the modest, matronly twinsets and bouclé knits worn by foremothers like Phyllis Schlafly. On the other side, there's a movement toward the small and subtle. Breast reductions have increased by about 65 percent since 2019, and those who are seeking augmentation are no longer necessarily looking to go bigger. 'The trend currently is for smaller boobs—I've heard them called yoga boobs, ballet-body boobs—and for removal of breast implants' says plastic surgeon Niki Christopoulos, MD. It's no surprise the trend is being given monikers related to fitness. More women are actively invested in athleticism than they once were, and what some are now seeking is aligned with that aim. 'Media trends back in the '90s were toward a fuller chest,' Lyle Leipziger, MD, a plastic surgeon for over 25 years, told me. 'Now there's a trend toward staying in shape, to exercising—and there are also all the semaglutide medications.' In this context, increased interest in smaller breasts may be less about ease of movement or rejecting an assumed male preference and more part of a revived fixation on thinness.