When I was a teenager in Italy, I used to go to nudist beaches all the time. 30 years and 2 kids later, would it be the same?

In July 2017, I wrote an article about toplessness for Vogue Italy. Director, actress and political activist Lina Esco emerged from the world of show business to challenge public nudity laws in the United States with the 2014 film. Free the nipple. Her film took on a life of its own and, thanks to the support of Miley Cyrus, Cara Delevingne and Willow Smith, eventually transformed into a real political movement, particularly on social media where the hashtag #FreeTheNipple spread at a rapid pace. dazzling. The same year as this piece, actress Alyssa Milano tweeted “me too” and encouraged others who had been sexually assaulted to do the same, building on the activist movement Tarana Burke had created more than a decade earlier. The rest is history.

In this Vogue In this article, I spoke with designer Alessandro Michele about our shared memories of our favorite childhood beaches where we could swing our hips. Anywhere in Italy where one could see water – whether on the party-filled Riviera Romagnola, on the Amalfi Coast and the Sorrento Peninsula, on the dizzying cliffs and coves of the Coast of On the French azure, which extends from Italy, or on the imposing volcanic rocks of the mythical Riviera dei Ciclopi in Sicily – one was sure to find bodies of all shapes and sizes, naturally shirtless.

In the 90s, when I was growing up in Italy, topless was everywhere and no one paid attention. “When you look at your childhood photos, you recognize these imperfect breasts and these bodies, each with its own story. I think about the ‘non-beauty’ of that time and I think it’s actually the ultimate beauty,” Michele told me.

In fact, I felt the same way. My relationship with the bare chest was part of a very democratic cultural status quo. If all the women on the beaches of the Mediterranean—from the sexy girls sunbathing on the shore to the grandmothers eating spaghetti al pomodoro from Tupperware containers under umbrellas—were wearing equally naked body parts, then in a way we were all on the same team. There was no hierarchy. In general, there was very little censorship of bare breasts. Free nipples appeared in magazines
The covers of newsstands, both in tabloids and in art and fashion magazines. Breasts were such a natural part of the national conversation and aesthetic that Ilona Staller (also known as Cicciolina) and Moana Pozzi, two porn stars, co-founded a political party called the Love Party. I vividly remember my neighbor hanging their party banner in his window, which showed a topless Cicciolina winking.

A lot has changed since that time, but also since that first article in 2017. There has been a feminist revolution, a transformation of women's fashion and gender politics, the absurd overturning of Harvey's rape conviction Weinstein in 2020 in New York, the extremely disturbing overturning of Roe v Wade, and the current political battle over reproductive rights that is radiating across America and far beyond. In one way or another, the female body is as much the scene of political battles as it is of fashion styles and tastes. And perhaps that's why toplessness seems much more common on catwalks and on the streets than on beaches – it's likely that being naked at a dinner party leaves a more lasting mark than being naked on a glamorous beach. “Dressing” naked seems to be much more popular than “being naked.” It is no coincidence that this year, Saint Laurent, Chloé, Ferragamo, Tom Ford, Gucci, Ludovic de Saint Sernin and Valentino all paid homage to transparency in their collections, with lace dresses, transparent tops, sheer silk stockings and body-hugging silk dresses. The majority of Anthony Vaccarello's fall/winter 2024 collection was primarily sheer. And even off the catwalk, the guests at the Saint Laurent show were in the same spirit. Olivia Wilde appeared in a stunning sheer dark bodysuit, Georgia May Jagger wore a sheer black halter top, Ebony Riley wore a stunning V-neck and Elsa Hosk opted for translucent polka dots.