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Flesh and Fashion: Shifting Erogenous Zones of Style

Whether it's Britney Spears, Madonna, or Jackie O., celebrities have always been mimicked for their sense of fashion -- and degree of dress or undress. Millions of young and not so young women have exposed their midriff, bared their bosom or covered their head in an effort to emulate their idols.

Concluding NPR's Fashion Week series, Karen Michel reports on the history of flesh and fashion.

Harold Koda, curator in charge of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, explains the Britney Spears effect this way: "She at once projects a kind of wholesome, accessible image... She is so all-American that to transpose, for example, a bare midriff or a piercing on that kind of wholesome canvas suddenly makes it accessible for a much broader spectrum of individuals."

Many designers look to past style icons for inspiration. A brochure for Max Azria's fall collection cites "screen-siren glamour" and "the glamour of old Hollywood."

Azria was inspired by actress Audrey Hepburn and her bared neck and Givenchy simplicity. Koda says a longer neck is seen as desirable across cultures, whether in kimono or designer gown. But in Western culture, there's been a perpetual shift in what's covered and what's revealed -- from breasts to legs and everything in between.

"Everybody wants to show [their best feature]," Azria says. "Sometimes it's the leg, sometimes it's the breast, or sometimes it's the face. The legs [are] a very important, sexy part of the body without [being] vulgar."

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.