This is Checking Out, a column about how we shop, what we buy, and how it all makes us feel. Email tips and ideas to checking.out@slate.
com. The first time I looked at the photo, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. It was an image on Instagram, taken at a friend's wedding, of a mutual acquaintance in a jewel-toned tulle gown.
Her bodice was elegantly gathered, her sleeves ruffled. And her skirt? Completely see-through. A generous pair of panties peeked through, visible to all—the wedding officiant, the parents of the bride, close friends at the event, near strangers on the internet.
This was a couple of years ago, when translucent clothing had made its way onto runways and red carpets but wasn't yet a common look for normies. It was hard for me to believe that a respectable person would consider a glorified bathing-suit cover-up appropriate attire for a fancy, family-friendly event. That moment seems quaint now.
More than two years into the trend that fashion writers call "naked dressing," I am no longer the scandalized elder with an outdated sense of decorum, rubbernecking at each public display of bikini briefs. And thank goodness for that, because sheer garments are not going anywhere. Magazines and fashion blogs are offering styling tips.
People are asking advice columnists what to wear under gauzy dresses and what to do when a family member wears mesh to a milestone event. In April, WSJ Magazine published a photo spread on how to wear see-through clothing in t.
