From Heidi Klum and the Kardashian-Jenners to Chappell Roan and Lizzo, stars are embracing simulated nudity with sculpted, exaggerated chests — aesthetic tribute, anti-censorship protest or algorithm-era attention grab?In early May, the Kardashian-Jenner women arrived on the red carpet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art gala in New York, dressed around a shared theme: gowns with emphasized, jagged, pointed or simulated nipples — designs that made no attempt to blur the shape of the female chest but instead sought to highlight it. The evening’s overarching theme, Fashion Is Art, allowed guests to interpret fashion as a work of art through sculptural structures and visual illusions of the body. And, as always with the Kardashians, it was also an opportunity to bolster the family businesses and sell the public more products.It is tempting to see the dresses worn by Kim Kardashian and her younger sisters, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, as a sharp social statement against male patriarchy and the censorship of the female body. In reality, the dresses worn by the three echoed one of the most provocative products from Kardashian’s underwear brand Skims — the Ultimate Nipple Bra, a bra with protruding nipples launched in late 2023 under the slogan: "No matter how hot it is, you’ll always look cold." For 279 shekels, you too can walk around with erect nipples.GalleryKylie Jenner at the Met Gala (Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)The bra, which became one of the most viral products on the market, paved the way for a trend now dominating red carpets. At the Met Gala, the Jenner sisters made do with corsets and prominent bras that created the visual illusion of exposed nipples — Kylie in a surrealist Schiaparelli dress, Kendall in a Hellenistic gown by GapStudio, designed by Zac Posen.Kendall Jenner in a GapStudio dress designed by Zac Posen (Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)Older sister Kim took the trend one step further, in what appeared to be a tribute to iconic performances such as Madonna’s 1990 Blond Ambition tour, featuring Jean Paul Gaultier’s cone bra. On the red carpet, she appeared armed with a sculptural corset made of fiberglass in a bronze-orange hue, with an anatomical chest and emphasized, pointed nipples.The look was created by London-based artist duo Whitaker Malem and sculptor Allen Jones. The design corresponded with an early work by Jones, "Body Armour" from 1978, originally created for an unrealized film project, and also evoked Jones’ poster for the 1975 film "Maîtresse" — a provocative work centered on a dominatrix figure in leather.Kim Kardashian in a sculptural fiberglass corset (Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)The three are not the only ones recently showing spiky nipples on the red carpet: Chappell Roan appeared at the Grammys in a floor-length skirt of sorts, suspended from faux nipple piercings, designed by the fashion house Mugler.The dress referenced a historic design from the fashion house’s spring-summer 1998 haute couture collection by its founder, Manfred Thierry Mugler. At the Grammys, she encountered Heidi Klum, who wore a tight butter-colored latex dress by German designer Marina Hoermanseder that seemingly exposed her entire anatomical structure.It only looks like a piercing: Chappell Roan wears Mugler at the Grammys (Photo: Amy Sussman/Getty Images)The latest to join the trend is singer Lizzo, who arrived at the amfAR gala in Cannes in a blue dress by designer Robert Wun, featuring jewelry resembling nipple piercings. The look immediately went viral and received extensive coverage, especially because it came at a time when the Cannes Film Festival is seeking to tighten dress code rules around nudity on the red carpet.The current emphasis on sculpted breasts and pronounced nipples is another chapter in the fight to "free the nipple," led by many stars for more than a decade. In 2014, social media platforms — Instagram in particular — became a battleground for influencers, celebrities and one Cara Delevingne after images of women with exposed nipples were censored and removed from the internet.Heidi Klum wears a dress by designer Marina Hoermanseder at the Grammys (Photo: Amy Sussman/Getty Images)In the 12 years since, we have seen a growing presence of stars unafraid to wear sheer and "naked" dresses on the red carpet, a direct continuation of what has been happening on runways in the international fashion capitals. At the same time, film festivals such as Cannes and certain red carpet events have begun demanding that women cover up.The choice to expose emphasized nipples is a response to an era in which the body is consumed through screens and algorithms — in other words, through the censored eyes of social media. At the same time, the rise of trends such as "modest dressing" or TradWife culture reflects a sophisticated attempt to activate conservative control mechanisms over exposed bodies. When these trends come combined with patriotism, religion and nationalism — in the United States and Israel, for example — the result is a clash between conservatism and progressivism.Kylie Jenner wears a surrealist Schiaparelli dress (Photo: Mike Coppola/Getty Images)One figure who has spoken out against the censorship of women more than once is Scout Willis, the daughter of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, who in 2014 walked through the streets of New York topless after Instagram blocked her account over nude photos she had posted."My situation was in no way unique," she wrote in an article published in XOJane, an online women’s magazine that operated from 2011 to 2016. "Women are regularly kicked off Instagram for posting photos with any portion of the areola exposed, while photos sans nipple — degrading as they might be — remain unchallenged. So I walked around New York topless and documented it on Twitter, pointing out that what is legal by New York State law is not allowed on Instagram."Lizzo wears a blue dress by designer Robert Wun at the Cannes Film Festival (Photo: Amy Sussman/Getty Images for amfAR)The debate over exposed nipples in 2026 goes far beyond questions of fashion, good taste or provocation. It reflects a reality in which the female body is still mediated through systems of control — whether social media algorithms, strict red carpet dress codes or conservative waves seeking to return fashion to a more restrained language.Within this tension, the choice to emphasize the nipple is not merely an aesthetic gesture but a statement about visibility, ownership and women’s right to appear in the world without censorship. Yet the move also raises a question that remains unresolved: Does exposing the body truly undermine the old order? In a world where freeing the nipple has become a branded aesthetic and bras are sold with an illusion of nudity, it is ultimately difficult to separate an act of resistance from a fashion trend.