“I think nipples are just there now as a part of fashion,” says
Valerie Steele, acting director of the museum at the Fashion Institute
of Technology in New York. “They have really become an acceptable part
of fashion for at least the high-fashion and street-style worlds.”
Date: Wed, 09 May 2001 12:41:42 -0600
From: “Miriam A Aruguete” (spam-protected)
To: (spam-protected) (spam-protected)
Subject: The latest accessory: beyond cleavage
Chicago Tribune
May 8, 2001
The latest accessory: beyond cleavage
By Judy Hevrdejs
Scan the magazine racks. You can’t help noticing them. Charlize
Theron’s are revealed on Esquire. Jennifer Aniston’s tease from the
cover of May’s Vanity Fair.
And they have been popping up on TV and in movies -Jennifer Lopez’s,
if you recall, made a notable appearance at the Oscars.
What gives with all the nipples?
“I think nipples are just there now as a part of fashion,” says
Valerie Steele, acting director of the museum at the Fashion Institute
of Technology in New York. “They have really become an acceptable part
of fashion for at least the high-fashion and street-style worlds.”
But will the trend reach the rest of America? Lori Barghini is banking
on it.
Last summer, Barghini plus pals Julia Cobbs, Elizabeth and Bill
Glaeser launched a Web site (www.bodyperks.com) to sell bodyperks
-basically, erect silicone nipples ($20 a set) that are meant to be
tucked inside a bra.
The quartet from Minneapolis-St. Paul sought funding for their
endeavor (”A lot of people looked at us like we were nuts,” Barghini
recalls), then sold more than 1,000 pairs at a South Dakota motorcycle
rally.
Next, they went to Vegas, where they did their own market research.
“We had someone dressed really provocatively, with cleavage. And
someone else in a short skirt, high heels. And then we put a girl in
khakis and a nice little sweater with pearls. I mean real prim, but
wearing the ‘perks. Guess who gets all the attention?” asks Barghini.
The woman wearing the pearls and the bodyperks, according to Barghini,
noting “for men, it’s almost like a subliminal thing. They’re drawn to
it like bees to honey.”
She wasn’t talking about the pearls.
Last month, the bodyperks team attended a lingerie industry show in
Las Vegas and with at least one major retailer interested in the
product, says Barghini, bodyperks could be available at a lingerie
department near you soon.
“Movie stars and all those in that area are a little more forward in
that,” says Cyndi Salat, at Schwartz’s Intimate Apparel in Wilmette.
“As far as the general public? For every day, they’re
looking for a little more coverage.”
Barghini is quick to note that bodyperks are not meant for the office
or boardroom, but instead as a fun accessory. “It’s to go out and be
sexy and flirt,” she says.
Those who consider a funky faux diamond brooch from your granny a fun
accessory might not feel the same way about these faux nipples. As
Steele points out, the appearance of nipples in fashion can evoke
strong emotions.
“Because of the way that they stand up like that, they can be a little
embarrassing because they are showing that you are having some kind of
physiological response,” Steele says. “So I think that in that way,
they are more revealing and, therefore, maybe more taboo than
cleavage. . . . The nipples are a like a blush on the breasts. I think
most women would be more embarrassed or anxious about that than about
other forms of breast exposure.”
While Barghini calls bodyperks a fashion accouterment and puts them in
the same category as a padded bra, she also thinks a woman who has had
a mastectomy or is contemplating reconstruction could try them to see
if they want that look.
New Yorker Liz Carr has tried them.
“I’ve worn them at work a couple times and about five times clubbing,”
says Carr, a manager at Patricia Field, an eclectic New York boutique
– yes, the same Patricia Field who is costume designer for HBO’s “Sex
and the City.”
And the reaction?
“I got a lot of looks from men and women and a lot of women asking me
about them,” says Carr, who says the boutique has sold about 10 pairs
in the six months they’ve carried them. “When I was wearing them out,
I was really happy about it. just pop them inside your
bra and it’s more subtle or just right in your T-shirt and that’s more
of statement. It’s like a toy thing. A fun way to slip out of yourself
and be something different.”
Tags: cleavage, date, director, fashion, institute, may, museum, part, someone, technology
