The controversial history of the ‘nipple bra’: from the 1970s to Kim Kardashian’s iteration

The SKIMS founder unveiled her new launch just a few days ago: the brand’s ‘Ultimate Nipple Bra‘ as an innovative ‘sign of process’ that sparked a catharsis of opinions on the internet; although perhaps the balance was more towards the negative spectrum.

In the sensual promotional video, Kim appears to turn up the global temperature, alluding to her product as a tool to ‘fight climate change‘. No matter how hot it is, it will always feel like you’re cold’, says the celeb about the bra with which she opens a new disruptive era in the world of lingerie.

La fundadora de SKIMS presentó hace apenas unos días su nuevo lanzamiento: el ‘Ultimate Nipple Bra‘ de la marca como un innovador ‘signo de proceso’ que desencadenó una catarsis de opiniones en internet; aunque quizás la balanza se inclinase más hacia el espectro negativo.

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In fact, Kim’s campaign and narrative around the product advocates a social purpose, announcing that 10% of profits from sales would go to ‘One Percent for the Planet‘, an international environmental organisation that encourages companies to donate 1% of their annual revenue to globally conscious causes.

The provocative bra with nipple-like protrusions on the cups, which create an illusion to wearers as if they were not wearing a bra, was met with endless criticism related to sexualisation or marketing, as with any product or phrase that verbalises the clan to which it belongs. However, on the opposite side, there were those who saw it as a ‘liberating object’, as one more option to the list of bras, whatever your desire.

In this sense, those on the positive side, who interpreted it as yet another claim to femininity with which to liberate bodies, affirmed the genius behind the idea for women dissatisfied with their breasts, such as those who have needed surgery.

Liberating the female body

However, the nipple bra silhouette is nothing new. It was first introduced in the 1970s by a brand called VIVA Lingerie that would make fashion history for incorporating the ‘cold weather’ looking nipple into bras. ‘It’s so sexy it will give your figure a new dimension,’ their slogan read, accompanied by a narrative that favoured ‘those who needed the support of a bra but wanted to show off the natural look of a built-in hard nipple.’

A few decades later, the lingerie industry would again be subverted by Victoria’s Secret’s Bombshell Nipple Bra: a more comfortable, rounded iteration designed to achieve the same goals. An idea that connects little or nothing now with the fashion zeitgeist and/or zeitgeist with women now choosing to strip down and advocate for nipple liberation -also taking into account online censorship- or breasts directly through see-through pieces, tiny bras or nudity.

Now, that is precisely the effect SKIMS wants to have: a ‘happy bra-less look’ for women with different breast sizes, advocating inclusivity and the evolution of femininity in the context of global warming.