The ‘nearly naked’ fashion trend has been a staple on the Hollywood red carpet for years, but it is usually just an illusion. In the case of Kanye “Ye” West’s wife Bianca Censori, she is literally nearly naked. Couple that with the crack’s return to fashion, and modesty has all but gone out the window.
On Friday’s show, Megyn was joined by Mary Katharine Ham, host of Getting Hammered, and Bridget Phetasy, to discuss Censori’s latest NSFW look and what is going on with celebrity style at the moment.
‘Cracks Are Back’
Just days after The Cut published a report titled “Cracks Are Back” that detailed the rise of “butt-cleavage” (i.e. stars letting the tops of their behinds hang out) in Hollywood, Censori once again raised the stakes with a simply sheer ensemble.
In Megyn’s view, the crack trend alone is a lot to unpack. “Some of us used to worry about the pants that would give us what we used to affectionately call ‘plumber’s ass,'” she said. “Unless you’re Monica Lewinsky at the White House as an intern, you do not wish to show your thong or your butt crack upon leaning over – until now.”
Exhibit A? Katy Perry on the red carpet at the Billboard Women in Music Awards last month.
While Ham and Phetasy agreed that the trend is “dumb,” they noted the nostalgia of it. “I’m a 90s kid,” Phetasy said. “This was like all the rage. We had the low-rise jeans.”
We may have to make our peace with low-rise jeans and ‘short shorts’ making a comeback, but Megyn said the butt-cleavage trend goes too far. “They let it all hang out, and I’m against this,” she said. “I think the ass should be kept covered… I don’t really view it as all that sexy. When you see the ass, you think about a lot of things other than just sex and I’m not sure if that’s hot.”
Sheer Genius?
What go even further than the current crop of crack-bearing dresses and pants, however, are the looks Censori is photographed in while out with West. “Kanye’s wife, of course, is never one to shy away from showing her naked body,” Megyn said. “That woman doesn’t wear clothes.”
Case in point: The 29-year-old architect went out to dinner with West in Los Angeles Thursday night in sheer, flesh-toned pantyhose, a black bra, sky-high heels, and a strategically placed handbag over her nether region.
Megyn said she finds the look, which is nothing new for Censori, troubling. “[West is] making her into what looks like a porn star,” she noted. “He is whoring her around every restaurant in the world and calling the paparazzi because he wants us to see her vag even more than her ass crack and her boobs. It’s so exploitative.”
While Censori may be photographed regularly because of her connection to West, Megyn doesn’t think it would be hard for most women to get attention dressed like that. “I can look like Bianca Censori tomorrow… if I put on an old pair of my Leggs pantyhose and then grab a pillow off the couch and hold it in front of my boobs,” she joked. “Virtually any woman could go out naked to dinner and get press… Is this fulfillment in life for people to ogle you while you’re basically naked in public?”
Phetasy noted that Censori “always looks like a hostage” in the photos, but she speculated that the headline-making garb might have something to do with marketing. “Kanye always does crazy stuff before an album comes out,” she noted. “He definitely has an album coming out when this nonsense starts happening around him.”
Or maybe the rapper has an entirely different venture up his sleeve. “I did have a memory triggered… of going into a gas station or a drugstore and getting Leggs pantyhose for a job interview,” Ham said. “Maybe Kanye should sell those.”
If he did, he’d be making a play at ex-wife Kim Kardashian’s Skims empire. “Maybe this is all a prelude to launching a competitor to Skims,” Megyn concluded. “If that’s true, I am actually going to be impressed that he lured us into this business.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Ham and Phetasy by tuning in to episode 759 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.