Ah, nipples. We all have them and yet half of the world’s population is not ‘supposed’ to show them, but it would seem New York Fashion Week designers have decided to wholeheartedly embrace the humble, and at times controversial, nipple making it one of the most prominent accessories of the upcoming Spring 2023 season.

Peter Do, with a truly remarkable collection, proved that nipples don’t have to be front and centre to add to an outfit. The arrival of them underneath sheer tank tops on the female models had the same visual effect as that on the male models. This seamless blending between what is considered ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ showed the nipple as a casual asset. Something that just is.

Parsons MFA went down the same route as a few other designers in the past week at the beginning of their collection. The opening look, while it actually blocks the nipples with skin-toned pasties, uses the breasts as an anchor to the look, helping to focus the eye on the intricate garment.

LaQuan Smith isn’t exactly known for hiding bodies, so it is possibly no surprise that nipples were on show during this exuberant and extroverted show. With sheer fabrics rising in popularity, and a clear favourite amongst current designers, Smith’s nipples acted as a delicate accessory to a myriad of perfectly tailored gowns and tops.

Jason Wu Collection also chose to allow the peaking through of nipples via the use of elegantly draped tulles, and while they’re not that directly visible, their shadows and silhouettes are delicate and, at their core, feminine.

Perhaps the nipple that has gotten the most people talking from New York Fashion Week was the penultimate look from the Collina Strada show. In this design, the breasts, as well as the nipples, were highlighted with pink makeup drawing the eyes to a pair of silver squiggles placed around the nipple from which fabric falls in an almost Grecian way. Once again, as with all of these looks, the nipples are not being shown in a sexual way, instead, they are a part of the body being used much like we may our hands, neck or feet. There is nothing exhibitionist about these designs. And, if more designers seek to ‘normalise’ the nipple on the red carpet then perhaps, in time, we will see the stigma begin to fly away in day-to-day life.