Cut It Out! Hollywood’s Red Carpets Are Finding New Ways to Show Skin

Kim Kardashian has never met a cutout she didn’t like. The reality star and fashion provocateur has made something of a signature out of showing skin in unexpected places—she loves an exposed hip, a plunging neckline, and a dress that appears to defy the laws of physics. At last weekend’s 2026 LACMA Art+Film Gala in Los Angeles, she was in familiar territory, wearing a burgundy sequined Gucci gown by Demna that was all business from the front, with its high neck, long sleeves, and sculpted silhouetteSilhouetteThe overall outline or shape of a garment or look, such as A-line, column, or hourglass. Silhouette defines the first visual impression of an outfit and is often the mostGo to Silhouette Glossary, and decidedly less so from the side. A dramatic slash across the waist revealed an expanse of skin above the hip.

And she was far from alone. If the evening’s red carpetRed CarpetThe ceremonial walkway at premieres, award shows, and galas where public figures pose for photographers in their most carefully chosen looks. Red-carpet fashion launches trends, fuels designer visibility, and generatesGo to Red Carpet Glossary was anything to go by, Hollywood’s appetite for the naked dress has evolved into something more architectural and off-beat. Forget the romantically diaphanous or the all-out sheer, the latest approach to showing skin is all about strategic exposure. Think a dramatically placed opening, a vertiginous slit, and plunging, crack-skimming backs. Sometimes, what a dress conceals is just as important as what it reveals.

Leading the charge, of course, was the cohort of celebrities dressed by Gucci, where Demna has established a provocative, high-octane strain of glamour. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley wore a black, long-sleeved custom gown with exaggerated shoulders and a severe, almost monastic front that gave way to a completely exposed back and butt, with a daring slit extending to the hip, fastened with a small jeweled detail. Restrained from one angle, outrageously risqué from another.

Fellow model Amber Valletta also opted for custom Gucci, in a black column gown with a plunging open back, a silver ornamental detail, and a thigh-baring slit that extended almost to her waist. Emily Ratajkowski chose a white draped Gucci number with a plunging neckline and dramatically open sides, paired with a sky-high leg slit.

There were plenty more variations on the theme. Alix Earle embraced the evening’s maximalist mood in a silver Gucci, disco-ready halter gown dripping with strands of shimmering embellishment, with a thigh-high slit emerging from beneath the metallic fringe. Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn also turned to Gucci, wearing a glittering, one-shouldered purple gown with an asymmetrical neckline and a dramatic slit that revealed a sheer black-stockinged leg. Candice Swanepoel took a similarly sparkling approach in a silver, crystal-strewn gown with a plunging neckline and two daringly high slits, with more sparkle cascading over her legs.

Not everyone was in Gucci, though. Madelaine Petsch opted for a look from Georges Hobeika’s spring 2027 collection, with a black halter-neck bodice that offered a hint of side-boob, and which plunged almost to the waist before meeting a cream floral-embroidered pencil skirt.

The naked dress has long been a Hollywood fixture. Body-conscious designs are beloved by the Kardashian-Jenner clan, having a deep understanding of the impact of a well-placed flash of flesh. But then there’s people like Anya Taylor-Joy, a champion of the sensuous and barely there, keeping a more ghostly and romantic bent with winter-white corsetry by Dilara Findikoglu and forays into vampy Tom Ford. This new iteration, however, uses precision cuts and dramatic contrasts to draw the eye to particular parts of the body.

With Demna’s Gucci helping to usher in a new mood of all-out, unabashed glamour, it seems the red carpet is entering its next undressed era.

This article was originally published on Vogue.com.