Earlier this fall, Timothée Chalamet stepped out onto the Venice Film Festival red carpet for his new cannibal movie Bones And All in a blood red halterneck Haider Ackermann suit, playfully revealing the bare flesh of his back. Of course the internet went feral. For some, it was sexy – like a gender-swapped Jessica Rabbit (or that sultry Daffy Duck meme) – while others compared the look to everything from Mr Tumnus in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, to a 65-year-old European woman turning up to a birthday party she organised for herself.
While Timmy is no stranger to showing some skin on the red carpet and cut-outs in menswear are nothing new, it’s true that some slutty aesthetics have taken over fashion in recent seasons. The male back reveal remains the pinnacle of that slutty pivot, being relatively uncharted ground for designers.
The trend was first prophesied back in January of this year when Kim Jones presented his AW22 collection for Dior Men. The opening model stepped out onto the Pont Alexandre III in sultry, very French attire – all black knitwear, perfectly fitted high-waisted trousers, jewel embellished shoes and a black leather beret. The dark and mysterious energy of the fit was offset by a slit at the back from the collar to the waist that revealed the spine, as if the model was waiting for you to do it up for him while you’re both silently getting dressed again the morning after a fashion week party you’re still piecing all the details together from.
Since then, the trend has taken over the SS23 runways – No Sesso had a white, thick canvas fashioned into a hood that extended down and wrapped across the front of a models torso before tying at the waist, leaving the back and shoulders exposed.
Unsurprisingly from Ludovic de Saint Sernin – a purveyor of fun, slutty, genderless garms decked out in crystals since 2017 – the toned bodies of models were visible under Swarovski crystal bras, shimmering halterneck square tops and baby doll dresses that hugged the torso.
During New York Fashion Week SS23, Peter Do had JENO of the K-Pop boy band supergroup NCT open the show in a look that, from the front at least, seemed simple enough. A cinching blazer over an open-buttoned shirt, silky billowing trousers and angular platform boots; this was the kind of sleek, sexy business-ready-wear with beautifully simple tailoring we’ve come to expect from the designer. But from behind, the backless blazer was held together by a draping leather belt, while the cut-out was framed by the frills of the shirt, which tied together with two strings like the back of a bikini top. To Peter Do, JENO was the perfect person to open the show in the look and set the energy: “[he] embodies the Peter Do man – multifaceted, confident, and a trailblazer.”
Rising star of the British fashion scene and Central Saint Martins MA alum Aaron Esh – whose previous work has been said to be imbued with a “grown-up sensuality” – too had some spine on show, with a low-backed halter waistcoat forming part of his SS23 collection. Both designers’ offerings were very ‘business in the front, party in the back’.
There’s something uniquely seductive about the back reveal, even if much of the internet isn’t quite ready to accept it (evidence being that meme of the tuxedo-ed man in kinky lingerie from behind). Unlike other cut-outs of recent seasons, which can elicit more fun or risqué energies, a slit in the back of attire has a uniquely intimate and seductive vulnerability that gives it an old-school glamour. It’s an energy befitting of Aaron’s “grown-up sensuality”, the confidence of Peter Do muse and the post-erotic scenes of old Hollywood movies – a character wakes up to see their lover sitting on the edge of the bed turned away from them as he pulls a shirt over his arms and shoulders and disappears into the day, unclear if they will ever return.
However, it’s taken a while for boys to catch up with the trend that’s already well-established in womenswear, and the girlies are already moving forward. Most recently Peter Do styled fashion commentator and model Brenda Weischer in a backless leather coat that revealed her thong underneath and a dress that divulged a hint of butt. Julia Fox stepped out in a similar crack-revealing Andreādamo look in Milan – Timmy, your move.