Don’t Have to Guess: A Conversation on Modern Modesty
Writing & Graphic by Cole Vest
In the 1920s, the modern world saw the rise of women’s independence alongside economic, political, and artistic revolution. A century later, the same is true. Amidst a fast-paced sociopolitical scene, we are seeing minority groups (namely women, people of color, and queer people) revolutionize what it means to free oneself through radical self-acceptance.
From the jazz of the 1920s to the hyperpop of the 2020s, the conversation around modesty remains the same. How much skin can someone show while remaining socially acceptable? How can you break boundaries without showing skin? And why should we have to guess the color of each other’s underwear?
Modesty has several definitions in the Oxford Dictionary, including “the quality of being relatively moderate, limited, or small in amount, rate, or level,” and “behavior, manner, or appearance intended to avoid impropriety or indecency.” While modesty may not inherently suggest minimalism, it can imply compliance. Modesty, alongside every walk of life, oscillates in mainstream popularity. Some dress modestly for religious purposes, some for comfort, and some because it was all they were taught. Most recently, however, we have seen an ecclesiastical appraisal of the immodest. This brash and considerably scandalous style has been unsurprisingly championed in pop music.
The bold and bright “recession pop” renaissance of the 2020s has revived a new generation of the reveled, ever-treasured “pop girl” — an appointed icon of brazen femininity. Sociopathic Dance Queens and Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girls alike praise not only the sound but the style of Billboard’s charting princesses. These fashion trends have been characteristically campy, colorful, flashy, doused in a little nostalgia, and a whole lot of “look at me.”
Billie Eilish, a woman who’s been both praised and berated for her fashion (see “Not My Responsibility,”) was most recently invited by Charli XCX to feature on “Guess,” a new anthem for the sleazy fashion scene. “Don’t have to guess the color of your underwear,” Eilish smugly sings. “Already know what you’ve got going on down there.” In the “Guess” music video, Eilish can be found atop a forklift, blasting through the walls of a scantily-clad get-together in which party-goers are quite literally ripping their clothes off. The music video garnered over 20 million views on YouTube since its release on Aug. 1.
While music videos and their influence are no new concept, we most certainly are “so back.” In a post-pandemic society, the voice of the people is most often a girl who just wants to party. Charli coined “Brat Summer,” a torch passed from Megan Thee Stallion’s trailblazing “Hot Girl Summer”; Eilish released a new synth-pop record “Hit Me Hard and Soft”; Sexyy Red’s 2023 collaboration with Drake and SZA had many chanting “red weave, it match my thong”; and Chappell Roan — who hails from Missouri — has meteorically rose to stardom. These women’s loud and proud expressions of sexuality through music excites audiences in an economy that encourages frugality. As taught by the Summer of Love, sex is revolutionary.
Not only has pop culture been significantly brighter and bolder (see “Brat (2024) Green,” “Barbie (2023) Pink,” or Roan’s literal drag,) but so has been the hottest fashion trends. Now, we see over-dramatized silhouettes (“big shirt, little pants” and vice versa,) creative layering of staple pieces, purposeful rebellion against rules of fashion, and unique combinations of these variables that make the fashion trends of the 2020s so characteristically hard to pin down. Drawing inspiration from queer icons from the past, such as Jean Paul Gaultier’s bust for Madonna, lingerie as more than just underwear has overthrown fashion once more.
Today, lace bralettes, boxers, bloomers, thongs, and garters are just as common in everyday wear as they are in the bedroom. Despite public nudity’s safeguarding by the elite, we are seeing these trends trickle down into the lower classes. Kim Kardashian’s Skims and Kanye West’s Wet lines are perfect examples of celebrity-endorsed, form-fitting attire. In the early 20th century, if one’s clothing was deemed , they could expect to be banned from certain public spaces or even arrested. Arrests, which disproportionately affect women, people of color, and queer people, were often warranted for “public undress,” “cross dressing,” and “nudity.” Fear can’t halt a revolution, though. Slowly but surely, society has become more lenient.
Bending the rules of modesty is far more than a microtrend. The less we wear, the more we realize that our clothes and bodies aren’t just political pawns.