All eyes were on Lupita Nyong’o last night as the Oscar-winning actress arrived on the Tony Awards wearing a custom-made, metallic silver breastplate moulded in the shape of her own chest.
The piece, crafted by Pakistani artist and fashion designer Misha Japanwala, was a “shameless out-of-body experience” according to Nyong’o, who called Japanwala’s artistic process “a realistic and true record of a person’s body as an act of resistance and celebration, and an insistence on being allowed to exist freely in our bodies.”
It was also, crucially, a serve, and just the latest in a string of breastplates to hit the red carpet, cementing it as the A-list look of 2023.
The path was laid long ago by the perennially fashion forward Zendaya, who we’re clearly all just catching up with now. Back in 2021, Queen Z was one of the first to be seen repping a breastplate when she rocked up to the Critics’ Choice Awards wearing a hot-pink Tom Ford two-piece, the upper-half a chrome magenta number which was moulded to fit her bust.
The outfit is widely regarded as one of Zendaya’s best — and she has a fair few to choose from — with Vogue hailing it as “unforgettable” in an article explaining its creation.
And this isn’t her only foray into bulletproof dressing. She followed it up a year later with a sculpted Loewe dress, featuring a gold, protruding chest piece. Then, at the Dune premiere in September 2021, she went chiselled once again, with a leather, skin-coloured Balmain gown that looked as if it had been cut straight off a Greek statue.
Others followed suit, like internet personality and Gen Z fave Emma Chamberlain, who donned the A/W 2022 Loewe bustier dress, its breastplate formed in the shape of puckering lips, for a show at fashion week last October, and Kim Kardashian in her Hulk-esque muscle plate for Christmas a few years back.
Kardashian also sported a black breastplate to promote her KKW Fragrance collection, Opals, in November 2021. The breastplate was bespoke and made of stone, moulded specifically to her body, much like Nyong’o’s.
Then, three months later, Julia Fox posed for pictures in a dripping blue breastplate from Jacque Label, prompting claims that she was copying Kardashian (both women have dated Kanye West), which she firmly denied.
It turns out women can wear clothes and not be linked to their male partners. Crazy!
Next came Zendaya’s Euphoria co-star Sydney Sweeney, who got on board with the plate crusade at the GQ awards in November 2022, to much acclaim. Her look was notable for more than just its sartorial flexing, though: it showcased that breastplates are for bustier women, too.
Aside from Nyong’o’s latest flex, the most notable breastplate in recent memory came from the queen of fashion herself, Rihanna, during her Super Bowl performance in February of this year.
Stood atop a floating platform, Rihanna went one step further than Sweeney when she unzipped her red jacket to reveal a Loewe breastplate, proving that not only is the metallic look perfect for bustier women, but also for pregnant women - as this was the big reveal of Rihanna’s burgeoning baby bump, confirming her second pregnancy.
RiRi paired the Loewe breastplate with a bright red jumpsuit and two different Alaïa coats, in a more theatrical styling of the metallic bust than its previous red carpet glamazon iterations. Similarly, Nyong’o’s breastplate was paired with simple black trousers and a velvet suit jacket, toning the item down.
Could RiRi and Nyong’o’s increasingly casual breastplates be a sign they’re moving off the red carpet and into daily wear? Watch this space. For now, let’s hope we get a few more metallic busts on the red carpet. If nothing else, they’re at least keeping our favourite celebs extra safe.
