How To Wear an X-Ray
the best skirt is a sheer skirt and i have 20+ perfect secondhand pulls
Is clear a color? I’ve been asking myself that question lately, ever since Lorde described her forthcoming album as such.
She wrote in an email announcing the work: “THE COLOUR OF THE ALBUM IS CLEAR. LIKE BATHWATER, WINDOWS, ICE, SPIT. FULL TRANSPARENCY.”
The cover art of the record, Virgin, is an X-ray image of her middle body: the machine placed over the pelvis, highlighting bones and a belt buckle and a zipper and an IUD settled snuggly inside her uterus. There’s a vulnerability that goes literally beyond flesh — I am more than naked. I bare what is underneath the naked.
Yet, at the same time, as we zoom in on the internal structures that make Lorde a singular being with an anatomy uniquely her own, she becomes just like you and me. If it weren’t for Lorde claiming the X-ray as hers, we wouldn’t be able to identify that the bones and metal fastenings and IUD belong to her. This image is both the deepest, most personal, unreachable part of her and also what makes her exactly like the rest of us. My X-ray would look just the same, IUD and all.
I’d never thought of clear as a color. Clear was always more of a concept to me. The lack of color. A state of being, but certainly not something as tangible as “a color.” Blue is a color. Red is really a color. Clear is just something through which we can see color.
So I’ve been reexamining clear’s place in the world and in my wardrobe. Maybe Lorde is right. Even through glass, through bathwater, through ice, through spit, there is a tint. A layer of clear still alters the coloring of what lies underneath it, however subtly it might do so. I love this very thing about sheer material — sheer skirts in particular — that this subtle, transparent tint, a barely-there draping of cloth, can have such a potent effect on an outfit.
A sheer skirt prompts a playfulness in the wardrobe that I find exhilarating. To borrow my own words on the subject, ‘Sheer fabric may seem limiting upon first glance — by nearly all standards of what’s appropriate to wear outside your home, something sheer can’t be worn on its own. But that’s what gives you so much to work with. By definition, wearing sheer fabric necessitates that other pieces be in play.
There is hardly anything practical about sheer, so utilizing sheer pieces requires us to have a little fun. It’s about layering for the interest of the outfit rather than layering to accommodate the weather.’
Because its function is to be seen through, it allows us to frame the other pieces of our outfits with a heightened sense of intention. The outfit is bones and a sheer skirt is the X-ray machine by which we view it. After all, underneath a sheer skirt, our jeans and IUDs are all the same.
There’s a sex appeal with sheer fabric that feels completely customizable. Depending on what’s underneath, you can express yourself as clear or opaque, vulnerable or hidden, exposed or protected, all in equal measures.
Paired with underwear or micro shorts, the look leaves little to the imagination and exudes a raw energy (much like how I feel about Lorde’s WSP performance look of open white button down and metallic bikini top). Worn over trousers or maxis, a sheer skirt adds an extra layer of modesty to already modest silhouettes — it softens and obscures the view of what’s underneath, a hazy fog of silk organza clouding the shape of the body.
As the skirts over pants look steadies its climb to mainstream popularity, there’s no better time to play around with a little sheer material in the wardrobe department.
If a sheer skirt feels unapproachable:
Reframe it as an accessory. Like a scarf or shawl, view it as something meant to enhance the outfit you’ve already put together. If you don’t want to build around the sheer piece, build your look without it and try adding it on at the end.
Consider its versatility. A sheer skirt can be a beach coverup, worn over skimpy shorts for some extra visual coverage, atop jeans or trousers for added interest to pieces you might feel bored by, or even over a longer or tighter skirt to create contrast in color, texture, or silhouette.
Rely on its practicality. It’s a layering element that can add a lot of visual weight without adding a lot of physical weight. As us Northern Hemisphere-ers move into warmer weather, sheer pieces can be a practical choice that won’t overheat on a hot sticky day.
The reference material:
Everything in the mid-90s was sheer. The inspiration tap overfloweth. Here are a few more of my favorite sheer/clear/X-ray moments from the runways.
The secondhand market:
Sheer skirts, slips, tanks, and dresses can be difficult to source vintage because of the fragility of the fabric and construction. I find some modern interpretations, like stretchy mesh tops for example, often can’t achieve the same ethereality that comes from woven silks and organzas.
I think Paloma Wool is the modern brand doing sheer skirts the best these days, as I’ve mentioned before. But if you’re in the market for vintage and secondhand, I’ve got just the roundup for you…
20+ vintage, designer, secondhand sheer skirts and dresses:
Lime green polka dot feather trim 100% silk slip, size UK 10, $94
’90s Emporio Armani blush pink pleated 100% silk skirt, size S, $225
Vintage Missoni floral silk slip skirt, size M, $142
Below — more from the ‘20s, ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘90s + vintage Jean Paul Gaultier, Loewe, Betsey Johnson, and Cop Copine.