I don’t think I have the most impeccable music taste, but this article requires you to get into a certain mindset. So, bear with me, add these to your queue right now: “Take It Off” by FISHER, “Got Me Started” by Troye Sivan, “sex is good (but have you tried)” by Donna Missal and “Loving Machine” by TV Girl. You’ll understand why after this article.

Fashion is so kinky. It is not just street style or what we see in the movies, nor is it reserved only for fun brands. Look at the trending designs in women’s clothes over the past few years: corset tops, bustier-stitched designs or cutout dresses ranging from brands like I AM GIA to Christopher Esber. As sleepwear has also crept into summer outfits with striped linen pants or boxer-cut shorts, the blend of home and life has blurred in distinction and levels of intimacy.

The particular look that made me realize how kinky fashion — and especially high fashion — can be was Jean-Paul Gaultier for Hermès’ Fall/Winter 2004 ready-to-wear collection, which debuted leather corsets with the Kelly bag clasp on top and leather whips. While the runway was a sexy play on the history of Hermès with its roots in equestrian, an editorial of the same leather corset featured a model with her arms bound behind her back by a stick with a silk eye mask and a skinny belt necklace.

Gaultier isn’t the only one to play with this marriage between fashion and kink. Pat McGrath’s facial mask used to achieve glass skin is going viral because of its appearance in a similarly kinky collection: John Galliano’s Spring/Summer 2024 haute couture line for Maison Margiela. Playing with exaggerated silhouettes from prosthetics and tight corsets, some looks covered breasts with a thin layer of tulle while the animal print added to classic Tabi style shoes made the doll-like models bleed in and out of animalistic visions.

It’s not always the designers you’d expect either: Thom Browne had a male model wear tweed fringed chaps with a jockstrap and no pants, and Versace’s viral dresses often have the illusion of being held together by safety pins, whale tails or strappy, garter-style decolletage designs.

Still, it’s weird to think about what makes these fashionable and classy beyond the platform and stage it is presented upon. If someone wore these looks on the street or they were duplicated by trendy, more affordable brands, it would be deemed trashy and inappropriate.

Funnily enough, this idea only makes me think of the Dolly Parton quote: “It took a lot of money to look this cheap.” And, although the argument can be made that the cashmere sweater at J.Crew is the same as the one at Brunello Cucinelli — that is, sometimes only upon first glance without further inspection — why is the divide still so stark with goods like lingerie and “sexy” clothing?

I think part of it is that the intention of lingerie is lost, especially now. We see in older movies when women wear lingerie, it is to seduce someone. But, in other scenes, shopping for lingerie is empowering, knowing what is worn on the inside to feel powerful, secure, confident or whatever you need for the day. It is incredibly chic,timeless and extremely personal to your body, not just you and societal separations of private and public matters.

It seems that unless it is a corset top or bloomers in Los Angeles, other lingerie is seen as skimpy and/or only used for sex. And, to play devil’s advocate for brands like Victoria’s Secret, when outerwear as innerwear came back, designing corsets that could be worn in public gave the public variety and personality for the first time in a long time.

And yet, while we have slowly begun to see this idea of undergarments — not lingerie — as acceptable parts of outfits with the rise of sheer dresses, pants or skirts, what is “too much” still depends on so many things. Sometimes, “unacceptability” stems from beyond generational gaps. As a result, unintentional audiences may unfortunately misunderstand the vision behind the outfit, and this misunderstanding then leads to factors beyond the wearer’s control, such as unjust discrimination and prejudice based on body type, gender identification or race.

The whole point of lingerie is that it is tailored to suit your desired purpose, not others. I love seeing how people have been playing with this idea, especially having always fawned over the knit garter belts from Isa Boulder. Just like all relationships and experiences are different, so are people’s approaches to style, artistic expression and interpretation. What’s the point of criticizing someone out of disagreement because they are doing too much if those who do too little are ignored?

For me, I find my extent of this trend lies more in an obvious translation — or lack thereof — of lingerie. Recently thrifting an incredible black tank top that had the design of a corset embossed on was enough to tie the knot for me, but maybe not for you — and that’s okay and that’s the point.

So, paws off of my stockings and my tank top, and I’ll keep mine off of your corset. But I may ask to borrow it if it’s that cute.

Hadyn Phillips is a senior writing about fashion in the 21st century, spotlighting new trends and popular controversy in her column, “That’s Fashion, Sweetie,” which runs every Wednesday.