Full transparency: How to wear spring/summer 2018’s sheer trend

Prabal Gurung’s models wore seethrough dresses and sweaters with statement briefs

From pastels and ruffles to cowboy boots and slinky satin, this season is chock full of stylish trends but, as it turns out, one of the hottest to hit the spring runways is to wear hardly any clothing at all.

The trend for total transparency is calling for sheer coats, dresses and skirts that leave very little to the imagination. Underpinning these are layering pieces, with full-coverage knickers, big briefs and bralets stealing the show. Essentially, it’s all about what lies beneath this season.

Case in point: Simone Rocha’s delicate femininity took on the trend with unfurled sweeps of tulle and flashes of lace. And Christopher Kane’s domestic goddesses wore transparent freezer-bag dresses layered with briefs and marigold gloves.

Elsewhere, Prabal Gurung and Victoria Beckham explored different kinds of feminine attitudes with the trend too. At the former, this came in the form of sheer dresses worn with matching briefs and roll-neck sweaters that freed the nipple, while Beckham paired longline mannish shirts with sheer pencil skirts to cover the models’ modesty.

Tulle Tiered Blouse by Glamorous, £30, Topshop

Now, a trend that promises overexposure might work on the runway but just how easy is it to pull-off IRL?

Organza-Effect Checked Parka, £69.99, Zara

Evidently it’s not the easiest to wear but if you follow a few simple rules it can work well. The key here is to invest in maximum-coverage lingerie and use the sheer pieces to layer under or over less-revealing clothes.

Organza Spiral Shirt by Boutique, £75, Topshop

Wear a transparent shirt over a bralet or camisole, a seethrough skirt over a pair of straight-leg jeans or a midriff-bearing top with high-wasted trousers for extra coverage.

Sheer Knit Top, £45, & Other Stories

Simone Rocha, Lace-Trimmed Pleated Tulle Midi Skirt, £625, Net-a-Porter