"The Superexposure
of Nudity"

“Designers explore a risky new strategy: Modesty,” is the subtitle of a Time article titled “Looks Like a Cover-Up,” in which we are told that according to the Paris fall 2006 fashion collections, we could “wave adieu to the . . . navel-bearing sexuality of past seasons.” (Of course, who knows what spring 2007 holds in store?)

The article ended with a quote from fashion designer Miuccia Prada, who is head of a fashion company which had revenues of 1.9 billion dollars in 2002.  “The superexposure of nudity seems not to have given much happiness to women.”

The miniskirt was originally designed with the intent of making women happier by allowing them to show off their legs and thus to seduce more men into bed—so said Mary Quant, who is generally recognized as the one who popularized the miniskirt.

Of course such attire does not bring happiness to women!  Oh, it may bring the “passing pleasure of sin” for those women whose bodies are pleasing to the male eye (Heb. 11:25).  Yet even for them, the “window of opportunity” is short, for eventually time catches up with them (Ecclesiastes 12:1-7).  Then, there are those women who are made to feel as though they have no beauty because their bodies are not the “mini-skirt type.”  Mrs. Prada is right when she said that women do not find happiness in “the superexposure of nudity.”

One other thing that I found interesting is that Mrs. Prada recognizes that you can have clothes on and still be nude/naked/exposed.  Her comment is not concerning the happiness of women at nudist beaches but is concerning recent fashion trends. She understands that women following these trends have been nude.  More importantly, God demonstrates this truth. Genesis 2-3 shows us two different shades of nakedness; total and partial.  In Genesis 2:25, Adam and Eve are “naked and not ashamed.” After their sin, they put on loin-coverings and yet, by his own admission, Adam was still naked (3:7, 10).  Not until coats of skin were given to them by God, do we find that Adam and Eve are clothed (3:21). 

The next time that someone argues that their revealing skirt or athletic shorts don't make them “naked,” will Mrs. Prada be able to convince them of the truth?  No, she won't. They have Moses, Jesus, the apostles, and prophets. If they do not hear them, neither will they be persuaded, though one should rise from the pinnacle of the fashion world and speak the truth.

Time March 13, 2006 p60
A copy of the Time article in its entirety is available online at www.time.com. Search the archives for “Looks like a Cover-Up”

Blessed is the man who listens to me,
Watching daily at my gates,
Waiting at the posts of my doors.
- Proverbs 8:34

Before You Say I Do
By H. Norman Wright
& Wes Roberts