Why everyone’s talking about... Curtain reveal

The fashion crowd seem obsessed with the ‘curtain reveal’. But what is it? It sounds like the end of a 1980s TV game show, when contestants are shown the speedboat they could have won…

Not exactly. It’s a daring type of top for those who want to flaunt even more than the underboob so beloved by Love Island contestants. Also called the ‘pin top’, it’s a barely-there garment that fastens over the breasts with just a safety pin, brooch or piece of string, leaving a large gap to expose the flesh, since you would never wear a bra under it. American gossip website Page Six called it ‘a wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen’.

Who on earth would wear that?

Actresses and models for starters. Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid and Megan Fox have been seen in designs by French brand Jacquemus, which cost about £270. And US model Hailey Bieber, who has been pioneering the trend, was even photographed flashing the flesh… not on the red carpet but en route to her dermatologist. Vogue, no less, calls the style ‘the new way to flash some skin being universally adopted by the It Girls’ – but admitted it ‘leaves the wearer’s modesty hanging by a literal thread’.

And is that translating into sales?

Seems so. After model Emily Ratajkowski, below, wore a £260 Cult Gaia ‘pin top’ earlier this summer, it sold out immediately. Meanwhile, search engine Lyst said the number of people looking up terms such as ‘pin top’ and ‘front-tie top’ has spiked 78 per cent. Dodgy Chinese websites specialising in knock-off designs are already offering cut-price versions – a sure sign of demand.

But for real people?

As Grazia’s fashion and beauty director Hannah Banks-Walker has pointed out, it’s not for everyone. ‘If you have bigger boobs and you want to wear a bra… those sorts of tops are not really going to cut it.’ Another fashionista advises buyers to go for a larger size than normal ‘as the pins do pop if you have a bigger chest’.