Alexa Chung, Zoe Saldana, and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley embrace the lingerie trend on the red carpet

At last night’s EE BAFTA after-parties, lingerie was the winning look.

You might’ve thought that after Bianca Censori’s very literal take on the naked dress trend, red-carpet fashion would take a more subdued turn. You would be wrong.

Once reserved for the confines of the bedroom, underwear as outerwear has established itself as not only a trend but a wholly appropriate outfit with corsets, bralettes, and dainty slips being styled as standalone pieces. Alexa Chung, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Marie Claire UK cover star Zoe Saldana challenged the conventional rules of dress with very different takes on lingerie.

In the case of the eternally cool, Alexa Chung, this looked like frothy layers of lace and powder blue chiffon (a nod to co-host Tiffany’s, perhaps). The babydoll outfit hit just the right note of Victoriana, surprisingly lending what was essentially underwear, a more chaste finish. Glossy waves and Perspex Cinderella-like stilettos completed the look.

By contrast, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley took a vampier approach in a black leather body and feathery stole, while Bel Powley struck a retro note by layering her scarlet slip over a white vest with purple tights and satin ballet pumps.

Over at the Netflix BAFTA after-party at The Twenty Two in Mayfair, Zoe Saldana, who won the Best Supporting Actress award, played with a classic lingerie formula: layering an oversized blazer atop an inky blue satin slip. The result was a play on contrasts: unexpected, but elegant, polished yet provocative. On the runway, we’ve seen this juxtaposition play out with lace skirts and camisoles layered with chunky knits to play with softness and structure.

Perhaps what makes the underwear-as-outerwear trend so compelling is how it challenges how we think about the relationship between private selves and public personas, nowhere is this more apparent than on the red carpet.