Is This Red-Carpet Style The New Naked Dress?

Despite always being a subject of sartorial intrigue, the so-called "naked dress" is pretty ubiquitous on the red carpet. You can think of it as the celebrity version of a flower crown: It's deceivingly bohemian and endlessly photographable. In the realm of formal dressing, however, it's an uninteresting choice. But as we've seen at recent high-profile events, there's a newly popular style that achieves the same effect as the naked dress while bringing a refreshing edge to the red carpet. We're talking about the latex dress, as seen at this year's Billboard Music Awards on Keke Palmer. The most-talked-about example of the latex dress was, of course, Beyoncé's Givenchy Haute Couture look for the Met Gala. Twitter had thoughts and jokes about it. (That particular dress was likened to everything from a condom to rough endoplasmic reticulum.) But as we've seen before — first with the naked dress and beyond — once Queen Bey puts her seal of approval on a trend or silhouette, it's fashion. Palmer is no stranger to being one of the first (in 2014, she was one of the few celebrities brave enough to try out pelvage). At this year's Billboard red carpet, she was the latest celeb to endorse the latex trend. It's already a favorite of Kim Kardashian, who wore an Atsuko Kudo bodysuit to the 2014 GQ Men of the Year Awards. Bella Hadid followed in Beyoncé's footsteps at this year's Met Gala, opting for a latex set (also Atsuko Kudo) for the after-parties. Palmer's red midi — reportedly by House of Harlot — certainly makes the case for the silhouette. However, while others were quiet about the logistics of wearing a full-latex ensemble on the red carpet, Palmer was a little more candid. She told reporters on the carpet (the honesty was preserved by the New York Times' Vanessa Friedman on Twitter), "I'm sweating from the inside."

"Slay" seems to be the only appropriate response. Here's yet another shot of Palmer absolutely killing the Billboard Music Awards red carpet, just because.