Fashion Reality Check: No One Wears Just Lingerie

The lingerie-inspired looks currently abounding on the Paris runways make a person wonder: What woman would really leave the house wearing “micro miniskirts, transparent blouses, pointy Mad Men bras, and panties worn as shorts”? The looks “reveal how hard the industry is struggling to grab shoppers' attention,” Christina Binkley writes in the Wall Street Journal—but will that work for the average shopper?

“Women want to look that way—and the husbands who pay for the clothes want them to look that way!” a boutique owner told Reuters. But she needs to get in touch with the average woman, writes Amy Odell for New York: “When we get dressed, we want to get dressed—not look as though we're heading to a secret after-hours side job. And we buy our own clothes.” (More Paris stories.)