At the 'Running Point' season two premiere, Kate Hudson and Mindy Kaling presented a study in sartorial opposition—a visual conversation with deep roots in lingerie history. Hudson’s choice, a sculptural white halter dress by Brandon Maxwell, recalled the foundational architecture of mid-century foundations. Maxwell’s work often channels this legacy of structured glamour, a modern echo of houses like Warner’s, which in the 1940s and 50s mastered the art of engineered support and clean lines to shape the silhouette. Her look spoke to lingerie’s traditional role as hidden architecture.
Kaling, conversely, embraced revelation. Her black gown, with a sheer bodice and crystallized bra cups, placed intimate apparel at the forefront as deliberate ornament. This is a practice pioneered by designers like Chantal Thomass in the 1970s, who transformed lingerie into outerwear and declared the bra an object of decoration, not just function. The sparkle and transparency nod to a lineage where lingerie sheds its utility to become a central component of expression.
Their contrasting choices—one concealing structure, the other celebrating it—mirror the enduring dialogue in intimate apparel: between foundation and decoration, between the private and the performative. As the series itself explores a woman navigating a masculine arena, these fashion statements, grounded in lingerie’s historical dualities, become a nuanced form of armor and announcement.
Originally reported by WWD