San Francisco Frontiers - Skin on show at Paris menswear week

The backless look has already been spied among more daring celebrities such as Timothee Chalamet on red carpets, and several designers in Paris laid things bare.

Things were particularly spicy at Egonlab, the young label by French duo Florentin Glemarec and Kevin Nompeix known for their genderless aesthetic.

They had suit jackets with a square neckline revealing the whole chest and very low waist trousers that offered a shot of the bottom.

"There's a lot of skin this season," Glemarec told AFP.

"We wanted to free ourselves from all the codes, especially in tailoring, to replace it with something more creative, more fun," added Nompeix.

The idea, they said, is to encourage people "to no longer be afraid of their bodies, to no longer hide behind clothes and instead use them to transcend who we are."

It was also about bare feet at Dries Van Noten on Thursday, where everything from sequined shorts to formal coats and suits were paired with flip-flops.

"I like having this naked side, with transparencies, plunging necklines, but also on feet," the Belgian designer told AFP backstage, adding that it represents "a new form of elegance".

Buyers were impressed.

"Dries Van Noten never disappoints, but this season was an exceptionally strong collection," said Simon Longland of British department store Harrods.

- 'Carnal being' -

There was a similar vibe with the hotly tipped new Franco-Turkish designer Burc Akyol, showing for the first time as part of the official fashion week calendar.

One of his signature pieces -- the slitted, baggy trousers left plenty of hairy leg on show.

"I've always found that people who hide the body in their design are in body denial. I like to exist as a carnal being," he told AFP.

Spain's Arturo Obegero had his models bare-chested or in a sort of jumpsuit ending mid-thigh.

He imagined an "evening surfer" on the River Seine with a "romantic and seductive silhouette," he told AFP.

Surf-and-skate inspired label Bluemarble and fabled names like Givenchy also had some bare moments.

"This nudity is very telling of this moment when there is a lot of talk about gender fluidity," said Olivier Gabet, a fashion historian at the Louvre.

"Young designers do not compartmentalise. Their collections are often a mixture of men and women," he said, though added this was not necessarily about truly genderless clothes, but also a commercial move to hit multiple markets at once.

J.Scott--SFF