'Grandma' Goes Viral Wearing Nude Illusion Dress by Y/Project x Jean Paul Gaultier

An elderly woman went viral this week after she was photographed wearing a head-turning maxi dress from the Y/Projext x Jean Paul Gaultier collection. The piece, featured in the fall 2022 collaborative collection, was a nod to Gaultier’s affinity for trompe l’oeil designs, as it featured a nude optical illusion print of bare breasts, a torso, and legs.

The woman paired the provocative dress with a blue wide-brim hat with a large tulle bow around the crown—a style that’s commonly seen at spring formal events or church services. It’s unclear what the occasion was, but the woman posed alongside a dapper man in a bowtie and suit, as well as another older lady in a cream-colored skirt set and a hot pink hat.

Easter Sunday, perhaps? A Kentucky Derby event? No one really knows at this point. But what we do know is that the fashion-forward woman was pretty much killing it. (Although there's always a chance it's Photoshopped.) One of the original posts, shared by X user @doughickmanjr, has received more than 11.5 million views, 4,400 retweets, 11,000 likes, plus hundreds of comments, most of which were complimentary.

The Y/Project x JPG 2022 fall collection was helmed by Glenn Martens, a Belgian designer who has also become known for his trompe l’oeil designs at Y/Project and Diesel. He spoke about the nude illusion print in a 2022 interview with W magazine, explaining why he was so eager to use it in his collection.

“I thought the print was really interesting because it’s so iconic and also because it’s so conceptual,” he says. “It’s not just a pretty print. When I launched the whole concept, there were so many people freaking out about it even before it was on the runway, because there was nudity and maybe certain markets would boycott it, all because of a pair of boobs. If I put a guy’s chest naked on the catwalk, nobody talks about it.”