Editor's note: NBCChicago.com is sensitive to the nature of this content. We're featuring this fashion as part of our Inc.Well business coverage. Though the photos below do not show actual nudity, please keep in mind the photos may not be suitable for everyone.
Say ta-ta to regular bikinis and hello to the TaTa Top.
Two Chicago-area entrepreneurs created a skin-colored bikini top with real-looking nipples to make the wearer appear topless. Product creators Robyn and Michelle Lytle launched the top amid the "Free The Nipple" movement, a campaign aiming to protest censorship laws against female nipples.
The top, dubbed the "breast bikini top ever," was developed as a legal and less-revealing way to protest sensitivity to female toplessness and is quickly gaining supporters.
“Remove the cultural normalcies that have been ingrained in you and look at this situation as if you were explaining it to an alien who newly arrived on Earth," the Ta Ta Top blog reads. "Explain why women have to cover up their chests, but not men. What reason would you give?”
“Far too many of our opinions," the blog continues, "our reasonings, our habits are due to ‘just because’ or ‘that’s how it’s always been’ or the ‘it’s the law’ line of explanation which really, is no explanation at all. That’s when it hit me. That’s when I decided it may be fun to push the envelope a little, and the TaTa Top was born.”
The top is available online at thetatatop.com in various hues and sizes and costs $28, $5 of which is donated to breast cancer research.
Robyn and Michelle Lytle hope the launch of their bikini top will help to “de-sexualize” the nipple.
“The only excitement that comes from seeing breasts is that you are conditioned to think they are something special,” the blog reads. “In reality they are excess breast tissue growing into varying sized balls that you have to buy expensive support for and that throw you off balance when you run.”
Local
The top, while not directly affiliated, was inspired in part by the "Free The Nipple" movement, which has encouraged a national dialogue and garnered support from celebrities like Miley Cyrus, Liv Tyler and Lena Dunham.
The movement has been especially prominent in cities like New York, where female toplessness is legal. Bruce Willis' daughter Scout even took to the streets of New York topless to show her support.
But the TaTa Top is a way for those in states where toplessness isn't allowed, or for those not brave enough to bare it all, to show their support.
“It's great to create a product that makes people laugh but it's even better to be able to do something very serious with that success,” the pair wrote on their website. “Never in the history of the world have nipples on a bikini top had the potential to make such an impact."
