Ever since the late 19th century, nipple pasties have been associated with all things erotic.

The adhesive covers used to protect a woman’s modesty first originated from a fascination with the oriental. Exotic belly dancers began sporting metal discs on their breasts in the late 1800s with circuses soon taking on the sensual displays.

As the striptease became more mainstream, new nudity laws were enforced to encourage both genders to attend the major burlesque shows. This meant that dancers were required to wear nipple pasties to avoid an arrest.

Until the 1950s, pasties were used to fight censorship with more and more designs – some with those well-known tassels – popping up. In certain states, dancers hit back at seriously strict laws by attaching a piece of string to their pasties, transforming the nearly-nude look into a bikini.

Then a sudden decline in the burlesque industry took place. People became less interested until the 1990s revival of the shows featuring stars such as Dita Von Teese and her infamous champagne glass routine.

At the 1999 VMAs, Lil Kim took the nipple pasty to the red carpet wearing *that* one-shouldered lilac jumpsuit. (Miley Cyrus later recreated the look for Halloween).

Along with wearing nude-coloured ones under sheer dresses, celebrities have bravely donned pasties at premieres and awards shows ever since.

Recently, Nicki Minaj went for a truly revealing look on the front row of Haider Ackermann’s Paris show. Anthony Vaccarello also kickstarted a glitter nipple trend thanks to his heart-shaped pasties at Saint Laurent’s SS17 show.

For us less showy folk, the nipple pasty has transformed into a lingerie staple available at pretty much any retailer, having appeared in decades’ worth of fetish photography.

From lowbrow to highbrow, here’s just a few famous pasties that have made their public debut.

Nicki Minaj
[Photo: Instagram/nickiminaj]

Lil’ Kim
[Photo: Getty]

Miley Cyrus
[Photo: Instagram/mileycyrus]

Kendall Jenner
[Photo: Getty]

Rihanna
[Photo: Getty]

Bella Hadid
[Photo: Splash News]

Rita Ora
[Photo: Instagram/vasjmorgan]

Bella Hadid
[Photo: Rex]

Nicki Minaj
[Photo: Getty]

Tove Lo
[Photo: Instagram/catherinepowell]

We always knew Ariana Grande could sing, but we didn’t really know just how many people she could sing like.

She showed off a whole new skill when she appeared as the host and musical guest on American sketch show Saturday Night Live and impersonated a string of other singers.


In the sketch, Ariana takes on the role of a shy intern at streaming service Tidal, where she has to save the company from ruin after a power outage interferes with the feed of a string of different artists.

Put on the spot, she steps up to the microphone and impersonates Britney, Skakira, Rihanna, Celine Dion and Whitney Houston, complete with signature dance moves.

All the impersonations are close to flawless but she did struggle with Rihanna’s Work though, shrugging: “I truly don’t know what she’s saying.”


The former Nickelodeon star also poked fun at her former employer with this hilarious spoof of the Kids’ Choice Awards, which took place on the same day as the broadcast.

Jenna Dewan gets totally naked for Women's Health photoshoot. Plus, 21 other celebrities who have bared all for magazine shoots

We hope these celebs had the heating on when they posed in their birthday suits for these magazine photoshoots. NSFW obviously...

Pink - Who magazine

Jenna Dewan - Women's Health

Kim Kardashian - The Business Of Fashion

Kourtney Kardashian - V magazine

Bella and Gigi Hadid - Vogue

Kendall Jenner - Harper's Bazaar

Nicki Minaj - Paper magazine

Bella Thorne - GQ Mexico

Cara Delevingne - Chaos Sixty Nine magazine

Ashley Graham - New York magazine

Kim Kardashian - W magazine

Kim Kardashian - Love magazine

Kim Kardashian - Paper magazine

Naomi Campbell - Love magazine

Lake Bell - New York magazine

Miley Cyrus - Paper magazine

Beyonce - Flaunt magazine

Kate Moss - W magazine

Zoe Saldana - Allure magazine

Lindsay Lohan - New York magazine

Rihanna - Lui magazine

Ashley Graham - V magazine

Rihanna takes the stage in Florida. (Photo: @universalmusicfin)

Rihanna’s much-anticipated ANTI world tour kicked off in Jacksonville, Fla., this weekend, stopping off in Tampa last night. Besides seeing Ri-Ri do her thing onstage, we were particularly excited to see what the pop singer would wear in her latest tour.


Rihanna sported a series of looks that would be right at home in any fashionable post-apocalyptic scenario. There were lots of neutral tones — camel and khaki hues, with touches of black and white — and a few loose-fitting pieces, which gave the outfits that signature Riri streetwear-esque edge.

Rihanna takes the stage for the ANTI World Tour. (Photo: @_millionmilesaway__)

In one particularly sexy look, the crooner wore a flesh-colored Adam Selman jumpsuit with cross-stitch detailing, and matching Manolo Blahnik boots.


Sing, Ri-Rri, sing! (Photo: @21.rihanna_updates)

She paired the outfit with a dysfunctional-looking hood-hat-scarf hybrid — which, now that we think about it, would not come in very handy when mankind is down to its last few people. What if Rih got caught in an acid rain shower? Her wig might be OK, but the rest of that outfit would slough right off. Terribly, terribly impractical.

Rihanna and Drake's music video PDA was one thing -- but this live performance is another game entirely!

The pair looked absolutely smitten with each other on stage Tuesday night in Miami, where Drake joined Rih midway through their chart-topping hit, "Work." They couldn't seem to keep their hands off each other, with Rihanna decked out in a sheer black bodysuit and twerking all over the rapper. By the end of the song, Drake looks like he can barely contain himself. See for yourself in the fan-shot video below!


Splash News

The Toronto native did manage to pull himself together enough to deliver the duo's 2010 collaboration, "What's My Name," followed by a solo rendition of his 2015 single, "Jumpman." "It's full of surprises, the 'ANTI' tour," Rihanna teased the crowd.

First the Prince Harry photos, then talk of Kate Middleton's topless pic...my my my, what a few weeks it's been for celebrity birthday suits!

The Duchess of Cambridge

At the end of last week the whole world was talking about the news that a French magazine was publishing nude photos of the Duchess of Cambridge aka Kate Middleton. The Royals expressed their dismay at the intrusion of privacy by the paparazzi and sought an injuction against the publication and won - but not before Italian and Irish publications also printed the offending pics. Kate and Wills still managed wry smiles on tour this week when greeted by topless local ladies while on tour in the Soloman Islands. One grainy pap holiday shot still can't compare with the nude shots of her brother-in-law in Vegas...
Photo: Getty Images

Prince Harry

Poor Prince Harry. You can bet he got a talking to from his grandmother, the Queen, when TMZ published their scoop of the year: shots of the naked prince cavorting with a pretty blonde at a party in Las Vegas, buck-naked. Cheeky Harry- he's always been the wild one in the royal family.
Photo: Getty Images


Alison Pill

Talk about a twitter fail! The actress on 'The Newsroom' accidentally posted this topless photo of herself to Twitter. She quickly deleted it after realising her mistake, but once something gets online..there's no way you're getting it back.
Photo: Getty Images


Harry Styles

The One Direction singer denied that the naked picture leaked online in 2012 was him, however that didn't stop hearts racing and thousands of girls intensely debating the legitimacy of the picture. For example, the necklace in the picture looks awfully similar to the one Harry normally wears...
Photo: Getty Images

Christina Aguilera

In December 2010, 'Dirrty' singer Christina Aguilera had these private pics stolen and posted online. The pics were reportedly stolen from the singer's stylist, and were taken as part of a personal exchange between Christina and her stylist.
Photo: Wire Images

Miley Cyrus

This racy pic of Miley Cyrus (and others) was posted online. But, Miley claims the picture isn't even of her, as the nude girl doesn't have the same tattoo under her left breast.
Photo: Getty Images

Rihanna

Rihanna Well, she's being singing about being a "good girl gone bad" for quite some time, and here are the pics to prove it! The pics were reportedly released by her ex-boyfriend, Chris Brown, and are believed to have been taken by the R'n'B songstress while on tour.
Photo: Getty Images

Pippa Middleton & James Middleton

If those photos of Kate are released and do turn out to be legitimate, well at least she can ask for advice from her siblings (and brother-in-law) on how to deal with it.
Photo: Getty Images

Taylor Swift

Even country music babes get caught up in nude photo scandals! After a gossip site posted a nude photo, identifying it as Ms Swift, her PR team went on the defensive, claiming the image was not her. The singer has since called together a legal team to deal with the issue.
Photo: Getty Images

Beyonce and Rihanna are possibly the most compared women in pop. It almost doesn't feel right to pit the two singers against each other but when they have so many common interests, are at the top of their game and one allegedly throws shade at the other, it is hard not to place the facts side-by-side. Both women are heading out on massive tours in 2016 but only one appears to be winning so IBTimes UK takes a look at whether RiRi's Navy or queen Bey's Beyhive have the bigger force.


After four years away from music, Rihanna returned with her much-delayed eighth studio album Anti in January. Despite its limited release through her mentor Jay Z's music streaming service Tidal, Anti was certified platinum within hours after clocking up more than 13 million listens in less than a day. The album shot to number one on the US Billboard 200 chart but when weighed up next to Rihanna's previous albums, Anti just doesn't quite have the same buzz and the only notable song is the lead single Work.

Critics loved it but the social media reaction to the Drake-assisted Work was mostly lukewarm with many mocking the indecipherable lyrics. The whole promotion and release of Anti, which came without prior warning, just felt incredibly limp and without much enthusiasm despite fans having to wait an uncharacteristically long time to hear a full body of work from RiRi. Even to this date, the only notable single from the record is Work – can you name or sing-a-long to any other song from the album? (Non-Navy members only permitted to answer).

Jada Pinkett Smith (Photo: Getty Images)

Jada Pinkett Smith boycotted the Oscars. But did she watch? Well, she’s at least familiar with the joke Chris Rock made at her expense during his monologue.


At the airport on Saturday, Smith was asked about the joke and responded, ever so vaguely:

“It comes with the territory, sweetheart,” she said, before asking the photographers to get out of her way. “Hey look, it comes with the territory but we gotta keep it moving. We gotta keep it moving. We gotta keep it moving. There’s a lot of stuff we gotta handle, a lot of stuff in our world right now. We gotta keep it moving.”

Smith decided to boycott this year’s Oscars after The Academy failed, for the second year in a row, to nominate any actors of color for awards. During the ceremony, host Chris Rock joked that, “Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited!”

Rihanna exclusively announced her first collaboration with Manolo Blahnik in a racy shoot modelling her denim-themed collection for British Vogue.

The singer showed off her cleavage and a flash of derriere as she smouldered in her favourite pair: a risque set of waist-high, embellished boots.


The limited edition, six-strong capsule collection is called Denim Desserts, but anyone who gets their hands on a pair risks being manhandled by an excited Rihanna.

She said: “The day I see a woman in the street wearing my shoes… I am sorry for that woman because I’m going to literally run after her, shouting, ‘Stop! Selfie! Who are you? Where did you get them?’ I’m going to have a moment!”

The Work singer wore the ’9 to 5′ boots for the shoot, but she advised being careful if you wear them on a date.

“Depends on what kind of date you are trying to have,” she joked.

“Those boots are dangerous! If you’re trying to get back home to your bed, don’t wear them boots! You will get kidnapped in those boots, those boots are trouble.”

Rihanna credits her mother for her much-lauded sense of style.