NUDE

“Nude.” The word suggests purity. Simplicity. A return to origin.

It masquerades as natural—as if it simply is.
But what we call natural is always shaped by culture and embedded with ideology.

In design, fashion, and beauty, “nude” has come to signify a kind of elevated minimalism—a stylized absence, a quiet sophistication. But what appears effortless is often the result of meticulous construction. And what presents itself as neutral may in fact be the most calculated aesthetic of all.

To understand nude is to understand how style works beneath the surface: how politics, privilege, and performance are coded into the seemingly simple.
Because nude is an aesthetic and a worldview.

The Nude Body

Nude has little to do with being fully undressed.
In fact, nudity has become less erotic than the illusion of exposure.

The sheer dress, the mesh cutout, a tattoo beneath translucent fabric—skin is not simply revealed; it is framed, ornamented, composed.

It’s the Victorian scheme on its last legs: an attractive body is bare only with a glove. Naked, only if accessorized. Édouard Manet’s Olympia (1863) captures this perfectly—a nude figure wearing a choker, flower, and slippers, scandalizing not through nudity alone, but through deliberate styling.
We don’t desire the naked body—we desire the one that appears spontaneous but is precisely styled. That is nude.

The Nude Face

Makeup follows the same principle. The nude face—the “no-makeup” makeup look—requires technique.

It involves layer upon layer: primer, corrector, concealer, balm, sculpting, light. All of it calibrated not to be seen, but to create the illusion of unaltered skin.

Natural is not the absence of intervention.
It is an aesthetic of invisible labor—a stylized minimalism that pretends to be innate.

The Nude Room

And nowhere is the illusion more complete than in the nude room.

In contemporary interior design, nude has become the highest expression of taste: pale wood, tone-on-tone walls, hidden lighting, recessed details. Spaces reduced to light, shadow, and surface.

But don’t mistake this for ease.
The most luxurious minimalist spaces are often the most labor-intensive, the most curated, the most designed. Behind their quiet exteriors lies an architecture of precision, craftsmanship, and concealment. And beneath their neutral palettes sits a powerful visual ideology.

The “less is more” ethos signals wealth. The pared-back aesthetic says:

– I can afford custom cabinetry instead of clutter.
– I live without visual noise because I can afford a cleaner.
– I choose restraint because I have abundance.

In this way, nude interiors often reflect cultural hegemony—quietly reinforcing dominant norms under the guise of “taste.”

The nude room is political not because it declares a message, but because it disguises one.
To choose the nude room is to choose a specific kind of world—one that prizes sameness over difference, control over spontaneity, and polished restraint over lived reality.

The Ethical and Aesthetic Choice of the Nude

What ties all of this together—room, body, face—is the framing of nude as neutral. But how neutral is neutral?

In politics, neutrality is often the dominant ideology which preserves the status quo. In war, to neutralize is to erase. And in design, neutrality is not passive—it is a visual ideology posing as absence.

Nude interiors, nude garments, nude makeup—however refined—are not defaults. They are expressions of cultural logic and taste, deliberately styled to look effortless. A system of choices disguised as inevitability—this is where both clients and designers often find themselves. Caught in a paradox, they craft meticulously styled, labor-intensive interiors for ideals they may not share—or afford. They construct spaces of calm, control, and restraint while navigating lives shaped by complexity, compromise, and constraint.

But this isn’t just a stylistic paradox. It’s a political one.

And like any political condition, it is not inevitable.
The choice remains—because for both designer and client, the political choice is a choice of style.
And every stylistic decision, no matter how subtle or refined, carries political weight.

Nude isn’t neutral. It’s a position.
The only question is: does that position serve you—or serve someone else?

Édouard Manet, Olympia, 1863.
Oil on canvas, 130.5 × 190 cm. Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

So what happens if you like “nude”?
If the neutral palette feels calm, composed, even aspirational?

There’s nothing wrong with that. But it’s worth asking: why does it feel that way? Whose idea of calm is being echoed? And does it reflect your own values—or just the ones most often repeated?

Design is never just visual. It’s cultural, political, personal. Every choice—no matter how subtle—says something.

Buro None works at the intersection of aesthetics and intention. Whether refining a material palette, rethinking spatial flow, or reshaping the feeling of a room, every project is an opportunity to make more conscious choices.

Not sure what kind of support your project needs?
EXPLORE THE OPTIONS or book a 1-hour consultation to align your space with how you want to live—and what you want it to say.