Cultural views on the midriff and navel vary significantly. In some cultures the navel is seen as sexually and culturally significant, and its exposure has been subject to a variety of cultural norms and taboos, based on concepts of modesty. The views, customs and fashions relating to the midriff and navel change from time to time, and such exposure has become more widely acceptable, as reflected in the designs of clothing.
Western culture
The public exposure of the male and female midriff and bare navel has been taboo at times in Western cultures, being considered immodest or indecent. It was banned in some jurisdictions. Eventually, only female navel exposure was banned and not male because, it was argued, the simulation or upward displacement from vagina to navel was commonplace and obvious in women.
Community perceptions have changed and exposure of female midriff and navel is more accepted today and in some societies or contexts it is both fashionable and common, though not without its critics. Although American teenage girls are more likely to wear shirts that reveal their midriffs, this kind of clothing is often banned in high schools and stores. It is also inappropriate to wear clothing that reveals the midriff in professional settings like places of work. The exposure of the male navel has not been as controversial nor as common, and is usually in the context of barechestedness. Exposure of the navel by females is commonly associated with the popularity of the bikini, the crop top, and low-rise clothing.
Film In the United States, the Motion Picture Production Code, or Hays Code, enforced after 1934, banned the exposure of the female navel in Hollywood films.* The National Legion of Decency, a Roman Catholic body guarding over American media content, also pressured Hollywood to keep clothing that exposed certain parts of the female body, such as bikinis and low-cut dresses, from being featured in Hollywood movies.
During the 1950s, Joan Collins was prohibited by the censors from exposing her navel in Land of the Pharaohs (1955). To get around the censors' guidelines, she wore a jewel, a ruby, in her navel. Kim Novak wore a ruby jewel in her navel for the film Jeanne Eagels (1957); saying in an interview, "they had to glue it in every time. I got a terrible infection from it." Marilyn Monroe, for a scene from Some Like It Hot (1959), wore a dress that revealed skin everywhere but had a small piece of fabric to hide her navel. (The film was condemned by the National Legion of Decency, but for other reasons.)
By the 1960s, community standards had changed. Marilyn Monroe was allowed to expose her navel in Something's Got to Give (1962) and later commented, "I guess the censors are willing to recognize that everybody has a navel." Ursula Andress, appearing as Honey Ryder in the 1962 James Bond film, Dr. No, wore her iconic white bikini, which exposed her midriff and navel. However, when Annette Funicello was cast in her first beach movie Beach Party (1963), Walt Disney, who held her contract, insisted that she only wear modest bathing suits and keep her navel covered, to preserve her wholesome persona, though she was the only one of the ample number of young women in the film not bikini-clad. In the 1967 film Follow That Camel, actress Anita Harris wore a jewel on her navel for a belly-dancing sequence.
The Hays Code was abandoned soon after, with it the prohibition of female navel exposure and other restrictions. The influence of the National Legion of Decency had also waned by the 1960s. With the withdrawal of the Code and the change to a classification regime, the ban on the exposure of parts of the human body that had previously been regarded as immodest or indecent was withdrawn; and with it, there was an increasing level of body exposure over time. The exposure of the navel ceased to be controversial in the context of a general increase in nudity. In the 2000s, Devon Aoki's bad girl character Suki in 2 Fast 2 Furious wore low rise pants and a cut off crop-top exposing her midriff and belly button was a popular iconic style. During the audition for Transformers, Megan Fox was once told from Michael Bay about the looks of her stomach for the role.
Television
In 1951, the United States Code of Practices for Television Broadcasters came into force, which, besides other things, prohibited female navel exposure on American television. During the 1960s, Barbara Eden was not allowed to show her navel on the NBC TV show I Dream of Jeannie (1965–1970). Her pants had to be worn above the navel, which became ineffective. After a few frames of her navel exposure went unnoticed, they decided to use fabric and skin-colored makeup to conceal her navel. Her costume became low-rise (without censorship) in 1985 and in 2013, 81-year-old Eden attended the Life Ball event in Vienna dressed in the same costume of I Dream of Jeannie but revealing her navel. In February 1964, Scandinavian Airlines placed an advertisement in newspapers and magazines throughout the United States. It featured a blonde-haired, bikini-clad model exposing her belly button posing on a rock above the caption "What to show your wife in Scandinavia". The image that appeared in most publications had the belly button removed.
The first exposure of a navel in a TV series occurred in 1961 on the Dr. Kildare series. Dawn Wells and Tina Louise were not allowed to expose their navels in Gilligan's Island (1964–1967). Wells was required to wear high-waisted shorts that covered her navel.
Raffaella Carrà was the first Italian woman and first TV personality to show her belly button on TV in 1970 garnering her criticisms from the Vatican. In The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour (1971–1974), network censors feared Cher's navel exposure would become a cause célèbre at CBS. Cher once commented, "There were so many things that were censored—ideas and words. All I know is I got in trouble for showing my belly button, and every time I turned around after I went off the air, all you saw were Cheryl Ladd's boobs" (referring to Ladd's bikini scenes on Charlie's Angels). People magazine dubbed Cher "Pioneer of the Belly Beautiful".
The U.S. code of practice was suspended in 1983.Associated Press. "Broadcasters Decide to Dissolve Their Radio-TV Advertising Codes". The Miami Herald, 6 January 1983, 19A. NewsBank. Web. 22 February 2013.Collins, Bill. "Changes Are Few in TV Ads". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 24 February 1983: C08. NewsBank. Web. 22 February 2013.
Music and entertainment
Pre-1990 Navel exposure became common in the culture of 20th-century music, with an establishing foothold during the mid-1970s, then becoming more prominent by the following decade, with many successful female popstars having appeared on and offstage and in music videos with their midriff exposed, usually wearing a crop top, including Madonna, during 1983, she caused controversy when she wore a mesh crop top in her video for the song "Lucky Star". People magazine wrote that Madonna made the bare navel her trademark.
Singer/actress Cher wore an Indian princess outfit with feathers and beads around her navel for the 58th Annual Academy Awards event in 1986. California-based fashion designer Christine Albers commented, "the look is good for anyone who has a great body but especially for women who do a lot of stomach exercises."
1990s and 2000s During the early 1990s, Canadian country singer Shania Twain appeared in low-rise jeans baring her midriff and navel in her music videos and performances. It became both the most widely discussed body part in country music and her trademark. Shania once commented, "Someone said to me once, 'Well, if I had your belly-button I'd sell 8 million albums too.' But it takes a lot more than a belly-button to sell more than 8 million albums." Jennifer Lopez is believed to have started the trend of exposing the navel on stage and red carpets. People magazine stated, "The 19-year-old hotshot chanteuse behind 'What a Girl Wants', once a Mouseketeer alongside Britney Spears, can't quite pull off pop star flash without belly-flopping." In 2001, the editors of Britannica commissioned an article on Britney Spears that deconstructs her bare midriff. The article describes Miss Spears's navel as "a heated boundary between baby and babe".Uhlig, Robert. (10 February 2001) "Britannica Spears at No 1 as internet encyclopaedia goes for pop". The Daily Telegraph. She had been a major inspiration for the navel piercing trend. Spin magazine chose Madonna's navel as its "most incredible" rock star body part for a September 2005 feature.Madonna's navel tops 'Spin' list. USA Today. (23 August 2005)."Spin cites Madonna's navel". UPI. (23 August 2005)."'Spin' picks star parts, loves Madonna's navel the most". The Arizona Republic. Gregorio Luke, former director of the Museum of Latin American Art who conducted lectures about belly buttons, said, "The belly button has been a sign of beauty in goddesses as different as Astarte, Venus or Aphrodite. We ask which is more beautiful, the perfectly round belly button of Jane Fonda or Raquel Welch's grain of coffee navel? Every star from Madonna to Shakira proudly displays their belly button."
On the contrary, American columnist Kathleen Parker in an article about Katharine Hepburn once commented, "Young movie-going girls today don't have access to many in the mold of Katharine Hepburn. Instead by mall observations most are Britney wannabes—hip-hugged, tattooed, pierced and out there. The female navel has become the refrigerator man's continental divide. I hate to break it to you, oh future daughters-in-law, but everybody's got a belly button. Your inney- or outey-ness is not the stuff either of revelation or revolution."
Fashion
Exposed midriff is associated with the crop top, often in association with low-rise clothing. Another way that the navel may be exposed is via a deep plunging neckline dress or top that drops below the natural waist line. Low-rise clothing began in the early 1990s, when the British magazine The Face featured Kate Moss in low-rise jeans on its March 1993 issue cover. Models such as Gisele Bündchen frequently flash their midriffs. In 1994, Art Cooper, editor-in-chief of GQ magazine said that his big seller in 1994 was the February issue with Geena Davis on the cover, on which she wore an Armani suit opened at the hips to reveal her navel. It sold about 400,000 copies. He stated, "Part of the success is the navel factor. I think the belly button is really an erogenous zone." In the 2020s, cutout wardrobes exposing wearer's belly button first started such as a Julia Garner's diamond-shaped midriff-baring dress in 2022 Emmys. Drawing an intense focus on their belly buttons has come being focal part of style and self-expression.
Sportswear Swimwear
Displays of the female navel commenced with the introduction of the bikini in 1946, designed by Louis Réard, though two-piece swimsuits that exposed the midriff but covered the navel appeared in the 1930s. Réard could not find a model who would dare wear his brief design, so he hired Micheline Bernardini, a 19-year-old nude dancer from the Casino de Paris, as his model.Emily Mitchell, "The Bikini Turns 50", 1 July 1996, Volume 148, No. 1, Time Acceptance of the new-style swimsuit was very slow, and the bikini was not regarded as suitable clothing beyond the beach or pool. During the 1960s, Mary Quant's designs featured exposed navels and bare midriffs. Exposure of the male navel was limited well into the 1960s. Swimwear covered the lower abdomen and usually the navel. Occasionally the swimwear would be worn immediately below the navel. The swimwear evolved to longer legs and lower waistline. Male swimwear could neither be worn above the navel nor below the knee in events of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
Sports bikinis