Pasties (/ˈpeɪstiz/; singular pasty or pastie; from the word "paste") are patches that cover a person's nipples and areolae, typically self-adhesive or affixed with adhesive. They are usually worn in pairs. They originated as part of burlesque shows, allowing dancers to perform fully topless without exposing the nipples in order to provide a commercial form of bare-breasted entertainment. Pasties are also, at times, used while sunbathing, worn by strippers and showgirls, or as a form of protest during women's rights events such as Go Topless Day. In some cases this is to avoid potential prosecution under indecency laws. As well as being used as an undergarment in lieu of a bra, pasties are also worn visibly as a fashion accessory where it is desirable to show the breasts but not the nipples, and are sometimes called nipple stickers. Pasties are sometimes worn by bikini baristas, staff hired to serve coffee from roadside huts while wearing lingerie, thongs, or skimpy swimwear.
Design
Pasties come in a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes. They can be made from a variety of materials, including craft foam, artificial leather, buckram and plastic. Some are skin-colored while others are produced with decorative designs on them. They are often smaller in countries such as Japan than they are in America as they are typically not much larger than the areola. No straps are used to hold pasties in place, so they require a tape or glue fixative. This is often gum arabic, although other types of glue are sometimes used including liquid latex and eyelash extension glue. Nevertheless, they can fall off as a result of sweating or movement. The burlesque dancer Candy Cotton reported that a pastie she was wearing flew off into the audience during her act. Pasties are typically designed to be left on for hours rather than days. Removing them can be painful, particularly if they have been left on for too long. Adhesive removers are sometimes used to help remove them, though these are not usually designed for human skin. The adhesive used to attach pasties cause problems for people with sensitive skin. The burlesque dancer Lili St. Cyr found that her nipples often hurt when she removed her pasties at the end of the night, and in consequence she watered down the glue that she used. To reduce the chances of an allergic reaction, modern pasties are mostly attached with glue designed for cosmetic use or are held in place using double-sided fashion tape. People with sensitive skin often prefer hypoallergenic nipple covers. The most popular and common type are made from the hypoallergenic polymer silicone, rather than materials such as latex that can cause allergic reactions. The availability of suitable adhesives was a necessary precursor to their introduction, and their name derives from the word paste. Modern pasties are often self-adhesive. Some are for single-use, while others are washable and can be reused.In contemporary fashion, nipple pasties are commonly used as an alternative to bras when wearing garments with sheer fabric, open backs, plunging necklines, or strapless designs,for example Evening gowns,Red carpet fashion,Swimwear,Festival attire.
Entertainment Early versions of the pastie were worn by belly dancers and exotic performers at the 1893 World's Fair. These consisted of small metal plates covering the front of the breasts, and were often decorated with gems or metallic details where the nipples would be. They were subsequently worn by some circus performers during their acts. The modern form of the pastie first appeared in burlesque and striptease in the 1920s as a way to avoid breaking the law by performing topless or nude. Pasties came to be regarded by some as more aesthetic and erotic as they developed into a way of drawing attention to the breasts and nipples. They were worn in cabarets such as the Folies Bergère and Le Lido. Burlesque performer Carrie Finnell is attributed with adding tassels which hang from the center and incorporating tassel twirling as part of a performance. Finnell and Sally Rand rose to prominence as burlesque performers in the 1920s and 1930s. At that time there was a shift away from pasties decorated with tassels or gems toward nipple-like pasties, making the appearance of nudity more realistic. Skin-tone fabric was used, with a bead at the centre to represent the nipple. From the early 1930s burlesque performers typically wore pasties and a G-string, undressing to these as the final reveal of a striptease. The burlesque performer Gypsy Rose Lee included pasties as part of her onstage outfit in the 1930s and 1940s, and made adjusting them part of her act. Dancers in US strip clubs continued to wear pasties in the 1950s and 1960s, with Carol Doda becoming the first fully topless public dancer in the country at the Condor Club in San Francisco in 1964. The use of pasties in burlesque and striptease declined during the subsequent decades, but they became fashionable again with the appearance of neo-burlesque in the 1990s and 2000s, worn by performers such as Jo Weldon and Dita Von Teese. The Suicide Girls, a troupe that started in 2001 as an homage to Bettie Page, included pasties in their live performances. Wearing pasties draws attention to and accentuates the nipples, pays tribute to burlesque performers of the past, and is also sometimes necessary to allow neo-burlesque dancers to perform in venues that are not licensed for toplessness under local ordinances.
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