NEW YORK -- During Lady Gaga's performance of "Judas" on the season finale of "Saturday Night Live," her backup dancers were clad in gold harnesses, custom-made by Brooklyn designer Zana Bayne. They were worn either over a bikini top or bare skin, artfully framing the chest.
Harnesses have also been spotted on celebrities including Ciara and Rihanna.
But one doesn't have to be a pop star or a horse to pull off this look. (Although the policeman from the Village People was an early harness-wearer.) Harnesses were shown in the Spring 2010 Comme des Garçons collection.
"One of the early inspirations was when I saw a girl in London wearing a harness over a white shirtdress, and it was pretty much the chicest thing imaginable," said Bayne, who started by assessing the most basic elements of a harness, a belt over the waist and a strap over the shoulder, but is now exploring "the extremes of what a harness can be."
That includes a star-shaped harness that, in early May, the photographer Terry Richardson photographed on the actress Chloe Sevigny, paired with a white T-shirt and a black miniskirt. The singer Katy Perry bought one of Bayne's wing harnesses, which convey a not-exactly-angelic look. All versions are handmade by the designer and sell for $75 to $450 on her website or at Patricia Field, in black, white or raw leather. Bayne is also experimenting with color.
Meanwhile, harnesses of delicate chain and leather made by designer Bliss Lau have been worn by Beyonce and Miley Cyrus.
"When I first started making the harnesses, I didn't realize it was the beginning of a trend," Lau said. Hers have a less-obvious fetish-wear influence than Bayne's, but their risque pedigree is what makes them "good and fun," Lau said.
Designer Mimi Jung of Brook&Lyn makes a harness from rope and agate ($210 to $352) made to be wrapped and tied around the body. "I always think of harnesses as very masculine, but I wanted to make mine softer, more feminine," Jung said.
Lest you think the trend is just in the lower 48, Montreal designer Angie Johnson has been making elastic harnesses for her line, Norwegian Wood, for three years.
"People who don't understand them think they're crazy," Johnson said, adding that customers who do love the harnesses might wear them with tank tops or floral chiffon tea dresses. "It's good for girls who like to mix the edgy and feminine."
Harnesses have an element of danger they may never outgrow, but that's a good thing, said Hillary Taymour, who designs the Brooklyn-based accessories line Collina Strada, which features a substantial leather harness retailing for $300. Taymour said that the most difficult part of wearing a harness in public is adjusting to hearing comments on your unusual accessory. But that's not necessarily bad for business.
"I've sold them off of my body in the subway," she said.
