According to this VICE article on the History of Toplessness https://www.vice.com/en/article/43gy7n/the-history-of-toplessness, it reports that Mary II allegedly walked out in public with both of her breasts exposed, as an example of toplessness being socially acceptable in pre-Enlightenment Europe. So I was wondering, did this actually occur, or is the account fabricated? A quick Google search has led me to nothing, therefore I came here to this subreddit to ask this question.
Direct quote from the VICE article: "Although royal nipples were rarely depicted in paintings, court ladies were sometimes painted with one breast exposed—showing both breasts in a painting probably meant you were a "mistress"—and many women (including Queen Mary II of William and Mary University) walked around with one or both breasts out of their bodices."
There is absolutely zero evidence of this. The Vice article's source is a short press release with some outlandish claims; you can read the historian's actual paper here on Academia.edu, where she is clearly talking about representations and not actual dress, though there are some references to "décolleté" bodices which are ambiguous as to how much of the breast is actually being shown. I have a few past answers that may shed some light on the issue for you: