The ‘pantless trend’ isn’t going anywhere, now Kendall Jenner and Hailey Bieber have endorsed the daring trouserless fashion stunt that Lady Gaga and Beyoncé brought to the stage

Oct 31 , 2023

Emma Corrin leads the line at Miu Miu’s autumn/winter 2023-24 show at Paris Fashion Week in March, showing off a trouserless look that experts say will likely catch hold off the catwalk. Photo: Handout

In the 90s, Vivienne Westwood, Chanel and Alexander McQueen all pioneered ‘pantless’ fashion – this year Miu Miu, Victoria Beckham and Bottega Veneta brought it back to the runways

Olivia Wilde and Gisele Bündchen recently went trouserless, too, and experts Heather Gramston at Brown’s, Net-a-Porter’s Chloe Street and The Outnet’s Sinead Cutts all say the trend is here to stay

“If I were younger, I would go out in panties!” So said Miuccia Prada after the Miu Miu autumn/winter 2023 show in which she sent skewiff, librarian-chic models – led by The Crown star Emma Corrin – down the runway in silk and sequinned underwear.

Flash forward a few months and, to paraphrase Daniel Cleaver’s email to Bridget Jones in the classic 90s romcom, “Is skirt off sick?”

Emma Corrin at a photocall for Miu Miu Women’s Tales during the 80th Venice International Film Festival in September. Photo: Getty Images

For indeed, going out sans trousers has become the ultimate fashion power move. It’s a silhouette spied on runways beyond Miu Miu in recent seasons, such as at Bottega Veneta, where Matthieu Blazy showed a black tights, briefs and navy jumper look that was quickly worn by Kendall Jenner out in the real world. At cool-girl brand Coperni, models wore little tailored jackets with body suits, while Victoria Beckham played with the look with long tailored blazers worn with statement tights (a look Posh has worn herself off-duty).

Meanwhile a running tally of celebrities to enter the “pantless” era in recent months includes Olivia Wilde, Gisele Bündchen and Hailey Bieber – the latter recently wearing a two-tone bodysuit with sheer tights and a long leather coat.

Victoria Beckham also showed a trouserless look in her spring/summer 2024 collection. Photo: Handout

The trouserless look might be the logical evolution from the micro-miniskirts Miu Miu showed in earlier seasons and surely is a reaction to the continued scrutiny of women’s bodies. Perhaps it’s a reminder to seize life and live on your own terms. Definitely it calls to mind a quote from the late British fashion designer Mary Quant, who also liberated women’s bodies in the 60s with her daring miniskirts. As she once said of her thigh-high designs, “I liked my skirts short because I wanted to run and catch the bus to get to work.”

In any case, it’s not the first time the subversive look – one that you could definitely run for the bus in, mind – has been in fashion. It was worn by the likes of style icon Edie Sedgwick in the 60s with her black tights, Breton stripes and Peter Pan collar shirts (Sedgwick once said her signature style was devised “never with the intention of being clever but because it’s easy”). It’s been worn as onstage costume too by the likes of Lady Gaga, Beyoncé and Tina Turner. In the 90s, Vivienne Westwood, Chanel and Alexander McQueen all interpreted briefs as trousers. And who could forget Sarah Jessica Parker’s “fashion roadkill” runway moment in that bejewelled Dolce & Gabbana underwear in Sex and the City?

Gucci spring/summer 2023. Photo: Handout

Heather Gramston, senior head of men’s and women’s buying at Browns, says underwear worn as outerwear makes a return every few years, but notes that this time it seems to have found a much wider audience. It’s something she attributes to Miu Miu’s runway shows as well as the street style of “It” girls such as Jenner and Bieber.