Fans of “Sex and the City” will surely remember the iconic episode from the fourth season in which Carrie Bradshaw is paraded alongside models and other celebrities from Manhattan's elegant circle during Fashion Week. To the columnist's surprise, the only item of clothing she can wear under a Dolce & Gabbana coat is a pair of jeweled panties. Although the idea doesn't excite Bradshaw, after dodging several times, she decides to jump into the pool – almost literally, due to the loud fall she experiences on the runway – to applause and her friend Stanford's screams of “Oh my God 'She's fashion roadkill!' –My God, she was overwhelmed by fashion!–.
As with countless other moments in the series, Sarah Jessica Parker's character is stylistically revolutionary – and even visionary – as she staged going out dressed for the first time in a fashion media context and beyond the bedroom. with simple panties. Two decades later, the no-pants or pantless phenomenon, as the Anglo-Saxon public has dubbed the practice of dressing without trousers or skirts to emphasize underwear, seems to have a seemingly endless list of celebrities who have do this, be completely on the rise, dare, like Bradshaw, to attend an event or literally go out in their panties.
One of the first images to raise alarm about a possible trend came late last year, when Kendall Jenner strolled through Los Angeles in broad daylight with a bouquet of sunflowers in one hand, a Bottega Veneta bag on the other hand, and a navy blue sweater of the same brand. Instead of pants, she wore simple seven-dollar Calzedonia stockings and matching panties. No more and no less.
Kylie Jenner arriving at the Loewe show in Paris Fall 2022. MEGA (GC Images)
A few hours later, and between jokes and praise, Instagram accounts like that of stylist Dani Michelle spoke out in favor of the risky look, which days later her sister Kylie Jenner supported when she arrived at the Loewe show in a branded undershirt and panties. This styling feat generated 2.9 million likes on her Instagram profile when she posted the look.
Maya Hawke, Emily Ratajkowski and Hailey Bieber support the “no pants” trend. GETTY IMAGES
Since then, countless personalities have joined the No. 1, whether flaunting their panties or hinting at their presence with long shirts and oversized jackets (Maya Hawke, Hailey Bieber, Emily Ratajkowski or Alexa Chung herself on her last visit to Madrid are just some examples). -Pants trend with the associated sensation on social networks.
Camila Mendes, Chiara Ferragni and Alexa Chung are some of the celebrities who dare to attend an event without pants.GETTY IMAGES
The actress Camila Mendes with only a bra and high-waisted culottes under a leather jacket at the entrance to the Coach show, Sidney Sweeney's new office look, the way to wear the retro panties according to Chiara Ferragni, Beyoncé's party proposal, Bella Hadid in Manhattan eats a slice of pizza and stretches her dizzy legs in the air under a pair of boxers… These are images that have gone viral and seriously represent this trend as daytime styling or taken to the extreme with the crazy and unclassifiable versions of Julia be driven fox.
Julia Fox and Bella Hadid make boxer shorts an urban must-have.GETTY IMAGES
And the appearance of model and actress Jodie Turner Smith during the Vogue World: London event will be captured for posterity, dressed by Viktor & Rolf with panties and a strip of sculptural fabric in the shape of a bow, as well as stripes of diamonds. black gloves and endless stilettos. Sublime in every way.
Jodie Turner Smith during Vogue World: London in a pantless design by Viktor & Rolf.GETTY IMAGES
Lotta Volkova, the movement's great supporter
But if there is one woman who has managed to successfully start the revolution without pants, as Kim Kardashian, Anna Dello Russo and Nicki Minaj tried to do back then, then she is Lotta Volkova. This stylistically rare bird of our generation, who became known around the world as Demna's right-hand man for Vetements and Balenciaga, is the great wizard of underwear as a wardrobe basic. While she already addressed lingerie as a sought-after material for everyday life in the capsule collection she designed for Jean Paul Gaultier for Spring 2022, she now continues this trend at the forefront of Miu Miu's styling.
Kim Kardashian and Nicki Minaj jumped on the trend back in 2017 with risky proposals like these.GETTY IMA
Since her first collaboration for the brand's Pre-Fall 2019 with photographer Julie Greve, Volkova has become an integral part of the new and surprising blood flowing through Miuccia Prada's sophomore line, including her efforts to bring underwear to the fore . “This whole movement started with Lotta Volkova, who has the best legs in fashion. As a stylist at Miu Miu, she does very intensive field work for the brand's collections and conscientiously searches through its archive. From there, for the show she brought back the first panties designed by Miuccia Prada at Miu Miu in the summer of 2000, with a shade of navy blue that follows the brand's sober line,” says Iria Domínguez. The fashion communication expert points to the fall-winter 2022 show, Miu Miu's most groundbreaking collection to date due to the microskirts that revealed, albeit subtly, the hem of satin panties in pastel colors.
The architect of it all: Lotta Volkova at the Miu Miu Summer Club Malibu event, looking trendy this summer. Stefanie Keenan (Getty Images for Miu Miu)
While the following summer Miu Miu influenced the trend by playing on transparency and lowering the height of the garments by a few centimeters, this winter 2023 Lotta ignores the proposal and defends a style in which the underwear shines in all its splendor. “We are talking about a trend that comes straight from the catwalks and begins with the putting on of leotards or stockings and ends with the visible panties, as shown in this latest show,” emphasizes Alba Melendo, creative director and chief stylist of Karol G. and Bad Gyal.
Miu Miu Fall-Winter 2023 Show.IMAXTREE
The Russian creative had unintentionally decided: Yes or yes, panties would become a basic item of clothing for going out in the coming months. “If it happened now and not years ago, it is because there has never been a stylist of the level of Lotta Volkova working in a fashion house as exquisite as Miu Miu,” confirms Alicia Padrón, creative director and street style visionary . “Lotta has managed to ensure that at Miu Miu the styling goes beyond the collection itself. It's easy to find girls on the street who have their skirts and jackets cut to mimic this look. [otoño–invierno 2022]. When a brand manages to have its work worn on a catwalk on the street, it almost borders on the concept of a cultural movement, something similar to the revolutionary spirit that characterized the emergence of the miniskirt in the 60s,” says Domínguez.
Pantsless girls: from Edie Sedgwick to Emma Corrin
In the same decade, the first trial and error scenarios of the trend began, when the delicate Edie Sedwick posed in front of the lens of Andy Warhol in just a shirt and black socks, followed by the spread of hot pants in the 70s or the triumph of Aerobics in the following decade. The '90s normalized its presence in fashion photography, along with the image of endless hangovers in bed immortalized by heroin chic. “I will never forget Rose McGowan at the VMAs in 1998. This very powerful look changed the history of red carpets. I was also impressed by Sigourney Weaver in “Alien” because the heavier the upper body, the more I like the contrast. And of course the photos of Corinne Day of Kate Moss in British Vogue from the summer of 1993,” Padrón points out.
The cinema was a precursor to “Pantless”: Rose McGowan at the VMAs in 1998 and Sigourney Weaver in the film “Alien.”GETTY
But if we talk about decades, Iria Domínguez points to the 2000s as the other temporal branch of the movement, confirming the cyclical nature of fashion with a strong presence of the Y2K aesthetic, with those trends of the second decade that she girls like Cory Kennedy pushed forward. “We’re seeing a revival of indie sleaze and Tumblr aesthetics, with indelible moments like the mythical street robbery of Mary Kate Olsen in a Balenciaga shirt and shoes.”
Complementing the successful tandem of Volkova and Prada in 2023 will be the actress Emma Corrin, the new muse of Miu Miu and who has best defended the absence of trousers in her recent appearances. Princess Diana in The Crown not only wears one of her culottes whenever she can (like the brand 48's look for the Venice festival), but she is also the image of the latest Christmas collection and has some panties with her Sequins worn Fall-Winter 2023 with Mia Goth, Zaya Wade and Ethel Cain.
Three key moments where Emma Corrin defended the trend of going pantsless in 2023: the Venice Festival, the Miu Miu event and The Crown party at the Royal Festival Hall in London.GETTY IMAGES
“He is the one who wears the trend best, he meets it often and takes it with him to his field as if it were part of his own wardrobe,” says Domínguez. Behind his risky and often genderless style is the British stylist Harry Lambert (creator of the aesthetic myth that surrounds Harry Styles), who plays to the limits of eclecticism and fits the new Miu Miu era like a glove.
In addition to Miu Miu, numerous brands have joined the trend since last spring, such as Bottega Veneta in the look defended by Kendall Jenner or the play of transparencies on underwear by Antonio Marras and Ann Demeulemeester. From Coperni and Chloé's pantless proposal that focuses on the outerwear piece, to the '80s version with bold shoulder pads from the Andreas Kronthaler show for Vivienne Westwood this fall, to N.21's lingerie briefs or the Micro shorts from Missoni in jacquard stitch. And next season this phenomenon is likely to continue for a long time, as predicted by the fashion shows of Michael Kors and Gabriela Hearst, which showed 70s-style lingerie under mesh caftans.
Chloé's Fall-Winter 2023 show, Pre-Fall and Coperni AW for this year. IMAXTREE
Autumn-winter show 23 by N.21 and spring-summer of the same year by Ann Demeulemeester. IMAXTREE
From the catwalk and the celebrity hanger to the real world
At the end of the shows, on the alternative catwalk that is set up during fashion weeks, a thousand and one formulas for how to wear the no pants trend were seen. Alicia Padrón, famous for her unique outfits at any time of the day, describes her experience: “I wore it with black slip-style panties and a sheer polyurethane skirt on top. “I have one from Jil Sander with a soft purple color that tints my legs a little in the light and makes me feel a little more dressed, even if the plastic creates a slight greenhouse effect,” she admits.
Spring show by Antonio Marras and the AW 23 proposal by Missoni.IMAXTREE
However, there are few examples in the mundane world outside of fashion. “If you look at people who work in the fashion industry as a real audience, then it’s real.” Alba Melendo also doesn’t confirm his widespread success: “It’s not a crazy anecdote from this year, but it’s not for every audience either In reality, it is more for people with slim, thin legs and bodies who work out in the gym. “Fashion is a game, we have to see it that way.”
Bottega Veneta spring show and Andreas Kronthaler's AW 23 proposals for Vivienne Westwood and Ferragamo. IMAXTREE
Seeing it on a runway or in an Instagram reel and experiencing it in your own skin is something different. On fashion, gossip and lifestyle website Page Six, journalist Elena Fishman shares what it felt like to wear the trend for a few hours. “As I walk around the Upper West Side in my Kylie panties and high heels [Jenner] “At first I thought I was having a nightmare, and the fact that it was very cold outside didn't help either,” he describes. “Although it was quite comfortable to walk with bare thighs and passers-by seemed to like the idea, adding a coat made everything easier and also blocked the view of my butt,” says the journalist with amusement.
Next summer according to Michael Kors and Gabriela Hearst. IMAXTREE
So if we're faced with a complex trend that consumers won't support, what's the point for brands to defend it? Iria Domíguez offers a not-so-far-fetched theory on the subject: “If you look closely, it's a subtle way to draw attention to the shoes, which, along with the bags, are a brand's main source of income.” It's hers Way to focus sales on accessories.” Less clothes and some good shoes. This is how we will dress in 2024.