Gen Z fashionistas like the Hadids and Jenners have been baring a lot of legs lately. They are ushering in a Gen Z fashion trend of leaving the house in just tights or underwear-esque briefs – no outerwear required. Sound risqué? It’s just the latest way this generation is taking creative clothing liberties to rebel.
“Fashion is just expressing what’s going on broadly in culture,” says longtime business of culture journalist Christina Binkley. “We’re in a rule-breaking era.” As a result, runways, red carpets and sidewalks are seeing less pants than ever before.
So, what exactly is the “no pants” trend? Well, it can mean a couple of different fashion choices, but it really boils down to a lingerie-inspired outfit. Some step out wearing tights as pants (looking at you, Kendall Jenner), taking it a step further from leggings and yoga wear as street wear, or doing things Bella Hadid’s way, by stepping out in men’s briefs with nothing else layered on top of it or a bodysuit as an entire outfit.
According to USA Today, we have Fashion Week and famous models to thank for this look trickling down to regular folk. Designers like Bottega Veneta, Miu Miu and Burberry showcased different takes on pants-less looks, and then it was a matter of time before fashion influencers such as the Kardashian-Jenners, the Hadids and Julia Fox made it the buzz-iest fashion trend since Barbiecore.
“If you did that in the office, that’s the stuff of nightmares,” jokes Binkley. But while it’s a decidedly NSFW fashion trend, it isn’t terribly indecent by the fashion world’s standards. “In a lot of these cases, they’re not any more revealing than they would be if they were in a bathing suit,” Binkley adds. “It looks a little shocking to those of us who aren’t accustomed to seeing that, but these are just rules that somebody made up at some point.”
The “no pants” trend isn’t just for Gen Z – everyone from Kim Kardashian to Taylor Swift to Tessa Thomson to Rita Ora are now getting in on that action. But the non-celebs embracing it skew younger, and fashion experts say it’s on brand for this generation, which, as In Style noticed, has also previously experimented with going braless.
Now, breaking the rules isn’t exactly a new concept in fashion. The ’70s sexual revolution prompted braless looks, which have going in and out of style, but now Gen Z wants to be known for taking it up a notch (or down, depending on how you look at it), by… going pantsless?
“We’re known for taking things to the next level across the boards,” says Aiyana Ishmael, an editorial assistant at Teen Vogue and self-proclaimed “elder Gen Z.” “That’s why Gen Z enjoys trends like this: Because we’re like, ‘OK, this feels insane and I like the idea of grabbing onto this insanity.’ … It feels so different and probably something that feels rebellious.”
As Gen Z culture-makers, the oldest of whom are now in their mid-20s, look to make their marks, they face one thing their fashion predecessors did not: the fleeting, over-saturated and competitive nature of the internet. The ability to constantly refresh our timelines means we’re always asking “What’s the next big thing? What’s the next viral moment?” says Ishmael.
We’ll just have to wait and see….
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