Underwear as outerwear has been all-the-rage recently. And what was once seen as scandalous and rebellious has somehow become a symbol of confidence, liberation and romance. Now, let’s break it down on how it started and how far it’s come.
It actually has a long, and surprisingly masculine history. Men wore underwear as outerwear in the Middle Ages for aristocrats called codpieces, meant to cover male genitalia. While Victorian women wore corsets specifically for physical activity. Men also wore corsets for a long period of time, before it strictly became a feminine garments.
During the flapper age of the 20s, a period that was bombarded with female liberation, women forwent the restricting nature of corsets for more relaxed undergarments. It was also the period of immense partying and the rise of popularity when it came to burlesque shows. Therefore “It girls” like Clara Bow (who is literally the first “It girl”), Josephine Baker, and Tempest Storm revolutionized underwear as outerwear in their performance wear.
The 60s were another time of immense female liberation, which was mostly seen in the popularity of the mini skirt thanks to Mary Quant’s revolutionary and what many thought at the time as a rebellious introduction into mainstream fashion. This sexual liberation continued throughout most of the 60s and 70s and defied different aesthetics from Mods to Hippies. However, mini skirts weren’t the only garment that showed this rebellion. Women started to wear skin-bearing shrugs, bustiers, bras and corsets instead of ready-to-wear clothing. This was especially popular with the punk and goth subcultures.
It’s impossible to talk about this trend without mentioning Madonna. She became an icon for the trend in the 80s with how she popularized lace and sheer tops with only a bra underneath and bustiers, which she notably wore as a wedding dress during her iconic 1984 VMA performance of “Like A Virgin.” She continued to make it a trademark of her career by sporting Jean Paul Gaultier’s iconic cone bra on her Blonde Ambition tour. Now any quintessential Madonna parody is a flop without an underwear as outerwear element.
Slip dresses dominated the 90s with them being a go-to for celebrities on the red carpet like Sarah Jessica Parker and supermodels like Kate Moss. Jennifer Anniston, Lisa Kudrow and Courteney Cox all wore them on Friends. They were often used as a simply sexy dress option or styled by casually layering it over a t-shirt. Princess Diana was even a fan of the slip dress, proving that it’s a versatile and conservative option to the underwear as outwear trend to please your parents.
The 2000s saw more creativity with underwear as an outerwear trend, particularly with the whale tail, which is when the straps of your underwear peak out from your bottoms. This coincided with low rise trend and the rise in popularity of thongs. Halle Berry, Jennifer Lopez and iconically Manny Santos on Degrassi were all fans of the trend.
The 2010s gave us the bralette, a more conservative way to showcase your bra with its often lace details. This girly and feminine option acted more as an accessory rather than making your outfit look incohesive when your bra straps would show. This was also a way not to get dress-coded (sometimes) or get your parents approval when wearing the muscle tee trend that dominated 2012. The naked dress, which is almost completely see-through dress, dominated the Met Gala carpet in 2015 by many including Beyonce, which also cemented just how far the underwear to outerwear trend has come.
Now, in the 2020s almost every facet of the underwear as outwear trend has come back in style (except codpieces, thank god) Bridgerton singlehandedly brought back corsets. Kim Kardashian, Bella Hadid, and Jennifer Lopez have all dawned whale tails, with them also appearing on the runways of Versace and Gucci. Megan Fox and Addison Rae are often seen wearing slip dress. Megan Fox and Zoe Kravitz have both worn naked dresses recently. However, Olivia Rodrigo is Gen Z’s underwear as an outerwear icon by casually dawning chainmail dresses on dinner dates, slip dresses on nights out, lace catsuits to the Met Gala and corsets to red carpets. So, it seems the underwear as outerwear trend isn’t going anywhere, and with it female empowerment, no matter what those old-school conservatives think. After all, lingerie is about putting it on, not taking it off.