Why is everyone naked from the waist down?

It feels all kinds of weird sitting down to write about fashion in the midst of what feels like a march towards World War 3. But I must say, it feels a million times more weird that, as one Alicia Keys learnt recently, the conspiracy machine reads a lot into what celebrities wear.

The decorated singer wore a green biker jacket and posted the image to Instagram, with part of the caption reading: “I’ve had my eyes on paragliding”. Apparently, the right saw this as code for “pro-Hamas filth”, as one observer so eloquently put it.

It’s quite laughable, really, but they really thought they caught Ms Keys with her pants down. If they wanted a celebrity with pants down, they should have just looked into the latest, maybe kind of bonkers Hollywood fashion trend — the pantless trend.

Legions of stars are rocking up everywhere wearing no pants, and observers are calling it one of the year’s biggest trends. I’m sceptical about this trend going mainstream beyond Hollywood, and perhaps Tik-Tok realms, but it seems to be big nonetheless.

“The pantless trend took the Vogue World 2023 red carpet by storm,” reads a recent Vogue France headline.

“Stars Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner ditch their trousers to rock the no-pants trend,” the Daily Mail reported as far back as March, while Glamour Magazine asked: “When Did Everyone Stop Wearing Pants?”

The trend made a splash at New York Fashion Week’s Fall 2023 shows with designers including Christian Siriano, Prabal Gurung, Dion Lee and others jumping on the bandwagon, sending models down the runways in oversized jackets sans pants but underwear and tights. Some blogs are claiming some models wore absolutely nothing, but who knows. With the dropped hemlines, it’s hard to tell.

Julia fox has been spotted rocking a jacket, crop top and what looks like men’s Diesel briefs, and the likes of W Magazine are asking: “Are We Ready for the Men’s Version of the Pantless Trend?”

If all of this seems absurd, that’s probably because it is, but with the kinds of scorching temperatures we’ve been experiencing in Johannesburg lately, I can’t say I’m not a little bit tempted. It’s not even summer yet, and we are already sweltering, so, like Loewe’s Jonathan Anderson calls it, perhaps “less is more”.

The creative director sent male models down the runway in shirts and tees with no pants. Some wore coats with only underwear, and others with just longjohns.

In reality, there’s absolutely no way ordinary folks will ditch pants en masse just because the likes of Rihanna et al are doing it. Certainly, though, I can see a few of us having a little fun with fashion and taming the heat while we’re at it. Heaven knows we do need a little distraction.