BEYONCÉ, NICKI MINAJ, RIHANNA, AND THE POWER OF GOING PANTS-FREE
In a word, yes. While they were once a symbol of female empowerment, pants eventually grew to be just another means of constraint. They were — and are — too tight, too restricting, too inflexible. They don’t fit everybody the same way, and trends are tailored to appease certain body types and leave anyone on the outside behind. They’re limiting.
Which is important in and of itself. But in 2008, Beyoncé changed the game. Appearing in a one-shouldered leotard in the video for “Single Ladies,” she married two important concepts: (1) that women are more than who (or if) they marry, and (2) pantslessness is power.
Rihanna donned a rhinestone-clad onesie on her Last Girl on Earth tour in 2010
On top of this, we’ve also seen Nicki Minaj adopt the leotard to accompany her sex-positive, feminist messages, effectively giving the onesie two functions: (1) allowing her (or any performer) to move and dance comfortably, and (2) driving home the fact that the female body isn’t something that needs to be hidden or ashamed of. Turns out you can be smart and political and still live a pants-free life. And that can be your style norm.
