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Rule of Three: Lady Gaga, Beyoncé & More Celebs Are Pushing a No-Pants Agenda

Rule of Three is a new franchise from PureWow that points out nascent trends before they’re all over your Instagram feed. Why Rule of Three? Well, it’s not a “trend” until a few (at least three) very familiar faces hop onboard.  

For most of us, no shoes, no shirt and no pants equals no service. But for a select few—Ariana Grande, Beyoncé, Olivia Munn and Lady Gaga, in this case—pants are apparently optional.

Yes, a startling new trend has been emerging, beginning with Grande and most recently extending to Mother Monster. Stars have opted to eschew pants in favor of bare legs for all sorts of occasions. (Walking down the street! At awards shows! While shopping!) Sure, this particular Rule of Three includes four people, but in a world where pants are becoming less and less of a thing, we just had to do our due diligence.

Let’s find out why and how this trend picked up speed and contemplate whether or not we’d ever dare to go bare-legged out in the wild. (Spoiler alert: That’s a no.)

ariana grande no pants
Gotham/GC Images

Ariana Grande

Grande and lampshading have basically become synonymous. What’s lampshading you ask? It’s when one wears a large billowy top as a dress so that their legs look like lamp stands. (Hey, we didn’t make it up). An extensive scroll through Grande’s Instagram (or just Google) reveals that she’s rocked this very specific look many, many times. And while we can’t be certain when this paradigm shift occurred, the first documented no-pants outfit Grande appears to have worn was in August of 2016. However, her highly-publicized 2018 romance with ex-fiancé Pete Davidson really catapulted her no-pants lifestyle into the zeitgeist. Still, it took some time to really catch on.

Beyoncé

In April of 2019, ’twas the night of the NAACP Awards and all through the audience, people were talking about how Beyoncé left her pants at her house. Queen Bey is no stranger to forgoing pants in favor of a leotard on stage, but in her normal (super glamorous) life, she typically wears bottoms. Well, that wasn’t the case when she rocked a white Balmain open-front gown with matching leo. And, of course, once Yoncé rocks a trend, it’s off to the races.

olivia munn not wearing pants
Raymond Hall/Getty Images

Olivia Munn

Earlier this week, on Monday, June 24, the 38-year-old Rook actress stepped out in New York City wearing a full Thom Browne ensemble from the 2019 ready-to-wear resort collection. The only difference between the runway look and her version? She left the pants at home and reached for thigh-high boots à la Ariana.

lady gaga sans pants
ROBERT KAMAU/GETTY IMAGES

Later that day (and in the same city!) Lady Gaga brought the trend full circle and returned to her hotel after performing at the Apollo Theater. Instead of her typical Gaga platforms and eye-catching outfit, she wore a vintage Green Day band T-shirt and black patent leather boots. (Oh, don’t forget the My Little Pony she carried.)

In summation, we get that saying no thanks to pants is comfy and all, but we think we’ll stick to our fully clothed approach to dressing. At least for the time being.


lex

Cat mom, yogi, brunch enthusiast

Lex is an LA native who's deeply obsessed with picnics, Slim Aarons, rosé, Hollywood history and Joan Didion. She joined PureWow in early 2017.