Move Over, Haute Couture: Lingerie Drove the Style at 2025 Grammys
Anyone who has attended Coachella or Burning Man the last few years knows that lingerie has been driving the style trends among concert performers and attendees alike — same if you’ve attended any night of Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet tour, which features the now-Grammy winner in a wide array of bodysuits, crystal-beaded corsets, garters and other lingerie-inspired designs.
It’s unsurprising, then, to see seemingly every iteration of bras, panties, corsets and more at what could’ve been dubbed “the underwear Grammys” Sunday night at Crypto.com Arena. Consider that during the night’s final number, Charli XCX’s “Brat,” it literally rained underwear from the stage, with Victoria’s Secret and sister brand PINK donating more than 10,000 panties to descend upon the artist and models, including media personality Julia Fox, as they writhed on stage amid a rave-like vibe designed to echo the song’s music video.
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In a corner of the screen, viewers were informed that the unworn panties used as set dressing would be donated to the I Support the Girls foundation, a non-profit organization that collects underwear and menstrual-hygiene products to donate to women and girls in homeless shelters.
It was the perfect capper to a night in which lingerie details reigned supreme both on the red carpet and onstage. Willow Smith wore a McQueen tailored coat over a Fleur du Mal bra and panty set that had been custom-embellished with crystal beading, while Fox appeared in a sheer black dress and jacket over matching bra and panties (the woman who succeeded her in Kanye West’s life, Bianca Censori, unfortunately skipped the underwear altogether in a similar look).
Meanwhile, the corset, a piece indeed rooted in lingerie and underpinnings, played a starring role in several high-wattage dresses and gowns. From Taylor Swift’s lipstick-red Vivienne Westwood minidress to Doechii’s gray pinstripe corset dress and the Jean Paul Gaultier gown worn by Charli XCX on the carpet — a piece fresh from the haute-couture collection designed by Ludovic de Saint Sernin and presented in Paris on Jan. 29 — the corset seemed to be the detail embraced by artists desiring a lingerie look without a blatantly bare aesthetic.
That cousin to the corset, a waist cincher, also figured prominently in some looks, from Clairo’s polka-dot dress by Miss Claire Sullivan to the wide gold-filigree belt that Alicia Keys wore as part of her Dolce & Gabbana Alto Moda look (not technically a waist cincher, but its shape and width undeniably evoked the idea).
Performance looks further drove home the idea that stripping down to little more than a bra and panty is not only the trend — perhaps it’s now expected? Best new artist winner Chappell Roan performed “Pink Pony Club” in a bronze metallic corset look, while best rap album winner Doechii, offering up both “Catfish” and “Denial is a River,” and her backup dancers turned her back-to-back numbers into an impressive Thom Browne advertisement, with the singer/rapper finishing the number in a custom white cotton jockstrap brief and matching demi-cup bra by the designer.
Sabrina Carpenter’s performance of “Espresso” and “Please Please Please” started in a mini-tuxedo look by Dolce & Gabbana and segued into blue beaded corset look also by the Itallian label. Charli XCX ultimately wrapped the night in a denim bra and panty with matching belted jacket, vintage pieces from Dior’s aptly named “Street Chic” collection from spring/summer 2002.
More than two decades later, that Dior theme sounds positively prescient. And while lingerie is nothing new for the music industry — for anyone who thinks so, Madonna would like a word — its current influence on concert and artist style is so dominant, underwear literally rains from the sky.
See all the red carpet looks and THR‘s best dressed list.
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