The red carpet serves as an insightful barometer for fashion trends among celebrities, who often push the envelope. Observing various appearances in recent months, it's clear that one of summer's unexpected trends is the resurgence of the derrière: Butt Cleavage. Kendall Jenner, Katy Perry, and Zendaya are just a few stars who have graced premieres and red carpets in subtly revealing dresses that made us do a double-take.
For instance, in March, singer Katy Perry attended the Billboard Music Awards in a red corset with a peplum finish and a red maxi skirt with a gray satin underlayer. It wasn't until she turned to face the photographers that the full lace-up back, descending from the corset to the mermaid-style skirt designed by Ellie Misner, was revealed. Perry's cheeky posterior was wrapped in deliberately visible black thong panties, aligning with another recent trend of thong straps peeking above the waistline.
Perry isn't alone. One of this trend's ambassadors is singer Chloe Bailey, whose Instagram account showcases numerous butt-revealing red carpet appearances. She wore a black leather and feather dress by the brand Pressiat at the GLAAD Awards, which gave no hint of the revealing lace-up back; while at the BET Awards, she chose a black sequin dress by Mônot with a low back that exposed the butt cleavage.
The exposed hiney trend is part of a series of contemporary movements celebrating the female form. These include sheer dresses on the red carpet and corsets that have become central items in both women's and men's wardrobes. Vintage pieces worn by several stars prove that while this trend is currently widespread, signs of it have existed previously.
At the premiere of the sci-fi hit "Dune" this year, actress Zendaya donned a revealing robotic metal suit from the Fall-Winter 1995-96 haute couture collection by the late Manfred Thierry Mugler; meanwhile, Kendall Jenner delved into the archives for the Metropolitan Gala in May and selected a vintage Givenchy dress by Alexander McQueen from the Fall-Winter 1999 haute couture collection, featuring a subtly exposed cleavage.
McQueen is also historically credited with the Bumster pants, which were so low they exposed the pubic hairline and butt cleavage to all. These pants were first presented in his debut collection "Taxi Driver" in 1993 and appeared in other collections such as "Nihilism" (Spring-Summer 1994) and "Birds" (Spring-Summer 1996). Following him, fashion designers Helmut Lang, Gianni Versace, and Julien Macdonald crafted their interpretations of the trend.
An early adopter back then was actress Gillian Anderson ("The X-Files," "Sex Education"), consistently one of the best-dressed on the red carpet, then and now. About a month ago, she tweeted: "If anyone can find me the picture of the guy wearing a T-shirt with my thong photo, I’ll love you forever! It's a special picture, and I can't find it anywhere!"
Anderson referred to her appearance at the 2001 Vanity Fair Oscar party, where she arrived in a blue evening gown with a deep back neckline by designer Eduardo Lucero, from which her thong peeked out. Anderson shared with her TikTok followers that "back then, I didn’t work with stylists. Agents would send dresses, and I often tried them on at the last minute. I wasn’t wearing underwear when I tried on this dress because I saw the back neckline was too low for it. Then I noticed my pubic hair was peeking from the front, so I wore underwear. Imagine if I hadn't noticed and showed up to the Vanity Fair party like that!"
Additionally, Kim Kardashian has been credited with maintaining good PR for the derrière in recent years. Over the past decade, she has branded her behind as a separate and independent entity on numerous occasions, most famously on the September 2014 cover of Paper magazine, which featured her exposed derrière under the headline "Break The Internet." Two years ago, she also showcased a black dress from her brand Skims on her Instagram account, featuring a "keyhole" neckline revealing the butt cleavage.