Hot Pants Are Back, From Kylie Minogue to Summer 2026 Runways

A new Netflix documentary about Kylie Minogue, "Kylie," has revived the story of the singer’s early-2000s comeback, built around a pair of tiny gold shorts bought for her by stylist William Baker for 3 pounds at London’s Portobello Market. In the 2000 video for "Spinning Around," Minogue wore the shorts with a halter top, turning them into an instant sensation and one of the defining fashion moments of the millennium. The piece was later displayed at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

That legacy is now visible again in women’s summer 2026 collections, where ultra-short shorts have become a continuing trend that began about two years ago. Fashion houses including Miu Miu, Tom Ford, Prada and Max Mara have already shown them on the runway, following the renewed rise of micro-mini skirts. The article says the industry seems intent on exposing as much of the body as possible, while Sydney Sweeney’s denim shorts in American Eagle’s summer campaign have also helped make the look desirable again.

The shorts have long carried a sexualized image and have repeatedly sparked debate over women’s bodies, modesty and control. But their history goes back decades, to the 1950s and 1960s, when stars such as Brigitte Bardot and Raquel Welch wore them as symbols of youth, freedom and sexual liberation. In the late 1970s, the denim version became especially popular in American culture through Daisy Duke, played by Catherine Bach in "The Dukes of Hazzard."

This season’s versions are only slightly longer than those seen two years ago, but they still leave legs bare. Retail prices range from 150 shekels for lace shorts at Castro to 2,090 shekels for black leather shorts at Zadig & Voltaire, with many other brands offering their own versions in denim, cotton, leather, prints and pastel shades.