Granny panties make a comeback as Rihanna, Kardashians pick comfort over sex appeal
Granny panties had largely become a disparaging term over the last few decades and the undergarments have been widely shunned for their unflattering appearance.
However, the humble undergarment is now making a comeback thanks to changes in attitude towards the female body and celebrities such as Rihanna and Kim Kardashian proudly showing off the undergarment in their social media posts.
The 1950s saw granny panties peak as the undergarment of choice as the high-waisted underwear was built for comfort and flexibility.
As fabric technology advanced in the following decades, the underwear market underwent a radical transformation.
By the 1990s, thongs became the go-to underwear and the humble granny panties were increasingly classified as unattractive, ugly and something that only older women wore.
However, starting in 2014, granny panties started to creep back into the market. The fact that celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Chrissy Teigen were seen sporting these once-abhorred undergarments boosted this comeback.
In 2016, when Donald Trump was elected president, granny panties were gaining a lot of attention. By 2017, when the #MeToo Movement kicked off, the sales of the granny panties had risen by around 129% on Lyst.
While some fashion critics were still not convinced, many celebrities, designers and manufacturers saw this return as a positive development and embraced the old underwear.
Savage x Fenty designer and singer Rihanna was also seen sporting a set of yellow, high-waisted underwear along with a bralette on her Instagram. Her affordable lingerie line has a whole range of styles including hipsters, high-waisted, amongst several others.
The fully covered granny panty, which is seen on Riri's Instagram, would have been a fashion suicide just a years ago but, the garment is now able to garner millions of likes.
According to lingerie industry expert Quinne Meyers, the evolution of our culture and changing beliefs regarding the ideal female body are a few reasons that led to the comeback of the granny panty.
As reported by Vox, Meyers shared, "In the '90s, the ideal woman was long and lean, small-chested and small-bootied. Low-rise underwear looked great on that woman."
"This has been an industry trend for probably half a decade by now," Meyers added.
While the rest of the world had turned their backs on granny panties, the undergarment remained a constant for women with fuller figures.
When celebrities like the Kardashians rose to fame with their curvaceous and full figures, high-waisted underwear would highlight and accentuate their figures.
The old granny panties have now been re-designed and re-invented with artful cutouts and newer materials while still being comfortable.
The garment, which had once been deemed unflattering, was so tweaked into a fashion must-have.