Chicago—On the 50th anniversary of Woodstock where blue jeans and headbands were the rule of the day, a new uniform was in evidence at Lollapalooza: bralettes and short shorts. Girls by the thousands flocked to the annual four-day music festival in what those of use over 30 would consider... their underwear.
There they were on the streets, on the subway, on the sidewalks, insouciantly guzzling beer as if they weren’t giving the dressed world an unexpected and, to some extent, unprecedented, peep show.
Sure “Daisy Dukes” dates back to the 1980s when Catherine Bach sported them on the Dukes of Hazzard TV show. It was a fashion style once called “cheesecake.” But then, the network made her wear flesh-colored tights underneath the short shorts to cover her buttocks cheeks (and more). This year’s Lollapalooza’s participants even supplanted short shorts with thongs and G-strings.
Moreover, Bach did not pair her Daisy Dukes with bralettes—the barely-there bras which offer neither support or coverage and have helped to retire traditional bras. In fact, Bach often covered her midriff and sometimes even wore sleeves. Go figure.
To those of us not wearing our underwear in public, what do these fashion trends mean?
