The Boxer Shorts Trend Offers a Realistic Take on Lingerie Dressing

Despite their name and use case, underwear has become quite the hot-button undergarment to wear out in recent years. Designers are dressing runway models and celebrity fashion show attendees in itty-bitty briefs while thrill-seeking celebrities like Dua Lipa and Hailey Bieber take the no-pants trend out for dinner dates (and, in a one-off instance, to church). But if you're discussing underwear as outerwear, you can't overlook the women's boxer shorts trend. The borrowed-from-the-boys bottom is far less risqué than a skimpy brief—but its style payout can be just as impactful.

For proof, look first to your favorite fashion tastemakers. Earlier this spring, Zendaya kicked off the Challengers press tour in blue-and-white striped boxer shorts by Elisabetta Franchi and a button-down that offered a solid sartorial start to her and Law Roach's now-iconic month-long fashion run. Meanwhile, Jennifer Lawrence has anointed them a signature of her off-duty style: just last week, Lawrence wore white cotton shorts with a matching button-down, following her baby pink take on the relaxed boxer shorts trend from late June.

Beyond city sidewalks and press appearances, the Substack style circuit—led by a burgeoning cohort of fashion editors turned lone wolf writers—sends out bi-monthly newsletters on how to style boxer shorts (almost always ending with a “wear whatever you want” plea for personal style.) And if you make your way onto the fashion side of TikTok, you’ll find thousands of videos reviewing women's boxer shorts. An under-$50 find at J.Crew alongside a luxury Miu Miu splurge currently tied as the app-wide favorite.

Fashion content creator Lauren Maile, a self-described “tomboyish” dresser with a 200,000 TikTok following, estimates over email that her boxer collection totals somewhere in the low double-digits. “I love the duality between fun and functionality [boxers] bring to an outfit—they bring a vibrant bump of uniqueness to an outfit that’s different than a typical short,” says the figure on #FashionTok.

It’s understandable why boxer shorts have struck a profound chord with the fashion crowd. The breezy bottoms offer easy, carefree comfort, and there’s a lot less to worry about with elastic-waist boxer shorts than a cheeky brief that’s one wrong move away from a fashion faux pas. Alyssa Wasko, founder of the basics brand DONNI, designed her best-selling The Pop boxer shorts specifically to be a no-brainer slip-on-and-go staple. “Hard pants are great, but soft pants are so needed,” says Wasko, who wears hers to the playground with her kids and her Los Angeles-based office. “Boxers are an easy way to stay cool and look cool simultaneously.”

"Cool" is certainly a descriptor that works on multiple levels for the breezy bottoms. Since Miu Miu's watershed Spring 2022 show filled with a collection of exposed waistbands peeking out over micro mini skirts, boxer shorts (think pajama bottoms but with much more potential for up-styling) became a symbol of an indifferent, just-rolled-out-of-bed attitude. The Row opened its Summer 2023 show with boxers teamed with a boxy blazer and leather flip-flops, while Versace paired checkered silk bottoms with a matching sweater set for Spring 2024—both chic outfit options to throw on when you've snoozed your alarm for 30 minutes too long, but need to head out the door ASAP.

Laurel Pantin, the Los Angeles-based fashion writer behind the personal style and shopping newsletter Earl Earl, credits boxers for turning her into a capital-S, capital-P Shorts Person. "I really struggle to find shorts I feel cool in; I somehow always end up feeling like my middle school self [who] never moved on, wearing flat front chino shorts or like a misplaced Coachella attendee in cut-offs," she says. "[But boxers] toe the line nicely between familiar and unexpected, and they're easy to wear almost anywhere," she says.

Pantin is partial to wearing her beloved boxers by Chava Studios with poplin button-downs, but as the fashion writer points out, they can adapt to nearly any aesthetic. They work well with a summer sweater and kitten heels for drinks downtown or with a simple tee and chunky sneakers —as Bella Hadid showcased on a breezy spring day.

Boxers are a simple but mighty staple—so mighty that Maile proposes a rebrand. “Boxer shorts fall under the men’s underwear umbrella, but they are more than men’s undies! They need a new name,” she proposes.

Or should we call them your next need-to-have purchase? Keep scrolling to shop a roundup of Marie Claire's picks for the best boxer shorts for women.

More of the Best Women's Boxer Shorts