Hailey Bieber Continues to Reinvent the No-Pants Trend—This Time in Micro Shorts

Remember when Bella Hadid strutted through New York City, eating pizza in micro shorts that resembled your boyfriend's briefs? The now-iconic photo transformed the landscape of micro trends as we know it. To start, the sartorial moment boosted the popularity of platform UGG boots (which are now always sold out). More importantly, however, it re-established the key factor of a bonafide “It” girl: An “It” girl will wear what she wants, even if it doesn’t always make sense to the rest of us. Case in point: Hailey Bieber in micro shorts and a maxi coat while in Los Angeles—during the winter, we must add. Was she coming from a workout class? Did she forget to put on pants? We’ll never know, but it sure makes for an interesting, conversation-starting outfit.

It was just another day in Los Angeles for Hailey and Justin Bieber, who were seen taking a stroll through the city wearing their eclectic-cozy outfits. Let’s get right to it: Hailey styled her teeny-tiny red micro shorts with a ruby red crewneck sweatshirt from Rebalance Vintage. The double use of red, a key color trend, was a smart style move on Hailey’s end because it made her tiny shorts feel like an intentional style choice rather than that she forgot to put on Real Pants. To wit, Bieber's sporty pairing of a sweatshirt and athletic bottoms calls to mind the many iconic images of Princess Diana's casual style leaving the gym. This was Bieber's take on the sporty Lady Di look—sans pants, though, of course.

The 27-year-old also opted to throw on a long-line camel top coat that just barely dusted the floor. For shoe choice, she wore Sandy Liang's Mary Janes with a frumpy white sock contrasting underneath. She wrapped the look up with a grandpa-esque vintage Nike baseball hat, black sunglasses, and gold earrings. Lastly, she wore her hair in tiny pigtail braids that gave the look another sporty edge.

By her side was her husband Justin, and, as per usual, he also had an interesting style choice we can’t help but mention. This time, it wasn’t what he was wearing, but how he was wearing it: It appears as though he attempted to put on his grey crewneck sweater but gave up halfway. One hand was fully sleeved, and the rest hung unworn over his white T-shirt. It was giving very much the Los Angeles dilemma of  “It's too hot for this layer, but too cold without it,” which we can respect. The rest of his ensemble was pretty tame otherwise and consisted of baggy jeans, sneakers, and a baseball hat.

We’ve said it before, but it’s worth saying it again: Hailey has the “It” girl has a magic to her that can make the weirdest pairings look confident and cutting-edge. Perhaps it’s confidence, maybe it’s a little creativity, but now I’m interested in wearing something similar—the stamp of a successful celebrity outfit. We know by now that the Rhode founder frequents the no-pants trend and that it’s here to stay in the trend cycle for 2024. Yet, if anything, Hailey’s penchant for the style and her micro-short look proves there are multiple interesting ways to wear the bottom-free look that don’t make the lack of pants feel obtuse.