It should come as no surprise to anyone that lingerie, which was previously regarded as unmentionables, should emerge as sexy outerwear, because women today have demanded more figure flattering and colorful garments.

The lingerie industry and manufacturers have responded with more body conscious styles, and perhaps it was inevitable that the variety of sexy underwear would peak out of women's blouses, jackets, skirts, and jeans. To some, it is kind of naughty, while to others it simply is a means of self expression. Women's fashion have always been the subject of ridicule, fascination, and criticism. The jean wearing women of the sixties ushered in a forty year love affair with denim, while the bra burning feminists of the sixties and seventies did not have a lasting effect on women wearing bras. In fact, the emergence of women in the work place and the equal rights movement have led to some unforeseen consequences.

Why sixteen years old girls are now being able to get breast enlargement surgery is a question sociologists may try to answer, but will they ever truly understand the reason. Women wear and do not wear what they please, because fashion is no longer dictated by the first lady or by runways in the fashion capitals around the world. That is not to say that the influence of the runways of Milan, New York, and Paris, France are not important, because in many ways they likely have little if anything to do with starlets and rock princesses, who are now forgetting to wear panties under their skirts.

The style or lack of style of not wearing panties is a progression movement in the fashion world that likely will continue, but many feel that the not wearing of panties has nothing to do with fashion. Call it what you like, but a recent poll concluded that more than nine percent of all women regularly choose not to wear panties. Critics decry the lack of panties, just as my mother scorned girls in the sixties for not wearing a bra under their tee shirts, but it did not change things. The urge to go without panties, not wearing bras, or refusing to wear a modest length skirt is nothing particularly new and just when you think you have seen it all here comes the next fashion trend.

There is no longer an image that every woman must follow and young women are creating fashion on the streets of Los Angeles and New York. Another fashion explosion may be around the corner with the release of another rock video or a movie release with young girls in the lead. Lingerie worn as outerwear is not a passing trend, because the evolution of women's underwear or lingerie has been trending towards skimpier, more body hugging, and less is more for many years. Women have embraced wearing beautiful and exciting clothing regardless of what it is called, and wearing it out of the bedroom was inevitable and a welcome addition to the fashion landscape.