Full bush fashion is here, but will it go mainstream?

There’s a high-cut bodysuit in Kim Shui’s AW25 collection made of black faux fur. When the New York designer first put the sample together, she says it reminded her of something slightly pubic. “I loved it because it alluded to full bush energy,” she says. “It was sexual but more of a hint versus literal.” While Kim Kardashian in the new Skims faux fur bikini may scream “bush”, Shui’s designs are subtly alluding to it – like British designer Dilara Findikoglu’s use of hair in her latest collection, ‘Venus From Chaos’, and Acne Studio’s AW25 fuzzy bodysuits and strategically-placed animal prints. With pro-pube positivity on the rise, are we catching our first glimpse of today’s version of full bush fashion?

The subliminal full bush fashion references arrive at a time where two pivotal and hair-related moments are coinciding: the ‘full bush in a bikini’ pro-pube positivity conversation and the returning popularity of fur, wearable hair and feathers. In what could be considered a perfect collision, fashion writer and analyst Mandy Lee is predicting that a mirkin revival is almost here. We’ve already seen it on the Maison Margiela’s 2024 haute couture collection runway. “I’ve been thinking about the merkin because, if it was in one of the most impactful fashion show of 2024, it’s only a matter of time before it trickles down,” she says. “Then I saw this look where Julia Fox was wearing Dilara and thought ‘that would look so much better with a merkin”. Lee also predicts that Fox will be the first to take full bush fashion to the next level.

As “man-repeller” fashion experiences a revival, Lee says that many young people are discovering “dressing for the female gaze” for the first time. “I remember when growing your armpit hair had such a big moment in 2010, but you never really see bush,” she says. “There are a million GRWM’s that start in somebody’s underwear, but never any indication that they can even grow pubic hair.” Pubes, then, could be seen as one of fashion’s final frontiers – but Lee still doubts many people will have their actual bush peeking over their low-rise jeans this summer (that’s where the merkin comes in). After all, taboos around women’s body hair still very much exist. “It’s scary because it’s a not just a complete rejection of the beauty standards, but what’s expected,” she says. “A merkin is dipping a toe in ’perversion’ but not fully committing.” 

It’s hard to imagine how your average person would incorporate a merkin into their wardrobe, but the foundation has already been laid with the underwear as outerwear fashion trend. From Miu Miu’s sequin briefs to Vaquera’s panty-front pencil skirt, it’s only a matter of time before hair is added and faux fur miniskirts become faux fur underwear. Also, people are currently obsessed with placing hair in unexpected places. “There’s been quite a few hair fashion moments; we’ve seen references to Victorian mourning jewellery at the tail end of last year on Chloë Sevigny and from Simone Rocha,” says Rachael Gibson, a hair historian. Then there are hair artists like Charlie Le Mindu and Taiba Akhuetie who have long been using hair in their sartorial creations. “Those of us in this weird niche have talked for a long time about how hair as a textile is a really sustainable material.”

Full bush fashion doesn’t pull from Victorian hair trends alone – the reality is that people are pulling hair references from everywhere. “Everyone is just referencing everything all the time,” says Gibson. “They‘re making their mishmash things, which is exciting and cool, and I think there’s not one specific look.” (Or one specific bush.) The relationship between body hair ‘trends’ and fashion throughout history has been a chicken or the egg scenario: people started shaving their armpits in modern history when women’s dresses became sleeveless and razors were heavily promoted during the 90s and early 2000s when super low rise jeans became popular. “It’s no coincidence,” says Gibson.

A bush should never be boundary-breaking, but that’s the world we live in. The recent talk of pro-pube positivity is also running alongside and in direct opposition to extremely conservative and restrictive conversations around bodies in America and across the world. And perhaps that’s why we should interpret the cusp of the merkin revival as a yearning for (at least) a hint of something hairier – a full bush fashion industry. As Gibson puts it: “This isn’t new, people have been doing things to their bodies and hair for centuries of fashion, but we’re in such a weird time and that’s when the most creative expression happens.” For some, that’s through art, music or literature. For others, that’s through a full bush (faux or otherwise).