Pants are soooooo overrated, especially when you can wear a leather blazer over panties and look majorly sexy instead. Keira Knightley ditched pants on ELLE 's September cover, instead opting for a slick and glossy black jacket with a buckle and a plunging V that showed off just a hint of her cleavage.
The only other thing the British actress — who welcomed daughter Edie in May and made some amazing post-pregnancy, body positive comments — wore? Oh, just black bloomers and some jewelry.
A black leather jacket is a fall essential for most women, so it makes style sense for Knightley to be wearing one on a major fashion magazine's biggest issue of the year.
But as for going pantsless? Well, fashion editorial usually follows its own path with looks that aren't always practical IRL. Skip pants for a publication? It's chic! But if you dare to go without pants on a New York City street, well, you can expect a citation from a police officer, not to mention plenty of side-eye looks.
That said, Knightley's look on the cover is high fashion and full of sex appeal since her wet-look blazer also mimics a dangerously short shirtdress. I love when an item of clothing can be that versatile and responsible for an optical illusion.
The leather topper is tricky, since Knightley can't do much else but pose like a boss with her hands on her hips. Knightley is one hot mama.
While Lady Gaga doesn't bother with pants on the regular, Knightley is not the only mag cover starlet to forego pants in the name of fashion. Here's five other memorable pants-free covers.
Fergie skipped pants in favor of a festive, velvet blazer for Glamour. It was Fergalicious and nodded ever-so-slightly to Hugh Hefner. It looked like she borrowed her hubby's smoking jacket in hurried moment. Her look is most similar to Knightley's.
Kim Kardashian wore a shirtdress for ELLE UK and it showed off her bottoms in the same vein as Keira.
Scar Jo tugged at a shirt on the Spanish edition of Glamour. Pants? Those were nowhere to be found.
Supermodel Cindy Crawford was self-referential with a sweatshirt on her Muse cover. But her pants were MIA. Who cares when you look this good and are this playful?
Miley nixed pants on her Notion cover because of course she did. Pants? Who needs 'em?
See, going without pants while not being nude or in a bikini happens often on mag covers. I have to say that K. Knightley's ELLE cover is my favorite, since it's the most seasonally appropriate. With fall comes cool weather. With cool weather comes the staple that is a black leather jacket or blazer!
