London, UK – When the new millennium broke, Kylie Minogue pulled off one of the most dramatic makeovers of her life, and a pair of flea-market gold hotpants cemented the deal. The glittering shorts, sported in her 2000 music video for “Spinning Around,” not only revived her chart life, they transcended to become a lasting icon of freedom, self-assurance, and pop-culture gold.
In 2000, Katerina Jebb, an old friend and British photographer, picked up the now-famous hotpants at a London flea market for 50p (about 95 cents). She knew right away they were special and gave them to Kylie, who wore them to a fancy-dress party and, later, in the Spinning Around video, a turning moment that would alter the course of her life.
Styled by William Baker with a Stella McCartney blouse and gold stilettos, the hotpants were visual centerpieces of the video. Jebb afterwards observed, “She’s as free as a bird in those things,” going on to say, “they’re not vulgar, they’re about liberation,” and driving home their immediate pop-cultural relevance.
Spinning Around, the first single from Kylie’s seventh album Light Years, was her confident comeback to disco-pop in its happiest, most energetic form since she’d outgrown it during her introspective late-’90s period. Spinning Around shot straight to #1 in Australia and the UK, toppling over a decade of chart dormancy.
It was hailed by critics as a “tastefully crafted” back to her dance-pop roots, with fans welcoming the visual transition—particularly the gold hotpants, which some attest “kick-started” Kylie’s career at the millennium turn.
Even in the glamour, Kylie confessed she at first felt embarrassed wearing the short shorts. Filming the clip, she supposedly donned a robe until the director shouted “action,” highlighting a difference between acting and personal insecurity.
But that weakness only made the effect stronger: she looked free, happy, and genuine—a fitting image of her creative rebirth.
Years on, the miniature gold hotpants are still a treasured piece of pop history. Kylie gifted them to Melbourne’s Performing Arts Collection at the Arts Centre in 2014, where they were hailed as “one of the most recognizable items of modern popular culture”.
They have been exhibited at places such as London’s Victoria & Albert Museum and are even said to be shown behind bullet-proof glass with an approximate value of close to $10 million. Kylie marked the 25th anniversary of that career-defining getup in 2025, affirming she still “can’t get rid of them” and calling on fans to revisit the magic.
Directed by Dawn Shadforth, the Spinning Around video is intentionally uncomplicated—filmed in a nightclub, Kylie dances, teases, and revolves around the headlining glittering hotpants. Its appeal is in its simplicity: “dance, fun, and freedom” were the goals, and the gold hotpants made the declaration in bold brushstrokes.
The subsequently-iconic shots of her buttocks, even overblown coverage, were defining images of an age, making the video an immovable cultural touchstone.
Twenty-five years or so on, those sparkly shorts continue to cast a long shadow. They’re looked back on in retrospectives as being one of Kylie’s greatest fashion moments, and their influence brings new creative expressions – like her celebratory gold getup at Glastonbury 2024.
In addition, they mark a turning point for Kylie’s image: a wave goodbye to the indie tendencies of the ’90s and a dance-floor affirmation of who she is and was always intended to be.
Kylie’s gold hotpants are not costume, they’re narrative. A flea-market bargain that initiated a resurrection, represented a makeover, and now resides in museum corridors, they represent a moment when a pop princess regained her throne.
They continue, appropriately, small but potent: gold, shiny, freedom-giving, and perpetually revolving in the public psyche.
For Kylie Minogue, the gold hotpants were more than just an outfit: they were a statement of artistic renewal. And 25 years on, their glitter still shines.
