Parnell: It would be cool to own something worn by one of your idols – but underwear? No thanks

No matter how hot or not the celebrity, priceless pants – and particularly underwear – scrape the bottom of the barrel, writes Kerry Parnell.

There are celebrity mementos and then there’s a load of old pants.

This week Freddie Mercury’s leather hotpants sold for £14,500 ($27,000). The pair of teeny-tiny shorts sported by the Queen front man at a gig in Birmingham, UK, in 1980 were put up for sale, ahead of a huge auction of the late singer’s possessions from his London home. So hot proved the hotpants, they were snapped up early, by a keen international collector.

They’re second only to Kylie’s gold hotpants, which she wore for her Spinning Around video in 2000.

Her hotpants cost about $1 from a London flea-market, before Ms Minogue popped them on and made them – and herself – iconic. She, however, preserved her pants for posterity, donating them to the Melbourne Arts Centre, alongside other items. Onya, Kylie.

Sotheby’s has announced an auction of Queen singer Freddie Mercury’s estate, including outfits worn at hsi concerts: Picture: Denis O’Regan

Kylie Minogue and her famous hotpants'.

I get that it would be cool to own something worn by one of your idols – I’d certainly treasure Audrey Hepburn’s sunnies, for example, or her Givenchy LBD. But underwear? No thanks.

What would you do with them, once you’d handed over the price of a small car buying them – frame them? It wouldn’t exactly be a successful icebreaker – “Would you like to see my priceless pants?” “Er, I’ll give that a swerve, thanks.”

Still, for those in the market for celebrity undies, here are some classics:

Marilyn Monroe’s underwear: In 2012, one bidder spent $US44,800 ($68,000) on a pair of knickers worn by Marilyn in the 1954 movie River of No Return, at an auction in LA. In 2017, another fan spent $US32,000 ($48,000) on a white bra owned by the screen legend. They are just two of many of the actor’s items of lingerie which continue to come up for sale. Bit weird.

Marilyn Monroe. Picture: AP Photo/Milton H. Greene

Elvis Presley. Picture: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Elvis Presley’s underpants: If Marilyn’s bras make you feel a little uncomfortable, how about Elvis’ slightly soiled underpants? Truly. A pair of the King’s tighty-not-very-whities went on sale in the UK in 2012, but didn’t reach the reserve. We guess they were Returned to Sender

Queen Victoria’s bloomers: Even real royalty is not immune to an ignominious undie auction, with a pair of Queen Victoria’s bloomers going up for sale in Somerset, England, earlier this month.

Sadly, Queen Vic seems to have gone out of style, as purchasers said her knickers could get knotted and they failed to reach the $9,000 reserve. One would not be amused.

Walter White’s pants: Meanwhile, the King of Chemistry, Walter White, proves screen royalty rules, as his white Y-Fronts were snapped up last month for $US32,500 ($49,000) at an auction in LA. The bidder was later revealed to be SAXX Underwear, who promptly took Bryan Cranston’s smalls to the desert and blew them up.

“We could not risk another man being subjected to these underwear ever again,” they said. “Some may call it a stunt, we call it a social service.”

They then framed the burned fragments of pants – pantments? – and gave them away to 25 “lucky” recipients, in aid of Testicular Cancer Awareness Month.

Well, it’s certainly a surprise ending.