Spandex superstar ... Lady GaGa pulls it off
A Lott of fun ... pretty Pixie sparkles in hers
Lycra lover ... a bookishKatie Price
Going for gold ... Beyonce shines in hers
CopyCAT ... Zoe Salmon as you never saw her on Blue Peter
Pioneer ... Jules Léotard
I'VE got the Lowe-down for you on the hottest fashion fundamental since Kylie pulled on her gold pants.
Everyone's going crazy to get done up like Daisy Lowe and join the circus-like world of wacky pop babe Lady GaGa.
And all you need is a leotard.
Yes, the one-piece wonder invented more than 140 years ago to show off a male trapeze artist's muscles is now clinging to the curves of showbiz stars.
Songbird Pixie Lott has taken to wearing one and last week Katie Price, or was it Jordan, turned up at her latest book launch in an all-in-one.Legless. The leotard, that is, not the busty author.
Model Daisy is a big fan, and so is former Blue Peter presenter and Dancing On Ice star Zoe Salmon though, somewhat embarrassingly, they both chose the same Agent Provocateur leopard print version to wear to recent events.
One of them should, perhaps, have changed their spots.
There is no doubting that the leotard, and even big gym knickers, are seriously hot right now.
The trend for all things 80s is huge and a leotard is the ultimate nod to the decade that fashion forgot.
Beyonce Knowles is a fan, having sported a flashy gold number during a gig in New York this summer.
Lily Allen has worn them with leggings and the Cheeky Girls have made a late bid to get in on the act, copying Lady GaGa's style.
Léotard would be a proud man, if he were still with us today.
Not only did he inspire the song The Daring Young Man On The Flying Trapeze, it was his example which persuaded thousands to wear the immodest outfits.
So Madonna didn't invent it, as some people might have thought.
The first known use of a post-Léotard leotard came in 1886, 16 years after Jules' death, and in the roaring Twenties and Thirties women's one-piece swimming costumes closely followed the acrobat's style.
It wasn't until the 1950s that leotards came into fashion as exercise garments.
However, they were then made from cotton, which sagged after a few washes, so they were never likely to catch on outside of the gym - unless you were Betty Grable.
The breakthrough came with nylon and spandex, used extensively by Lycra, and, of course... Jane Fonda.
The originator of the celeb fitness video can justifiably claim more responsibility for boosting sales of leotards than contemporaries such as the old-style wrestler Big Daddy.
Now, as a fashion item, leotards are right up there higher than a high-wire act - with or without the safety of net stockings.
Of course, with any circus attire there is the danger of clowns.
George Galloway could have set the fashion world back decades in the body suit he wore in Celebrity Big Brother.
And Gossip singer Beth Ditto might be better sticking to the big top.
Who would have thought, back in Jules Léotard's day, that his outfit would stretch so far?
