why does bad bunny wear shoulder pads
Bad Bunny’s shoulder pads are mostly a fashion and culture statement, not sports gear or hidden armor. They’re part of how he plays with masculinity, performance, and visibility on the biggest stages.
Quick Scoop
1. The specific look people mean
When people ask “why does Bad Bunny wear shoulder pads,” they’re usually talking about his recent all‑white Super Bowl outfit: a cropped jersey with pronounced shoulder pads and matching pants. That look was designed to feel like a hybrid of football uniform and high fashion, tying directly into the Super Bowl setting while still looking like runway couture.
2. Fashion, not body armor
Recent buzz about his “boxy” or “armored” silhouette started at the 2026 Grammys, where fans speculated he had a bulletproof vest under his tux because of the rigid, sculpted shape. Fashion reporting later clarified that the look was custom Schiaparelli with sharp shoulders, internal shaping, and a waist‑cinching garment (a faja), all standard couture techniques to exaggerate the body’s lines rather than protect it. The same logic applies to his shoulder‑pad moments: they are built‑in structure, not confirmed security gear.
3. Playing with masculinity and femininity
Commentary around his structured tux and padded shoulders has pointed out that the exaggerated silhouette is a deliberate play on traditional masculine “power” tailoring (big shoulders) mixed with elements usually coded as more feminine, like cinched waists and corsetry. Shoulder pads help him amplify that mix onstage: they make him look larger‑than‑life, athletic, and “macho” at first glance, while the rest of the styling often complicates that image.
4. Cultural and political subtext
Bad Bunny has a track record of using clothes as commentary, especially around gender norms and Latin American machismo, and he’s previously been described as wearing skirts and dresses as a political statement against rigid macho culture. In that context, a Super Bowl look that uses football‑style padding but styled as couture reads as a subtle twist: he borrows one of the most stereotypically “masculine” uniforms in U.S. culture and turns it into expressive fashion.
5. Why shoulder pads work so well on a stage like the Super Bowl
Big shoulders read clearly from far away, which is perfect for a massive stadium and global TV broadcast. They also tie him visually to the sport at the center of the event while still signaling that he’s an artist, not a player, standing somewhere between athlete, performer, and fashion icon.
6. Is it also about safety?
Online rumors have blended his structured outfits with speculation about bulletproof vests and heightened security, especially given the scale and politics surrounding events like the Grammys and the Super Bowl. However, fashion outlets and behind‑the‑scenes coverage specifically identified his recent tux look as couture with internal shaping, not confirmed body armor, and there has been no official confirmation that the shoulder‑pad outfits are for protection rather than style.
TL;DR: Bad Bunny wears shoulder pads because they give him a bold, sculpted, almost athletic silhouette that fits events like the Super Bowl, lets him play with gendered fashion and power dressing, and cements his image as an artist who turns even sports uniforms into high‑concept style — with rumors of “armor” mostly driven by how dramatic the silhouettes look rather than confirmed security gear.
Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.