It's certainly been a rough old year for Ms Minogue senior. The undisputed princess of pop was diagnosed with and bravely battled cancer, and now her pants are falling apart.

Yes, the iconic gold lame hotpants which inspired Kylie's glorious return to the limelight are disintegrating even as you read this.

The pants, which are kept in a specially climate controlled glass case to preserve them for future generations (serious… you couldn't make this up) were worn by Ms Minogue for her Spinning Around video.

But they are almost as old as Kylie herself (made in the 1970s) and were never designed to last, costing Kylie 50p in a Sydney second hand store.

"The pants just can't take any unnecessary strain. The gold coating lifts off every time they are touched," Margot Anderson, curator of the pants told Yahoo.

The hotpants are currently touring Australia as part of a special exhibition of Kylie relics (once again, serious…you couldn't make it up), alongside the mechanics overalls she wore as Charleene in Neighbours.