Thongs were first called V-strings. Thongs are a version of the earliest
form of clothing, the loincloth,
which were generally a male’s clothing item, the reverse of modern Western
culture where the thong has more acceptance among women. It is thought that they
were originally developed to protect or hide the male penis and ball sacks or
scrotum if you like to call them that. In modern clothing, thongs first became popular as a bikini
style in Brazil where all the woman tend to be
sexy. The origin of the word "thong" is from the Old English thwong, a
flexible leather cord. G-string or thong is
probably the earliest form of clothing known to mankind; having originated in the
warmer climates of sub-Saharan Africa where clothing was first
worn nearly 75,000 years ago. Many tribal peoples, such as some of the Khoisan people of southern Africa, wore
thongs for many centuries. Much like the 2000-plus-year-old Japanese fundoshi, these early garments were made with the male
genitalia in mind. In the more recent cultures thongs have been popular
in the homo erotic cultures of the Trojans and Spartans as well as Gay
parties in San Francisco.
The first direct descendant of the loincloth, in the direction of thong, was
the jockstrap, created by Chicago sporting goods company Sharp
& Smith in 1874. The first historical reference to the thong in post-1900’s
is in 1939 New York City
when Mayor Fiorello
LaGuardia ordered nude dancers to dress more appropriately. Jacques Heim’s
and Loius Réard’s original bikini from
1946 — that introduced the term "bikini"
— had a culotte with
a thong back. Fashion designer Rudi Gernreich was
credited with introducing the modern
thong in 1974 which grew in popularity in South America, especially in Brazil. In the 1990s, the
thong began to gain widespread acceptance and popularity in the United States, amounting
for sales of more than $2 billion per year in 2006.
The modern thong first gained mainstream popularity as swimwear in South America, particularly
in Brazil in the 1970s. The Brazilian culture celebrates the female anatomy
with particular focus on the round and large buttocks and due to the
warm climate and free nature of the Brazilian peoples thongs were naturally
accepted.
Attitudes to wearing G-strings vary, as is usual with highly revealing
clothing. Prior to its entrance into mainstream fashion, G-strings were
primarily worn by exotic dancers. In the modern Western world G-strings are more
often worn by females. By the late 1980s, the design (for females) had made its
way into most of the Western
world, thong and G-string underwear became more and more popular through the
1990s due to shows like Baywatch,
where numerous females were recorded wearing thong bikinis and swimsuits. As of 2002, G-string underwear was one of the
fastest-selling styles among women.
One advantage attributed to the wearing of G-string underwear is that no visible
panty line can be seen even
under a thin, light-colored or skin-tight garment. Although the popularity of
wearing G-string underwear in America has taken off only in the last decade, in
Europe it has been commonplace for many
more years. |
