One of the ’90s and early 2000’s most controversial trends has crept back into fashion in this decade, and we’re talking about the unlikely staying power of the exposed thong. With fashion trends coming and going, going, gone like the blink of an eye, the polarizing high-rise G-string trend is one that seems to have stuck.
Celebrity fashionistas like Bella Hadid and Dua Lipa have been photographed both on the West Coast and East Coast in their high-waist thongs, and beauty/style moguls like Kim Kardashian have brought the trend directly onto social media. As L’Officiel reported, Kardashian posed for Givenchy’s Creative Director Matthew M. Williams in a sexy low-cut back dress with exposed thong from the Spring/Summer 2020 collection.
According to Grazia, in the Fall of 2022, Emily Ratajkowski tried out the Y2K-era trend during Milan Fashion Week, wearing an intentional peek-a-boo black thong that rose above her Versace low-rise trousers with a gold chain print. And then there were the New York Fashion Week 2023 runways, where it seemed like there was an exposed thong everywhere you looked. From Julia Fox’s punk-rock street style to the runways of Tia Adeola, Bronx and Banco, Kim Shui, Proenza Schouler, Eckhaus Latta, and Christian Siriano, you simply could not escape it.
The statement thong first began cropping up on the catwalks in the late ‘90s, appearing in Jean Paul Gaultier and Paco Rabanne’s respective Spring/Summer 1997 collections, and perhaps most famously, Gucci’s Spring/Summer 1997 collection by Tom Ford. Known for his unapologetically sexy aesthetic, Ford sent skimpy interlocking G-logo G-strings down the runway. The iconic thong was revived by Kim Kardashian during her vintage fashion era in 2018.
In 1998, actress and activist Rose McGowan reimagined the naked dress at the MTV Video Music Awards walking the red carpet in a barely-there design by Maja Hanson. The glittering black sheer mesh dress featured a cowl neckline and a backless silhouette with just a few sparkling strings draped across her backside, exposing McGowan’s leopard-print G-string.
In her 2018 memoir Brave, McGowan recalled the red carpet moment, explaining that it was her first public appearance after her alleged sexual assault by convicted rapist, the former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. McGown called the dress, “a reclamation of my own body after my assault.”
Which brings up an interesting point: while some people are taken aback by the exposure, feeling it’s merely feeding into a male fantasy, saying that it is sexualizing, exploitative, and demeaning to women, others say the opposite is true, rebutting that the exposed thong trend is actually very feminist, and that not wearing what you want only further stifles a woman’s right to choose.
“I think we are seeing an uptick in barely-there clothing because of the body positivity and sex-positive movements,” says Rachael Finley, founder of Los Angeles-based slow fashion brand Hot Lava, regarding the controversial throwback trend. Back in April, Hot Lava released a collection of thongs made in collaboration with the celebrity thong pioneer herself, Degrassi’s influential Cassie Steele, whose 2003 hallway strut as Manny Santos shaped a generation. “It’s the highest selling collection we’ve ever had,” Finley tells NYLON.
As NYLON reports, once the initial shock of Roe v. Wade being overturned dispersed, women were forced to evaluate, and hold on tighter, to what freedom we maintain regarding our vessels — from what we put into our bodies (our health quandaries often dangerously overlooked) to what we put on our exteriors. “The more people put boundaries on others and oppress people, the more people will ‘act out,’” says Finley. “Dressing in a provocative way is in fact a protest against people who want to contain or shame.”
“Unfortunately, because we spend so much time telling women what not to do instead of raising boys correctly, you will always have to be cautious,” says Finley. “We don’t live in a world that allows women to be. It’s all connected including the violence against us. I don’t think that should stop you from looking the way you desire but please be safe, travel with friends, and carry mace. And it doesn’t matter how you’re dressed, you can and will be in danger no matter what is showing or not.”
Today, the divisive whale-tale trend returns firmly grounded in women’s empowerment, according to Fleur du Mal’s Zuccarini: “Having the freedom to express yourself and wear whatever pleases you, whatever makes you feel incredible, is empowering. If that’s an exposed thong, then great.”
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