It seems the thong is peeking out of waistbands wherever I look today.  What was a curiosity just a short time ago is now a lingerie staple.  What is it, and where did it come from? 

A thong is underwear.  Both men and women can wear it, but in America, it’s generally worn by women.  The design is simple:  a triangle to cover the groin, with strips of fabric around the waist and along the back to hold it in place.  The back strip is worn ‘between the cheeks’.

Its advantage is its utter invisibility under clothes, and its sex appeal.   Some laud its comfort.  I have to admit I am not one of them!  Despite its incredibly simple design, thongs come in a wide variety of fabrics and styles.

The thong is often compared to its ancestor, the loincloth.  The first modern thong-type garment is the jockstrap, created by the sporting goods company Sharp and Smith in 1874.   The name ‘thong’ is presumed to come from an Old English word ‘thwong’ which means ‘cord’.  Our thong first became popular in Brazil as a swimsuit.  Brazilian men are as enamored of buttocks as American men are of breasts.

In America, the first reference to a thong was when Mayor La Guardia of New York ordered the exotic dancers of the city to wear thongs in 1939.  No more full frontal nudity.   The South American designer Rudi Gernreich takes credit for making the garment popular in Brazil in the 1970’s.   The success of the garment ensured that many designs and styles would quickly follow.

Here are some of them:

The G String

The G string replaces the strips of fabric on the panty with strings.

The V String

This is similar to the G String, in that the fabric strips are strings in this variation.  The difference is that at the back of the panty, the strings meet in a V shape, often decorated.

T String

The T String (also known as the T Strap) is just like a V String, except that the shape formed at the rear is a T shape instead of a V.