n summer 2016, Vogue described the
stringy style of underwear known as
a thong as “pre-crash, pre-smartphone
and pre-Hillary for president”. It had,
the magazine said, been consigned to
sartorial history: never again would
women suffer its cheese-wire embrace
in the pursuit of a VPL-free silhouette.
In light of what happened to Hillary
Clinton’s presidential bid later that year,
it seems apt to point out that progress is never
nailed on – and it looks, in 2022, very much as
if thongs are back.
Yes, after almost a decade’s grace in which
high-waisted big knickers were so cool they
were meant to be seen through your dress,
pants are inching back towards the itsy-bitsy-
teeny-weeny end of the spectrum instead.
This despite the underwear market undergoing
a woke revolution in recent years that saw
the size zero/32DD Victoria’s Secret Angels
knocked off their pedestals and replaced
not just with more realistic-looking models,
but also more comfortable styles. Thongs,
Wonderbras and underwires generally: all
were tossed onto the bonfire of the vanities
ignited by Millennial Savonarolas who saw
their smalls as part of a much bigger picture.
Thongs are a Gen Z thing. This cohort’s
interest in what now counts as vintage
clothing has seen influencers and brands
hail the return of “Y2K fashion”. Those who
remember it from first time around might
prefer to think of it as the Millennium Bug:
stretchy bootcut trousers, baguette bags,
slicked hair with giant hoop earrings and, of
course, thongs. Dua Lipa, 26, has been spotted
in one; likewise Bella Hadid, 25. In 2019,
Hailey Bieber (then 23 and still a Baldwin)
showed up to the prestigious Met Gala with
a baby pink diamanté thong matched to her
scoop-back Alexander Wang column dress.
Bieber’s look recalled Gillian Anderson’s
2001 Oscars dress – worn with a mesh
thong visible at the back (and with the care
instructions label visible thereupon) because,
when the actress tried on the gown at the
last minute, her pubic hair showed through
the front.
Thongs are also yet another Kardashian
thing. Having popularised a style of shapewear
known as the “butt-lifter” – think cycling
shorts with the cheeks cut out – they have
now thrown their weight behind (or their
behinds behind) a full blown G-string revival.
Kylie Jenner wears them on Instagram, where
she has 298 million followers. Kim, Kourtney
and Kendall have all been papped in thong
bikinis – a style very much suited to the klan’s
most famous assets – in the past few months.
Not only that, thongs seem to suit the
moment as envisioned by some of Paris’sI
The Times Magazine 57NOW: Hailey Bieber