<p><em>L'Officiel </em>delves into the history of this season's most revealing trend and a late '90s and early '00s cult movement: The exposed thong.</p>

<p>One of the <a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/fashion/slogan-tees-y2k-fashion-trend-comeback">'90s and early aughts'</a> most controversial trends seems to have recently crept back into fashion, with young <a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/fashion/early-2000s-movies-for-y2k-style-inspiration-mean-girls-legally-blonde-bring-it-on">Y2K</a> celebrities like Bella Hadid and Dua Lipa being photographed both on the West Coast and East Coast in their high-waist thongs or beauty moguls like Kim Kardashian bringing the style directly onto social media, having recently posed in a sexy <span>low-cut back dress with exposed thong from the Givenchy Spring/Summer 2020 collection.</span></p>

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    <div class="section-text"><span>Though the origins of shameless thong showing began with </span>burlesque<span>&nbsp;dancers in the 1930s as part of their performance costumes, t</span>he now so-called whale tail trend made its fashion debut at<span>&nbsp;</span>Jean Paul Gaultier&rsquo;s Spring/Summer 1997 runway show, which included exposed <span>undergarments, thongs and briefs alike. Then, Tom Ford's Spring/Summer 1997 collection for <a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/fashion/gucci-channels-stanley-kubrik-iconic-movie-scenes-in-latest-campaign">Gucci</a> featured models walking out with only G-strings on their lower halves, men and women alike. Thin thong straps were also featured, this time with clothes over them, for Ford's Spring/Summer 1998 collection, too. The memorable Gucci piece would return again, when the <em>Keeping Up with the Kardashians</em> star posed in a neon green two-piece set with the vintage double-G logo thong peeking out while promoting KKW Beauty on Instagram in 2018.</span></div>
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Jean Paul Gaultier Spring/Summer 1997

Gucci by Tom Ford Spring/Summer 1998

Kim Kardashian wearing the '90s Gucci thong

<div class="section-text">Before Kardashian, the exposed thongs of the&nbsp;'90s and early 2000s were popular among music and movie stars who helped to bring the look into the mainstream thanks to their pairing of <a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/fashion/is-miu-miu-responsible-for-the-return-of-the-low-rise-bella-hadid-zendaya">low-rise pants and skirts</a> with thongs pulled up high over the waistband. The undergarment even gets its own pop-cultural moment in Sisqo's 1999 "Thong Song."</div>
<div class="section-text">At the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards, the whale tail trend was all the rage, with Britney Spears who performed her hit song "Oops I Did It...Again" in a gold two-piece set with a bedazzled built-in G-string. Then, Christina Aguilera and Halle Berry rocked the VMA's red carpet with the high-waist underwear straps showing. Socialite Paris Hilton followed suit the next year, wearing an exposed pink thong at the Lloyd Klein Fall/Winter 2001 presentation in New York City.</div>

<p><span>However, by the mid-2000s, the whale tail obsession came to an end, when both the thong and the low-rise cut fell out of vogue. But like all trends, it circled back. In 2018 and 2019, designers began elevating the look on the runways, and at the Camp-themed </span><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-size: 0.9375rem; letter-spacing: 0px;">Met Gala, Hailey Bieber showed up on the red carpet in a pink Alexander Wang gown with a revealing low back and built-in thong.</span></p>

Hailey Bieber at the 2019 Met Gala in a pink Alexander Wang thong gown

<p>Since then, the high-waist thong detail has populated the runways of Jacquemus, Givenchy, and more. In the Versace Spring/Summer 2021 collection, models strutted with hip-strap details, similar to those worn by Bella Hadid on the Versace Spring/Summer 2020 Men's runway with a pair of sparkly low-rise pants.</p>

Versace Men's Spring/Summer 2020

Versace Spring/Summer 2021

<p>While we may not fully retire our high-waist denim for low-rise cuts and exposed thongs, the daring trend is begging to go mainstream again. And after a year spent inside, many of us are ready to take some fashion risks. Judging from the various A-listers and fashion mavens' photos, and the continuous social media push towards '90s and Y2K fashion, we might be soon walking around in our G-strings thinking, "Oops We Did It...Again!"</p>

Why Do We Keep Returning to the '90s Whale Tail Trend?

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