The Topless Tanga Silhouette
The combination of topless and tanga (or g-string) produces the topless tanga silhouette. Topless developments occur before 1965-1970 and tanga emerges before (1990-1995). The newer trend penetrates into topless venue, especially after 1988 in Europe, and after 1992 in New York when topless becomes legal.
Topless Tanga in Media
In Europe, where women are already topless, string briefs often give way to the g-string. If only a few years before the topless g-string had been the exclusive domain of strippers, by the mid 1970s it begin to appear at Cannes, St. Tropez, and Monte Carlo (E197501, DM8501). In America topless tanga in the media is rare in fashion magazines, for example in Vogue, topless tanga is only demonstrated after maillot tanga and bikini tanga introductions in the mid 1980s.
In pinup media the topless tanga catches on around 1990. Its main benefit is that it allows a model to bare both her breasts and buttocks and still keep her pubis covered; only a minor step away from nudity. Topless tanga pinups model both Lycra swimming costumes outside (which are no different that what the leading pubic is wearing outside), and lingerie inside, which implies a private environment (as PB9207 wearing what might be classified as a strapped tanga). The g-string and tanga broaden the pinup and provide for combinations not possible with fully-bottomed briefs (e.g., MB9201).
Theorist Desmond Morris explains that the advantage of the topless tanga is that it catches the attention of the male whether the female is coming or going, in either case presenting him with two globular shapes.
Topless Tanga Wildlife
In America topless tanga is spotted in secluded locations as early as 1985, for example a deserted California beach where an orange g-string rolls on her belly in the sand (PRI8502), on rooftops in New York (NY8503), at private pools. Males also sport the silhouette (NYC8801).
Fully public topless tanga and g-string are not spotted in the French Caribbean until 1988. These early rarities include SM8813, who doffs a maillot over a white crochet g-string, a girlfriend who strips to a v-kini and tugs her behind into tanga shape (SM8814), and a middle-aged woman topoffs her halter and tugs a tangaed adjustable out of rugage (SM8854). The ability of maillot rolldown to be reduced to a topless tanga is also not lost on at least one of these early adoptors (G8835, G8850, G8877, SM8820A). This spirit continues in the early 1990s.
Guadeloupe offers up less than a handful of tangas but includes one who changes into tanga whilst in the water (G8823)! There are also two full-fledged topless g-strings (G8880, G8881). There is also a single male g-string (G8878). The most unusual topless tanga wearers are the swimsuit peddlers, spotted as early as 1988 in Guadeloupe (G8817A, G8822) and more throughly documented at Martinique in 1992.
Topless tanga is scarce but also spotted in Cancun in 1989, in Eleuthera in the Bahamas in 1990, at the public beach in Sesembra, Portugal in 1991 (e.g., SE9185). As the 1990s progress, French territories witness a more pronounced introduction of the maillot tanga, the continuation of general toplessness, and expansion of topless tanga, not only by swimsuit peddlers (M92017, M92356), but by an emerging majority of bathers (G1994718, G1994822, G1994887).
It is somewhat ironic that in 1992 when women emerge victorious in their legal battle to go topless in New York that many of them who elect to go topless also elect to wear the most minimal bikini, the topless tanga or topless g-string (at Amaganset and Riis Park) or the maillot tanga, which uncovers the buttock and is easily rolled down to topless (M92554).
Other Goin'-ons
In the retro department boy shorts continue to be popular, especially among the slightly older fitness set (EP9960, EPA090). Biker chicks embrace the v-cuts and string fashions (WI9868); and strippers always a bareback.
Body modification is also the rage. For the mild this can involve piercing the navel and hair color (T96478BS). The more serious punkers and goths are getting dozens of holes pierced in their bodies. Tattooing is going mainstream. Breast augmentation has become popular with middle American, with high inflation an infatuation among glamour models (HS9710, ZX3KC6BS), dancers (ZX3K90BS), and performers.
At the other extreme, extremely anorexic bodies are also in vogue--along with some very minimal "string pasties" bikini tops (ST9640).
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1996--Florida state athletic officials disqualify a Miami high-school girl's track team for wearing high-cut running briefs.
1996--Live video feeds from sex clubs in Amsterdam become available via the Internet.
1996--Peep videos, in which hidden or supposedly hidden camera show women in locker rooms, showering, or using bathrooms, erupt on the Internet.
1996--Supermodel products include a book featuring photos of Kate Moss and a calendar with photos of Claudia Schiffer.
1996--American legislatures, both nationally and in states, respond to the Internet by passing legislation to restrict free speech in its usage. The laws range from a Georgia rule that prohibits the use of pseudonyms to Federal regulations that prohibit "indecent" speech.
1996--America makes it illegal to possess computer generated images which simulate minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, even if no minors are actually involved.
1996--A six-year-old schoolboy, Johnathan Prevette of Lexington, North Carolina, is charged with sexual harassment for kissing a schoolgirl on the cheek.
1996--Actress Demi Moore, plays a stripper in the Hollywood feature Striptease, and strips down to topless tanga. This year she also wears a bikini on the late night David Letterman talk show.
1996--Supermodel Christy Turlington introduces the navel ring to the world of high fashion and runway modeling. Magazines like Elle rush to feature belly-button pierced models wearing croptops, hiphuggers and bikinis. Models rush to get themselves pierced.
1997--At long last, Victoria's Secrets introduces the thong bottom amongst their swimsuit line. One is a lace overlay maillot tanga, and the other is triangle top halter and tanga. The suit is depicted in two photographs, one from the side in which the model holds her hat over her rear, and the other with her hat on her head as she walks away from us, her rump in full view. It's the only thong bikini among hundreds of swimsuits depicted in the mail order catalogue.
1997--Holographic print fabric is introduced in swimwear. The reflective fibers help reflect light and dazzle voyeurs.
1997--Playboy magazine discovers pubic hair styling and begins featuring Playmates with racing stripes, double vaginal lines, and shaven lips.
1997--Following the overturning of a 1991 indecency conviction of Gwen Jacob, a university student to went for a walk topless in Ontario, Canadian women venture onto beaches and pools topless.
1997--The Miss America Pageant announces that this year swimsuit contestants may wear two piece swimsuits, although bikinis are still prohibited. Bottoms must be fully covered. Shoulder straps must be at least 1/2 inch wide, backstraps at least 1 inch wide, and bottom sides must be at least 1 1/2 inch wide. A few show their belly buttons, but waistbands more than 1 1/2 inches below the navel are prohibited. One contestant sports a navel ring.
1997--Penthouse and Hustler introduce urination photography into the complex of the newsstand men's magazine.
1997--Chelsie Clinton, the president's daughter, gets a navel ring.
1997--Speedo introduces a bathing cap with integrated goggles, claiming it enables swimmers to go faster.
1997--Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York confirms selling human embryos.
1997--A "private" video tape by TV star Pamela Anderson and husband Tommy Lee engaging in all fashions enjoys widespread underground circulation.
1998--In America, actress Ellen DeGeneres brings lesbian gay humor to the TV show Ellen, and admits she is a lesbian in real life.
1998--English police seize a book of pictures by photographer Robert Mapplethorpe from the University of Central England and seek to destroy it.
1998--Penthouse magazine introduces felatio and penetration shots into a mainstream men's magazine.
1998--Baywatch actress Pamela Anderson and her husband rock drummer Tommy Lee enable the release of a homemade video tape of the couple performing sex acts together.
1998--Japanese businessmen patronize the latest craze--the "no pants" restaurant, in which waitresses in short skirts and no panties wait tables--on mirrored floors.
1998--Scandal rocks Exodus International, an organization which claims that it can convert gays to heterosexuality, when its ex-gay founders fall in love, leave their wives, and quit.
1998--The sex potency pill Viagra is introduced which stimulates male erection.
1998--Dr. Martha McClintock establishes the existence of pheromones in humans. The odorless and colorless molecules are transmitted by air and affect behavior; McClintock's research establishes that pheromones are responsible for synchronizing the menstrual cycles of women who are living together.
1998--Seventeen year old tennis star Anna Kournikova abandons the classical tennis uniform for a spandex bra and short shorts, further merging swimwear and professional sports.
1998--Monica Lewinsky titillates President Clinton by flashing him her thong underwear, resulting in a scandal investigated for months and culminating in a report written by prosecutor and "moralist" Kenneth Starr which provided pornographic details of each liaison between the couple. The president is impeached but prevails.
1999--A report published in the British Medical Journal infuriates cancer charities by suggesting that the benefits of exposure to sunlight may outweigh the cancer risks.
1999--An enthusiastic American Brandi Chastain pulls her shirt off after kicking the award-winning goal in the female World Soccer Cup. Luckily the 32 year old athlete is wearing a black sports bra underneath. The picture is an international sensation.
1999--18 year old American television star Michelle Williams performs a two-month stint in the off-Broadway production Killer Joe, where she plays a stripper and performs a nightly routine. She makes the cover of Maxim and Paper.
1999--The toe ring migrates from India to the West, where it becomes the bikini accessory of the summer.
1999--Susan Scotto teaches a how-to course at Berkeley on stripping and erotic dance.
1999--The London Sun discontinues its famous Page 3 topless pinups.
2000--The market research firm NPD reports that the most frequently purchased bra size in America has switched from a 36B to 36C; this is partly reflects an aging population.
2000--Worn panty auctions become the rage on the Internet.
2000--Following a protracted of period of use in Europe, the American government finally approves the abortion drug RU-486.
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