The thong sinks to the bottom

News - Guardian Unlimited, UK

The news, together with helpful photos, was all over the papers this week. It's the start of a "thong goodbye", said the Daily Mirror. "Bottom falls out of the thong market", reported the Sunday Times; without doubt, "thongs ain't what they used to be", according to the Daily Express
The fall in popularity of women's thong-style undergarments - sales are down 17% from 2003 - was not widely lamented. "There is a god, girls," sighed Amber Graafland in the Mirror. "Women are finally turning their backs on the most hideous piece of lingerie since the chastity belt." The fashion for "this ridiculous excuse for a pair of knickers" had first begun in 1930s strip clubs, and then surfaced on Brazilian beaches in the 70s.

"In 1997, however, it won fashion respectability when a Gucci model wore one on the catwalk," said John Elliott and Sarah Keenlyside in the Sunday Times. Since then, "the thong's association with 'tabloid' celebrities has tarnished its image", and it now accounts for only 23% of the women's underwear market, down from a giddy 31% at the end of 2003. They believed this was "part of a move away from overtly sexual clothing".

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