Style stars Dua Lipa and Hailey Bieber got cheeky for New Year’s Eve, ringing in 2023 with very visible panty lines. The pair both sported exposed thongs for the occasion, reminiscent of the trend popularized in the ‘90s and early 2000s.
Lipa has been bringing the look back for some time. The Future Nostalgia artist previously sported a thong with low-rise jeans, then over the weekend, she attended a private NYE party wearing a shimmering iridescent Swarovski crystal-encrusted chainmail Ludovic de Saint Sernin semi-sheer dress with low swooping back that fully exposed her white thong.
Bieber also wore a similar look while celebrating NYE in Aspen, Colorado, wearing a Mugler LBD with strappy back detailing that included exposed thong illusion straps, thanks to strategically designed extreme cutouts. It also wasn’t the first time the Rhode founder dared to bare — Bieber walked the Met Gala red carpet in 2019, wearing a bubblegum pink Alexander Wang exposed thong dress.
The polarizing high-rise G-string trend is undoubtably making another wave into the fashion scene. Emily Ratajkowski tried out the Y2K-era trend during Milan Fashion Week this fall, wearing an intentional peek-a-boo black thong that rose above her Versace low-rise trousers with a gold chain print.
Over the summer, Bella Hadid stepped out in New York City, revealing her thong while wearing a pair of black leather pants.
The statement thong began cropping up on the catwalks in the late ‘90s, appearing in Jean Paul Gaultier and Paco Rabanne’s respective Spring/Summer 1997 collections, and perhaps most famously, Gucci’s Spring/Summer 1997 collection by Tom Ford. Known for his unapologetically sexy aesthetic, Ford sent skimpy interlocking G-logo G-strings down the runway. The iconic thong was revived by Kim Kardashian during her vintage fashion era in 2018.
In 1998, actress and activist Rose McGowan reimagined the naked dress at the MTV Video Music Awards walking the red carpet in a barely-there design by Maja Hanson. The glittering black sheer mesh dress featured a cowl neckline and a backless silhouette with just a few sparkling strings draped across her backside, exposing McGowan’s leopard-print G-string.
In her 2018 memoir Brave, McGowan recalled the red carpet moment, explaining that it was her first public appearance after her alleged sexual assault by convicted rapist, the former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. McGown called the dress, “a reclamation of my own body after my assault.”
Creating a domino effect, countless A-listers also sported the trend.
Halle Berry wore a pink beaded fringe bra top and coordinating miniskirt with a ribbon thong at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2000. And Christina Aguilera adorned a bedazzled cutout black gown with an asymmetrical thong detailing to the same event.
In a moment that would go down in red carpet fashion history, actress Gillian Anderson wore a shocking backless Eduardo Lucero navy blue backless dress that revealed her thong at a 2001 Oscars after party.
Y2K icons like Britney Spears, Christina Milian and Paris Hilton may have spearheaded the trend, but current It girls from Alexa Demie, Normani, Kendall Jenner, Dua Lipa and Hailey Bieber are bringing it back in full force.
Will we keep seeing more in 2023? Only time will tell.
