Long considered a popular then macho attribute, the tank top now has a queer and feminist image. Many brands are making it a banner for the new sexual revolution, where bodies are revealed, proudly and boldly mixing feminine and masculine.
Few garments convey as many fantasies. The tank top is one of them. Invented in the 19th century by Marcel Eisenberg, owner of the Marcel hosiery factory in Roanne, this tank top first dressed workers and farmers, as it was particularly suited to physical labor. "Initially, it was a masculine undergarment not meant to be shown. It's a garment that keeps you warm and is easy to wash," recalls Sophie Lemahieu, a fashion historian.
"The tank top is a heterosexual basic that conveys many clichés." - Virgil Lamette and Arthur Ballorin
It is also often glimpsed under a shirt, a caricature of the Frenchman with a beret firmly on his head. But the tank top gradually left this initial function to become a permanent fixture in our wardrobe.
"In the 1950s, the tank top became scandalous precisely because it wasn't supposed to be worn in public," adds Sophie Lemahieu. This was a first turning point, where the tank top went from being an undergarment to a piece of clothing, just like a t-shirt. It even became sexy thanks to actors who wore it in many films, such as Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire.
The history of the tank top didn't stop there; in the 80s, this garment became the ultimate symbol of machismo and virility.
"It conveys the cliché of ultra-strong masculinity; it's used to show off muscular arms. We all have the image of Sylvester Stallone in Rambo in mind," continues Sophie Lemahieu.
Or that of sidekicks Archie Andrews and Jughead Jones in the American series Riverdale.
The tank top, a symbol of a sexual revolution
It was only more recently that the tank top infiltrated women's and LGBTQI+ wardrobes.
"There is a reappropriation of the body today, and the tank top serves to convey a message. It participates in a certain sexual liberation advocated by the queer community, which reclaims a macho attribute. It is one of the only garments that allows men to reveal their bodies so much. It's a rather ordinary garment that nonetheless becomes a strong symbol of counter-culture," explains Sophie Lemahieu.
An opinion shared by the co-founders of the committed collective Ballorin. "For us, clothing should highlight the body. We have a real activist desire to offer LGBTQI+ people audacious clothing to express their creativity. And the tank top was somewhat obvious," explain co-founders Virgil Lamette and Arthur Ballorin.
They continue: "The tank top is a heterosexual basic that conveys many clichés, especially of macho men found in popular Hollywood culture. For the queer community, it is as interesting as it is repulsive; there is an ambivalence to this garment that seduces and complicates us at the same time. Because there is a lot of pressure around the bodies of gay men."
"With the tank top, men are more willing to reveal their bodies, with pride." - Virgil Lamette and Arthur Ballorin.
For several years now, many brands have thus seized upon this basic garment to transform it, rework it, and give it a much stronger, more assumed, and sexual image. The Ballorin collective has partnered with the French brand Les Tricots de Marcel, a true institution in the manufacture of this historic garment.
While Ballorin designed a particular logo to illustrate this collaboration, the cut itself remained traditional. "We wanted to keep the iconic tank top, and it's one of the pieces in our collection that has been most successful," the co-founders enthuse. Proof that this garment has become a wardrobe essential. "With the tank top, men are more willing to reveal their bodies, with pride; it symbolizes this new sexual revolution of the queer community. It allows for cuts that would never have been found before in men's wardrobes. It's a new kind of commitment," say Virgil Lamette and Arthur Ballorin.
Gender-neutral clothing
For his part, Kingsley Gbadegesin, a young designer based in Brooklyn, is also re-imagining the tank top. He defines himself as "a designer working to advance the liberation of the Black community, the queer community, and people of color."
Through his label K.ngsley, he offers tank tops with reworked necklines, asymmetrical straps, and sexy cuts.
"I wear a lot of tank tops and I usually buy them in the women's section," explains Kingsley Gbadegesin in Vogue US.
"In the 60s, the tank top was feminist. Women wore it without a bra, like Jane Birkin." - Sophie Lemahieu
"Femininity knows no bounds. Even if I may look like a cis Black man, believe me, the moment I open my mouth, you'll say, 'Oh, she's one of us'," he quips.
Across the Atlantic, the French brand Omear also offers a gender-neutral tank top. "Masculine and feminine codes no longer really have their place in fashion today. There is a desire to break free from diktats," believes Kim Nigay, the brand's founder.
The tank top, a feminist garment?
Appreciated by women, men, and non-binary people alike, the tank top now liberates bodies. Except perhaps for women, who are still too often victims of bodyshaming.
"In the 1960s, the tank top was feminist. Women wore it without a bra, like Jane Birkin," recalls Sophie Lemahieu. Unfortunately, today, some women suffer insults for "daring" to let their nipples show under their tank tops.
Léna Mahfouf experienced this on her Instagram account. "Faced with a story where she wore a simple tank top, without a bra, internet users felt entitled to make inappropriate comments, harassing her for simply visible nipples," recalls the media outlet Madmoizelle.
To which the young woman replied: "I find it important to remind the young girls and boys who follow me: you are free to wear whatever you want."
Source: marieclaire.fr - By Published on https://www.marieclaire.fr/histoire-marcel