T ank tops are sleeveless garments that can be worn on a hot day, serve as an undershirt, or form the basis for an excellent John McClane cosplay costume. These multifunctional shirts are a relatively recent invention, first appearing in closets around the 1920s and exploding in popularity in the 1950s, thanks to a Hollywood boost. The name "tank top" itself wasn't used until the late 1940s, in relation to a similar-looking piece of swimwear called the "tank suit."
In the 19th century, women wore full-length bathing dresses, complete with layers of undergarments, to preserve their modesty. In the early 20th century, bathing suits underwent a revolution and became more tight fitting, even revealing the legs. By the 1910s, a one-piece, sleeveless, fitted bathing suit with legs was popular with both men and women for its ease of motion in the water. These came to be called "tank suits" as pools were colloquially called "tanks" in the U.K.
Hanes takes credit for the jump to undershirt territory. According to Jamie Wallis, former director of global communications at Hanes, in 1928 the company began selling the sleeveless shirts along with its woven shirts as a measure to preserve the longevity of the more formal collared garments. In the following decades, this garment came to be known as a "tank top," taking its name from the similar-looking tank suits. Though it's hard to say exactly when "tank top" was first coined for the undergarment, the Oxford English Dictionary notes that an early mention appeared in a 1949 edition of Women's Wear Daily.
Once a simple undershirt, the ribbed tank top achieved cultural monument status in the second half of the 20th century, beginning with Marlon Brando's wardrobe in the 1951 movie A Streetcar Named Desire. The white tank top worn as outerwear became a shorthand for male virility, as seen again with Robert De Niro in Raging Bull, Bruce Willis in Die Hard, and Vin Diesel in the Fast and Furious franchise. In the 1970s, Hanes nicknamed it the "A-shirt," or athletic shirt, in order to move it away from undergarment territory.
Around the turn of the century, the tank top acquired a distasteful nickname related to domestic abuse, but the kids might be all right, because the newest slang term for these tops is "pleasers," as in "wife pleasers." Tank tops remain a staple of street fashion, and they're not leaving underwear drawers anytime soon, but they might continue to acquire new nicknames. |
