By NTD.la Staff
(Editor's note: While revisiting the archives of our friends at NTD.la, we found this article about the history of this exciting and controversial beach resort piece, which is, of course, so political in its causes and consequences. We've retrieved this text for you all and added a playlist featuring some of the best Brazilian voices of all time.).
Although loincloth-style underwear dates back to prehistoric times, It is necessary to specify the modern adoption of this fashionable cut in the 1970s amidst the sun and sand of the Ipanema beaches.
The first garments designed for swimming appeared as early as Ancient Greece. In Rome, around the 3rd century BC, men and women also chose special clothing for entering the water. However, the styles and designs of that time were very different from those of today. The thong would take about 2300 years to become popular. Its immediate predecessor was the bikini. This swimsuit owes its name to the atomic tests that the United States conducted on the Pacific islands of the same name, but its use became popular in the 1960s. when he could first be seen in films such as those of Brigitte Bardot, Marilyn Monroe and James Bond.
The sexual revolution had already begun, but dictatorships were returning to America. The body had to be shown sparingly so as not to disturb public order. The use of bikinis was already considered highly provocative worldwide and in Latin America, but not so much on Brazilian beaches. According to fashion experts, the girls The women of Ipanema began reducing the size of bikini bottoms by cutting them with scissors or rolling the fabric inwards. This trend gradually went viral among young women in Rio de Janeiro and gained significant momentum in 1974. Ricardo Amato, A top photographer of the moment, photographed his favorite model on the beach. Rose di Primo thus brought the thong to the covers of magazines.
The Italian designer didn't take long. Carlos Ficciardi, Based in Brazil, he began producing the model for the local market. His new, colorful, and patterned garments caused a true revolution. The ban on thongs in Brazil lasted less than two years due to strong social pressure. However, the Brazilian Church and dictatorship were horrified and promoted a nationwide ban on the use of this garment. But it was too late. In just two years, the resorts were filled with thongs of all colors. The decree had to be abolished in 1976.
The name "tanga", according to scholars, has its origin in the Amazon rainforest. Tanga is a word belonging to the Tupi languages spoken by the indigenous people who occupied that area of northwestern Brazil and was used to refer to the loincloth. This version contradicts that of those who place the origin of the term in the word ntanga, which in the African language Kumbundu means covering.
Beyond the discussion about the name, it is clear that Brazil was at the forefront of using this small garment: first adopted by the girls, but then also because of the boys who, without prejudice and ever since, do not hesitate to put on the speeda or male thong, as soon as the heat justifies it.
