Thongs are uncomfortable. This is something most women know as pure, unadulterated fact. But can choosing granny panties over strings for underwear actually be a political statement?
According to New York Times article, “Young Women Say No to Thongs,” this preference for more coverage in undergarments is a generational trend, and may reflect a broader, evolving pattern in the way women see themselves. According to the article, data collected by research company NPD Group in the past year reports a seven percent decrease in thong sales with fuller-coverage styles selling an increased seventeen percent.
Daphne Javitch is one such woman and designer, whose line of underwear Ten Undies has acquired somewhat of a cult following since its birth in 2010, and proves that cool girls everywhere want to cover up under their clothes now more than ever. The line includes cotton, full-bottom briefs, and has collections divided primarily into “bikini,” “boy,” “high,” and “bra” sections. And from the simple, clean designs, it is evident that the functionality and comfort can be happy byproducts of being stylish.
“I wanted a more considered, luxurious version of what you might buy as a three-pack from Woolworths in the 1970s,” the stylish Javitch, who sites Jane Birkin, Diane Keaton and Lauren Hutton among her style inspirations, told The Cut in an interview in 2014.
And Javitch isn’t alone on the list of indie underwear labels whose lines are dedicated to, well, essentially chic granny panties.
“I only wear granny panties,” Julia Baylis told the Times. Baylis and her best friend Mayan Toledano together design the clothing label Me and You, which currently boasts a pair of best-selling white cotton underwear with enough fabric to splash the word “feminist” on the behind. And although the pink bubble lettering seems playful and girlish, the message, the designers and presumably the customers feel they are perpetrating, if only to themselves in the privacy of their home, is one of power.
“Most lingerie is designed to appeal to a man,” said Baylis. “For us, that’s not even a consideration. This is underwear you wear totally for you. Maybe no one will see it, or maybe you’ll put it up on Instagram to share with everyone you know.”
Either way, the twenty-somethings have tugged on something within a generation of young women or, at the very least, on their purse strings. The sassy, best-selling panties, introduced in a line on April 7, have since completely sold out, and even supposedly inspired a current Instagram selfie trend, the “belfie” (selfie from behind).
And like the selfie, this feminist underwear is a trend that doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. According to an article on Breitbart, which discusses feminist lingerie as if it’s an established concept, Hayat Rachi has announced plans to design a lingerie line specifically for the feminist, meaning, it omits the wiring, enhancing padding and is designed with diverse female body types “including women who embrace pubic, leg and underarm hair” in mind.
The line, which she plans to call Mon Dieo as part of her Neon Moon collection, will reportedly be funded in part by a Kickstarter.
“Not everything is about being sexy or being objectified for the male gaze,” Rachi said on the fundraising site. “I found it difficult to find a lingerie brand that shared the same ethos as myself: empowerment, body confidence and the non-objectification of women.”
Perhaps the thong has simply gone the way of the ultra-low rise jean. Maybe this increase in more “tomboyish” or even “mommy” underwear is simply paralleling higher-rise, looser trends in pants. Or maybe, just maybe, women are choosing comfort for their own sake and saving their own asses (at the very least, from the tyranny that is the V-string).
Maybe.
Naturally, with any supposed “feminist” stance that seems to oppose the fashionable (see stereotypes of the Janis Ian variety) or even the comfortable (a hairy armpit in July can definitely be no bueno), there is going to be some pushback. After all, isn’t the fact that women are even talking about their feminine power in relation to their undergarments, be they sexual or intentionally asexual, in some way slightly regressive?
According to Harper’s Bazaar’s Alexandra Tunell, there is nothing empowering about walking around with VPL (visible panty line) all day.
“I say no, absolutely not, never in a million years will granny panties make a comeback in my underwear drawer,” she protested. “I wear thongs for myself, not for men, because they’re comfortable and make me feel sexy and like I can easily slip into any outfit.”
Citing the higher versatility of thongs, Tunell makes the succinct point that preference and more importantly the freedom to act on one’s preference does a feminist make, and not the statement branded on her ass that day.