Why do so many men wear tank tops?
Everywhere I go I see young men in ribbed tank tops, sometimes with an unbuttoned shirt over the top, but not often. Tank tops can be black, white, or gray, but they are worn with everything – not just with undershirts, as I was taught was correct. What is happening? – Richard, Philadelphia
The tank top may seem basic – just a sleeveless cotton top with a scooped neck – but as a garment, it has a lot to offer. Its roots are in the working class and the professional class, the military and the farm, menswear and womenswear, sports and Hollywood, gay culture, rap culture, gym culture and indie sleaze.
Which means that everyone who wears it (and everyone who sees someone wearing it) has their own reason and reference point. This in turn means that it is impossible to reduce this particular phenomenon to trend status. Even if your neighborhood or the TikTok algorithm is serving a lot of content that can be termed as tank top content.
And this means that, while the undershirt has a functional purpose in the wardrobe, as you point out, as a protective layer between the button-up shirt and skin, its symbolic purpose may be even more important. Sure, it shows off the body, not to mention biceps, but it also shows different value hierarchies. That’s probably why you’re seeing so many of them.
To understand this, a brief history of the undershirt is necessary.
“marcel undershirt,” as it was originally known, originated in the 1860s when French dockworkers decided to cut the sleeves of their sweaters for relief from the heat. Les Établissements Marseilles, a knitwear company, took notice and began selling ready-made versions of the style.
Those styles made their way into the American wardrobe in World War I, when American soldiers in Europe encountered the tank top and realized its potential as a garment to wear under their woolen uniforms, and it was officially adopted by the Navy. By World War II, it was a ubiquitous part of military dress.
When the military was adopting tank tops, the athletic world was doing the same. In fact, the “tank” part of tank top is a reference to early 20th century swimming pools, which were called swimming tanks, and the tank top originated as part of the swimming attire of female athletes from Australia, Britain, and Sweden at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics.
From there, the shirt made its way into the mainstream, imbued with an association of physicality, strength, and a certain gritty reality. By the time Marlon Brando and James Dean graced the silver screen smoldering rebelliously in their white tanks, it had reached iconic status—and its cartoonish masculinity was ripe for subversion and appropriation. (That aspect of the tank top never went away. See Bruce Willis in “Die Hard,” Hugh Jackman in “Wolverine” and Angelina Jolie in “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.”)
Freddie Mercury made the shirt his own in the 1970s and early ’80s, and 50 Cent became known for the white tank in the early 2000s (and brought it back in 2022 for his surprise Super Bowl appearance at Jay-Z’s celebration of hip-hop and rap). Joe Coscarelli, our culture reporter and host of “PopCast,” traces its lineage from “Tupac-Snoop-LA gang culture” through 50 Cent to modern street rappers like YoungBoy, Lil Durk and Young Thug, from where it reached “(Justin) Bieber.”
And, of course, to fashion, where it problematically went beyond being called a “wife beater”. Naming “Wife pleasing.” “The closest a guy can get to being shirtless without going shirtless,” explains our men’s clothing reporter Jacob Gallagher. Whether a boy was kicked out of the gym or not.
“It’s notable that men with more normal muscle come into this look,” Jacob said. “It shows a certain level of confidence. It’s saying ‘Okay, this is my body, and I’m comfortable with it.’ And not just your body, but your body hair, all the bacon you have, your farmer’s tan level. it’s wearing true The most original article. No sleeves, no collar, no care.”
But a lot of semiology.
Your Style Questions, Answered
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