The 1001 facets of the tank top

Welcome to the Halles de Paris, at the beginning of the 1860s.

They were built very recently, during the reign of Napoleon III. It is one of the largest markets in the world. Who says market, says goods and who says goods, says handlers to transport them (there's a lot going on there, isn't it?). We call them the strong market halls, because they are strong and they work in the market halls (definitely).

They unload the crates there. Or rather: they unload them (yes, you get it). And they often do it wearing thick sweaters, practical in the wind but less so for lifting wood. The idea of ​​cutting one's sleeves therefore comes quite naturally and finds success in the working world.

The tank top is therefore basically just an improvised garment to be practical. So practical that its reputation reached the ears of a certain Marcel Eisenberg, owner of “Établissements Marcel”, a hosiery in Roanne in the Loire.

He began the mass production of cotton jersey tank tops, to which his name would later be given. If you were wondering about the difference, the Marcel is to the tank top what the Jacuzzi is to the bubble bath, the Frigidaire to the refrigerator and the Kleenex to the tissue.

The success of the longshoreman is no longer limited to workers. Farmers, fishermen and shipping carriers also wear them. The soldiers of the First World War found it in their equipment. A more airy fishing net version even appeared for them in 1933.

Worn alone, it keeps your arms cool. Under a sweater, it keeps your torso warm. Its jersey allows you to move freely. Its cotton is inexpensive and easy to maintain. So from 1936, it no longer convinced only workers and soldiers, but also vacationers who discovered the joys of paid leave.

Worn as an item of clothing that looks like underwear, it is already starting to garner some connotations and is not welcome in street attire.

Obviously, the French are not the only ones to have had the idea of ​​dropping the sleeves. In Switzerland, the tank top is called camisole. In Belgium, it's a shirt. In the United States, we say "singlet".

In England, we speak of "tank top" in reference to "tank suits", women's swimsuits with a top reminiscent of their shape. They wore these swimsuits in the "swimming tanks" (before we later spoke of "swimming pool", "tank" meaning reservoir).

With such an etymology, the tank top could therefore have evoked female combativeness and success. But by Hollywood's decision, that's not what we'll remember.

From the 1950s, the tank top was no longer just the clothing of workers and campers. In the cinema, he also became that of the seducer alongside Marlon Brando and, later, Patrick Swayze.

It became the fighter's clothing with Bruce Lee and, later, Hugh Jackman.

The hero's clothing with Bruce Willis in Die Hard.

That of the patriot warrior with Sylvester Stallone in Rambo.

Already a movie star, the tank top also made a music career , becoming an integral part of hip-hop culture. Tupac, Eminem or even 50 Cents, to name only the big names.

He also became Rock'n'Roll, freeing the arms of Johnny Hallyday in 1995 at Bercy and, long before, allowing Freddie Mercury to express himself in all his splendor.

After having served to immortalize the cliché of the highly testosterone straight man, the tank top thus becomes a symbol of body emancipation among the LGBTQ+ community, and not only that.

In the 80s, the tank top was at its peak and saw its consecration by the big brands of the moment, including Calvin Klein.

And often, after the rise, there is the fall.

The tank top was not a star in everyone's eyes, especially in the 1990s and 2000s . Its tight jersey sticks to the clichés of the redneck and the port alcoholic. Legendary characters, caricatured by the media, who only wear it for its comfort and practicality, sacrificing aesthetics through negligence or bad taste. Same dilemma as for sock slides, ultimately.

It sticks all the more strongly to the cliché of the excessive bodybuilder, this huge and lean man who seeks to minimize the quantity of tissue hiding the results of his efforts. As the men's bra did not yet exist, this character turned to the tank top and in turn became a media caricature.

And there is a converse to this: the tank top is attributed with a cruel intransigence with human morphology. Many believe that it only highlights the muscular builds of cinema, revealing any characteristics that do not correspond to these aesthetic codes. Overweight, thin arms... even the hair that he lets protrude will be targeted.

The tank top is therefore losing popularity. In men, it will be under a shirt at most and even then, if it does not show it. Because we must not forget that at this time, the men's wardrobe was still predominantly shy, modest and unadventurous. Which will fortunately change.

You may have noticed: the tank top is once again omnipresent in men's fashion with, as a bonus, a consecration by catwalk fashion in recent years.

Lemaire, Prada, Bottega Veneta, Jacquemus, Versace, Balenciaga and many others are giving it an increasingly important role in their collections and runway outfits.

As for our team, we've also been coming across him more and more for several years while scrolling through brand lookbooks and ootds on Instagram. Many of us wear them ourselves, even if only as a base layer, whereas five years ago, the white t-shirt was king in this area.

From our small observatory of men's fashion, as a media and clothing brand, we have seen the market evolve and see several reasons for this strong comeback.

The first is that our locker room has freed itself from some of its chains linked to preconceptions and lack of confidence. For men, clothing is less and less a refuge and more and more a playground. We dare to have more variety in shapes and colors. Look for example at the pants side: yesterday, it was jeans and chinos. Today, there are also joggers, cargo pants, fatigue pants, gurkhas, carpenters and other variations. The suit has also taken on new forms, available in soft tailoring, workwear and streetwear. And the longshoreman took advantage of this liberation.

The second is the gain in relaxation and comfort. The cuts are looser, the materials more textured. And what's more casual and comfortable than a t-shirt that doesn't have sleeves?

Add to that the nostalgic return of retro fashion and the emergence of the vintage market, which means that a white tank top tucked into faded straight jeans has never looked so cool to us.

Men have once again shown that the tank top can be worn brilliantly, freeing it from most of the connotations noted in this article to make it what all clothing should be: a garment, no more, no less, that we take pleasure in. to associate without imposing imaginary barriers.

Our first Halles tank top can be discovered here: