Ladies and gentlemen, gird your loins: High-strung thongs and naked hip bones are on the way back. Look to the runway for proof. This past week, Bella Hadid walked out at Versace’s Spring 2020 men’s show in a pair of low-slung bedazzled black pants. Creeping up over her hips was a matching thong with two gold Versace Medusa medallions cradling her pelvis. Soon after, Heron Preston showed a model strutting in shimmed-down pants with a hiked-up thong. Back in May, Hailey Bieber stepped out on the Met Gala red carpet in a bubblegum pink Alexander Wang number that revealed a whole lot of whale tail, complete with a glittering “Wang” emblem bulls-eyed right on the lower back—an updated, more saccharine version of Gillian Anderson’s flossy look from the 2001 Vanity Fair Oscar party. Of course, last August, Kim Kardashian West wore the thong seen ’round the world: A Speedo-shaming Tom Ford-era Gucci Spring 1997 swim panty that she paraded on Instagram for her 142 million followers to see.

Left: Gillian Anderson at the 2001 Vanity Fair Oscar party; right: Hailey Bieber at the 2019 Met Gala wearing Alexander Wang. Photo: Getty Images

This comeback isn’t completely unexpected. In fact, it’s right in step with the wild ’00s style that includes the likes of pop singers, actresses, and, yes, Paris Hilton—all of whom gave the visible panty a go. And remember that fun fact about fashion repeating itself roughly every 20 years? For Jean Paul Gaultier’s Spring 1997 show, models wore hiked up multi-colored thongs beneath pairs of granny panties. A year later, Tom Ford showed several embedded pencil-thin thong straps back on the Gucci Spring 1998 runway. Those underpinnings rose above the waists of pencil skirts and satin trousers, giving the body a sexy abdominal V. (I own both!) As for the most brash and loud display of saucy undergarments? For the John Galliano-era Christian Dior Fall 2001 show, models wore über low pants and strand-like panties pulled up to their navels .

From left: Jean Paul Gaultier Spring 1997, Gucci Spring 1998, Christian Dior Fall 2001 Photo: Condé Nast Archive

Society has come a long way since then. And yes, the brazen bare-it-all hip-bone look is still made for the bold, but why not dare to try it? Vogue market editor Alexandra Gurvitch says it can work, as long as the wearer abides by the “less is more” rule. “Whether it’s a thong or a bodysuit, just opt for a plain trouser,” she suggests. “If you are daring enough to expose your hips, you might as well make your look minimal and clean.” See? Don’t give the sexy trend the cold shoulder just yet—instead, give it some hot hip.