TUBE TOP

A 'tube top' (British: 'boob tube') is a shoulderless, sleeveless "tube" that wraps the torso (not reaching higher than the armpits). Such a top is generally very tight over the breasts in order to prevent the garment from falling. Usually this is prevented with elastic.
A similar version is one model of the halter top, which is a tube top that uses a single strap that passes round the back of the neck and has both ends attached to the front of the tube.
The garment has its origins in 1940s or 1950s America, and reached a high level of popularity in the late 1970s. It vanished from the scene during the early- and mid-1990s, but later made a major reappearance in the wardrobes of American teenage girls and young American women, especially college-age women, after 2000, and various versions of the revealing style have been popular ever since then.

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Trivia

Trivia

★ This type of garment is called ''bajimama'' in the Dominican Republic. This name is derived from the expression ''baja y mama'', which in Spanish roughly translates to "get down and suck", referring to the ease for undressing the wearer for the purpose of intercourse.

★ In Spain, the ''tube top'' is called ''palabra de honor'' which in Spanish literally translates to ''word of honor''. This refers to the implicit promise the manufacturer is giving you that the garment will not fall down.

★ In a famous blooper from "The Price Is Right" in 1977, a contestant named Yolanda Bowsley, called to "Come on down!", ended up losing her tube top, exposing her breasts to the audience. The show's host, Bob Barker, was unaware of the incident and received louder applause than normal.