The Cheap White Tank Top Has Always Been the Supermodel’s Secret Weapon

It’s July. It’s steamy outside. And you know the drill: The moment you step into that sauna, otherwise known as summer in the city, you start to sweat. Perspiration gathers at the top of your lip; your hair starts to stick to your neck. If it’s a work day, your collared shirt begins to sop, and if not, your T-shirt is already wet.

The most low-key solution to this fashion conundrum comes in the form of a simple white tank. And before you dismiss the staple as a lazy bedtime look or think of its old, definitely-not-PC nickname “wife-beater,” take a look at the supermodels of yesteryear—and today. After all, the simple cotton undershirt has long been a quintessential summer go-to among the fashion set. In the Vogue January issue of 1992, stylist Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele, known for her revolutionary high-low aesthetic, put a baseball hat–clad Claudia Schiffer into a $22 white tank top by the now-defunct nightwear label Ripcosa. (You can still find tanks from Ripcosa lurking on Etsy and Ebay; they’re typically made in West Germany.) A few months later in April 1992, for Vogue’s 100th anniversary issue, the magazine dedicated a page to the simple ribbed tank top and wrote, “Men’s tanks pick up where bra tops leave off, giving a fresh twist to ‘lingerie’ dressing.” The spread showed a sultry Naomi Campbell walking the runway for Complice, wearing a white tank top with a body-skimming Empire-waist skirt. And that same year, Cindy Crawford famously guzzled a frosty can of Pepsi while wearing cut-off jean shorts and, of course, a simple white tank top.

The white tank’s no-frills sex appeal hasn’t faded. Earlier this year, Crawford starred in a remake of that epic Pepsi video, wearing an almost identical top and looking alluring as ever. The clingy style also made a cameo on the Saint Laurent runway for Spring 2017, where it was worn by a braless model with low-slung trousers and a glitzy robotic-looking arm. Theory’s recently launched capsule collection, Theory 2.0, also revamped the tank, rebranded the color white as “egg shell,” and priced the perfectly fitting piece at $100. And just this past week, a bombshell Bella Hadid debuted her new bob in a white ribbed racerback tank top courtesy of Re/Done. The brand, known for its retooled vintage jeans, paired up with American heritage label Hanes last year to recreate its tried-and-true staples. A simple white tank top, tweaked just so, goes for $72.

But getting the same supermodel-worthy look doesn’t mean you have to dig deep into your pockets. Vogue’s Culture Editor Alessandra Codinha, for one, swears by Hanes’s cheap white original. “There are some things that are essentially perfect and therefore unimprovable—like paper clips, or buttered toast, or Prince songs,” she says. “The Hanes white ribbed tank top is one of those things. It is the building block from which so many great outfits can start. Accept no substitutions.” To dress up the lowbrow version for the office, pair it with sharply tailored trousers or a pencil skirt; on a weekend, simply go casual with jeans. And if you’re ever stuck wandering a sweltering city wearing something else, just remember: a drugstore is always just around the corner.