These days you seem to see them everywhere, peeping unashamed from under low-slung jeans.
But if the sight of the skimpy G-string makes you cringe, you'll sympathise with the lawmakers of New Orleans who want to make it a criminal offence to display them in public.
Louisiana Democrat Derrick Shepherd wants women who flash their underwear fined $500 or jailed for six months. He also has his sights on men in baggy pants that expose boxers.
"If parents can't regulate what their children wear, then there should be a law. Hopefully if we pull up their pants, we can lift their minds while we're at it," said Mr Shepherd, whose Bill has the support of two other Democrat representatives.
But down at Manly Beach in Sydney yesterday people were downright appalled at the idea.
With her G-string proudly on display, surf shop employee Heather Martin, 19, said it wasn't a deliberate trend to display the undergarment.
The fashion for low-cut jeans made the occasional flash inevitable, she said.
"Low-cut jeans are fashionable, so we wear hipster G-strings to go with them," she said.
"If the law goes through so many people will be fined."
Cynthia Leclerk, 24, called the proposed law "ridiculous". She said clothing styles meant it was extremely common for women to flash a bit of bra and underpants.
