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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 was invented by American World War II veteran Murray Kleid, owner of S & M Fringing Inc. The first tube top was actually a "mistake" but he saw the potential and "went with it". It 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 style have been popular ever since then.
Third wave ska band Reel Big Fish released a song entitled Ban the Tube Top in which they bemoaned the style.
Gallery
 Young woman in a tube top. |
 Woman in a crowd wearing a blue tube top. |
