Are tank tops everyday wear?

[EagleOnTheWall]

I have one which my mother once bought for me. I haven't worn in a long time and I wore it today, and I hate to say, I kind of like it.

Is it a middle aged thing? Am I turning into my mother? Are they acceptable everyday wear (to the office?) or something best confined to one's own home?

Tank top- knitted sleeveless top.
The picture the op showed was a t shirt style vest.
Waistcoat - can be knitted but not necessarily. Has buttons down the front. Also worn as a 3 piece suit. Ie trousers waistcoat and jacket.

Those three things are easily differentiated as
Vest - undergarment (or camisole if it’s fancy)
Vest top - sleeveless outerwear
Tank top - knitted sleeveless garment to layer over a shirt of some sort.

I had no idea I was starting such a controversial thread 😂

We had an English teacher who wouldn't ever let anyone "go to the toilet" because it originally meant to wash/do your make up and hair. In his lessons we had to ask to "go to the lavatory" or "go to the loo"!

(Which now I think about it makes absolutely no sense as lavatory presumably comes from the French to wash)

As far as I can tell every word used for that unnamable object and it's room are euphemisms 🤣

As for tank tops, they are iconic of the 1970s. Woolly sleeveless jumpers worn over patterned shirts with large rounded colours and tight, brown trousers in Trevira.

I'm mid 50s, grew up in Norfolk.

Spaghetti strap vest = vest top or vest
Vest with wider straps = vest top or vest

If someone asks what I'm going to wear to an event and I say 'vest' we will both know I am not talking about an underwear vest.

In a shop if I would probably specify vest top for a non underwear vest and just vest for underwear, unless it was a shop that didn't sell underwear then I'd just say vest.

Tank top = knitted sleeveless top.

Two of those are actually wool/thicker fabric so would be fine to wear with something underneath. I wouldn't call those vests, probably sleeveless tops. I tend to think of vests as casual wear.

I think that the person who posted those links was saying that they are an example of the British use of tank top to mean sleeveless knitted jumper. It just so happens that the models are all wearing them with nothing underneath.

Same here, I'm Irish and early 40s. Very surprised by these responses. I was especially confused when people said they were too warm to wear in summer.

Anyway, to answer your question, I think they are appropriate for everyday wear but probably not the workplace.

Ok I’ll say it: loo is Upper Class, or U. Toilet is non-U. According to Nancy Mitford et al.

So @EagleOnTheWall on the wall, I’m guessing your English teacher was a bit posh. Or a least
“knew the rules“

…which I’m not sure anyone cares about any more. Some of the vocab „rules“ were mad like you shouldn’t use the word mirror, only looking glass — if I recall rightly, 😆. Anyway. Tank tops!

Just to throw in another continent, in Australia

tank top = lightweight sleeveless top with wide straps
vest = knitted, sleeveless top
singlet = underwear that is the equivalent of what is called a vest in the UK

🙂

Oh no they are definitely too necky and middle aged

What on earth does this mean?

I always think that the knitted ones are more for casual wear and the tailored waistcoats are more 'officey'.
Personally Im a sucker for a waistcoat....not the smart tailored ones, the knitted or padded ones that give cottagecore/grandma vibes!!

Also this thread now has me so confused I genuinely cant remember what I call items of clothing sitting in my wardrobe right now!😅

So I agree, a Tank Top is a knitted sleeveless top

But lots of Shops refer to a sleeveless t shirt as a tank.

And a vest top has spaghetti or thinner straps.

Anyway, I do wear Tanks. (No idea if they're fashionable) and vests. And I have the Margaret Howell Tank Top linked to upthread. But tank tops are only knitted.

Too necky like a turtle neck and middle aged as in bingo wings and all on display

I think hating a perfectly normal body like this because it’s not 20 is a bit sad.
Not sure how we are all supposed to cover our horrifically middle aged necks either.

No, wrong,wrong, wrong. Tank tops have to be knitted. That's just the law.

Irish, 61, was very confused to see a vest being called a tank top, which is and always has been a knitted sleeveless top.

No. Tank top meaning a vest top of any type is an Americanism.

I think you will find we say "He is in the lavatory" 😁

Personally Im a sucker for a waistcoat....not the smart tailored ones, the knitted or padded ones that give cottagecore/grandma vibes!!
They sound interesting. Can you link any examples because I can't get the image of a waistcoat I have out of my head .

They do seem to be doing that now - but even going back 5 - 10 years you would still be seeing the descriptions given by older English MNers (I say English as I don’t know if there are different words in other parts of the UK).

A sleeveless T shirt was always a vest top and a sleeveless knitted top a tank top. There was also the word shell top used quite frequently in recent years to describe a non-jersey sleeveless top. UK fashion seems to have taken over US terminology and so we have an age divide with older people using the terms they are familiar with. No-one on this thread is actually wrong but it does lead to confusion!

They're everywhere but look at what younger people wear on the bottoms and feet and follow loosely. It would make a huge difference to how 'middle aged' it would look.