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The G-string first appeared in costumes worn by showgirls in the United States in [[Earl Carroll]]'s productions during the 1920s,<ref>B. Foley, ''Undressed for Success: Beauty Contestants and Exotic Dancers as Merchants of Morality'', page 143, Springer, 2016, {{ISBN|9781137040893}}</ref> a period known as the [[Jazz Age]] or the [[Roaring Twenties]].<ref name="Shteir2004"/> Before the Depression most performers made their own G-strings or bought them from travelling salesmen, but from the 1930s they were usually purchased from commercial manufacturers of [[burlesque]] costumes.{{sfnp|Shteir|2004|page=201}} During the 1930s, the "Chicago G-string" gained prominence when worn by performers like [[Margaret Hart Ferraro|Margie Hart]]. The Chicago area was the home of some of the largest manufacturers of G-strings and it also became the center of the burlesque shows in the United States.<ref name="Shteir2004"/> Early performers of color to wear a G-string on stage included the Latina [[stripper]] Chiquita Garcia in 1934, and "Princess Whitewing", a Native American stripper near the end of the decade.{{sfnp|Shteir|2004|page=205}}
The term ''G-string'' started to appear in [[Variety (magazine)|''Variety'' magazine]] during the 1930s. In [[New York City]], G-strings were worn by female dancers at risqué [[Broadway theatre]] shows during the Jazz Age. During the 1930s and 1940s, the New York striptease shows in which G-strings were worn were described as "strong". In shows referred to as "weak" or "sweet" the stripper wore "net panties" instead. "Strong" shows usually took place only when the police were not present, and they became rarer after 1936 when [[Fiorello H. La Guardia]], the [[Mayor of New York City]], organised a series of police raids on burlesque shows<ref>{{cite book|first=Gypsy Rose|last=Lee|contributor-first=Rachel|contributor-last=Shteir|contribution=Afterword – Gypsy Rose Lee: "Striptease Intellectual"|title=The G-String Murders|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WeqMAgAAQBAJ|publisher=The Feminist Press at CUNY|year=2012|isbn=9781558617612}}</ref> and closed [[strip club]]s in the city for the first time in its history. The Mayor also banned [[showgirl]]s from performing fully nude at the [[1939 New York World's Fair]].<ref name=Guarnieri>{{cite news|newspaper=The New York Times|title=Who Gets to Wear G-Strings Now?|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/16/style/g-string-thong-trend.html|first=Mya|last=Guarnieri|date=16 July 2023}}</ref> Showgirls sometimes wore flesh-coloured G-strings to give the illusion that they were completely naked.<ref>{{cite book|title=Showgirls of Las Vegas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EDUoFbrnPxEC&pg=PA84|first=Lisa|last=Gioia-Acres|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|date=2013|isbn=9780738596532|page=84}}</ref>
The [[American burlesque]] entertainer [[Gypsy Rose Lee]] is popularly associated with the G-string.<ref name=Quinn>{{cite book|title=Mama Rose's Turn: The True Story of America's Most Notorious Stage Mother|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JRacAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA239|author=Carolyn Quinn|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|year=2013|isbn=9781617038532|page=239}}</ref> Her [[striptease]] performances often included the wearing of a G-string; in a memoir written by her son Erik Lee Preminger she is described as gluing on a black lace G-string with [[spirit gum]] in preparation for a performance.<ref name=Preminger/>
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