Shane Gillis hosted “Saturday Night Live” for the third time on October 10 and spent part of his monologue on women’s gym clothes: “I haven’t been to the gym in so long. I didn’t know women just dressed like whores now.” He described neon, “artificial-bait colored” shorts with seams that “all combine at the butthole,” and warned the crowd not to look because everyone’s filming.

A Los Angeles Times piece from July 21, 1989, “The Lithe and Lean Leotard,” called thong and G-string leotards “by far the most popular aerobic exercise fashion silhouette of the summer” and warned readers to “get ready for a close encounter with a G-string leotard, most likely being worn by the woman in front of you, and most certainly revealed to the fullest effect when the bend-over exercises begin.”

In the 1980s, aerobics wear was often just as revealing. The standard look was the high-cut (or French-cut) leotard, worn over footless tights or bare, cut dramatically high on the hip so it exposed a lot of the side of the butt. On instructors and video talent, many were functionally cheeky or thong-style.

By the late ’80s, actual thong and G-string leotards were a real commercial style.

An aerobics manager at Sports Connection clubs in the LA area estimated 70 to 80 percent of women in class were wearing them. A February 1990 follow-up said thongs and G-strings, often worn over tights, were the hottest thing in workout wear.

Short, tight, and body-displaying gym clothes aren’t new, Shane.