One conjecture assumes that the style of exposed thong may have "bubbled-up" from the street level to the high streets, like the jeans and t-shirt look of James Dean.[55] Another assumes the fad was initiated by glamor model Jordan in England and singers Mariah Carey and Spears in the United States.[56] The phenomenon has been compared to the phenomenon of visible bra straps.[57][58] Saying that "just as Madonna made bras a public garment in the 1980s, Ms. Lewinsky, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears transformed women's panties into a provocative garment intended for public display", the New York Times claimed that the thong, with straps worn high over the hips and exposed by fashionable low-rise jeans and "Juicy Couture" sweat pants, had become a public icon.[9]