These early bras would bind the breasts tightly against the body, so that hold was achieved mainly via constriction. However, as fashion eventually began to play a larger role in societies, the corset was invented — cradling and pushing up breasts while slimming and flattening the waist to create a dramatically curvaceous silhouette. The Italian-born Queen of France, Catherine de Medici, has been credited with popularizing the corseted look, which originated during the Renaissance and remained in vogue through the early 20th century.
Victorian-era corsets of the s drew in the waist to emphasize the curve of breasts and hips. Eventually a major milestone occurred in , when the French divided the corset into two separate undergarments. As bra design innovation continued into the 20th century, groundbreaking new shapes resulted from changing trends in fashion. As an added bonus, modern and thoughtfully constructed new silhouettes suddenly meant bras could also be comfortable to wear!
In , Manhattan socialite Mary Phelps Jacobs managed to reinvent the shapewear of her day while getting dressed for her own debutante ball. As a quick-fix solution, Jacobs sent her maid out for handkerchiefs and some ribbon, which Jacobs assembled into a new kind of undergarment that was functional yet far less restrictive than traditional corsets. At the start of the first World War, women were encouraged to join the metal and textile rationing efforts by not purchasing boned corsets.
Letter-based A through D cup sizing, initiated by S. Camp and Company, was followed by other innovations from various brands, including adjustable hook-and-eye closures.
By World War II, necessity played even larger roles in bra design, as the undergarments now became standard issue for women enlisting into the military. Not surprisingly, the post-war baby boom led to an upswell in the production of maternity bras designed specifically for pregnancy and breastfeeding. Specialized nursing bras have also been developed for mothers who pump, allowing them to do so hands-free. What they made was quite simple: two thin pieces of material stitched in such a way that they created subtle cups.
When the ribbons were pulled tight and tied together, you had something very much like a halter top bikini, and a level of support not altogether different than what a corset would offer, but without the breath-crushing whale boning. She said the feeling of wearing it was "delicious. I could move more freely, a nearly naked feeling, and in the glass I saw that I was flat and proper.
So she went on to show her contraption around to friends and in Manhattan dressing rooms, playing around with different versions. On February 12, , she filed for a patent. Mary - who would later change her name to the much more fabulous Caresse Crosby - did get a few department store buyers, but it was slow going.
Because lucky for the people who owned that patent, America was about to enter World War I. In , the U. Could you kindly stop buying steel-banded corsets? How much steel, you wonder? Some 28, pounds of it, which was apparently enough to build two whole battleships. Unsurprisingly, when the war was over, no one was super keen to put the corset back on. Times were changing for women. They played sports, too, tennis being by far the most popular. And they wanted simple clothes to match their changing lifestyles - lighter, cheaper to make, easier to move in.
Nearly patents for bras and corselettes were registered from and Many were bandeau-style bras, meant to flatten you down and keep any cleavage hidden. But not everyone was happy with the flat-chest situation. William Rosenthal refined it, and the Maiden Form Brassiere was born.
At first they sewed it into their dresses, but then ladies started asking for it to be sold separately. By , the three had closed their shop and formed the Maiden Form Brassiere Co. At first, bras were one size fits all, made out of a stretchy material that was supposed to work for everyone, but then came A, B, C, and D cups. To me, this sounds very much like the American grading system, but apparently they represent ounces: A-cup is 8oz.
Bras and yoghurt containers have more in common than I thought: who knew? Some say Maidenform brought us this sizing system, while others say it was S. Camp and Company. Either way, they were here to stay.
Bras really came into their own in the s. Besides distinct cup sizes for better fit, there was the adjustable elastic strap and the introduction of eye hooks. The bra became less about squashing breasts down and more about making them shapely. Who knew that the world wars had such a profound effect on our shapewear?
Some had wire arching over the breasts, which helped keep their shape while getting rid of all cleavage - a good thing for mid-century ladies wearing evening dresses with plunging fronts, apparently. Now that boobs are back in fashion, the shape and material of our bras made a big difference. And then, in the s, Hollywood got involved. Aviator, playboy, and all-around weirdo Howard Hughes designed an aerodynamic bra for Jane Russell to wear in his film The Outlaw.
He called it the Cantilever Bra, and he was very precise about its purpose, saying that "the length of the actual cleavage is five and one-quarter inches. But it was movie stars who turned the bullet bra into a fashion staple. Madonna brought the pointy bra back into our consciousness with her Gaultier-designed cone bra on her Blonde Ambition tour in And the Wonderbra was invented in the s, though it took several decades to really catch on.
They became rather famous for not wearing any. But just as women were being introduced to gel inserts and crazy cleavage to go under their powersuits, they were also looking for something they could jog in.
The early corset pushed the breasts up and together, causing the tops of the breasts to spill out of the tops of dresses for a shelf-like bust effect. French designer Herminie Cadolle cut a corset in two, creating two separate undergarments. The top section supported the breasts by means of straps, while the lower piece cinched and shaped the waist. By , the word was added to the Oxford English Dictionary.
New York City socialite Mary Phelps Jacob invented and patented the first modern bra using two silk handkerchiefs and a pink ribbon. She eventually sold the patent to the Warner Brothers Corset Company. The U. War Industries Board asked women to stop buying corsets to free up the metal for war production. Reportedly, this saved about 28, tons of metal, which was then used to create two battleships.
Smaller-chested and slender-figured flappers took over the fashion scene during the Roaring Twenties. It was during this time that S. This allowed bras to evolve from one-size-fits-all to a better fit.
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