History of brassieres - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The history of brassieres is inextricably intertwined with the social history

Social history

Social history, often called the new social history, is a branch of History that includes history of ordinary people and their strategies of coping with life. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in history departments...

of the status of women, including the evolution of fashion and changing views of the body.

Straps on the bra can be adjusted to fit the shoulder of the woman wearing it. Girls typically start wearing bras at ages 10–13.
Women have used a variety of garments and devices to cover, restrain, or modify the display of breasts.
From the 16th century onwards, the undergarment

Undergarment

Undergarments or underwear are clothes worn under other clothes, often next to the skin. They keep outer garments from being soiled by bodily secretions and discharges, shape the body, and provide support for parts of it. In cold weather, long underwear is sometimes worn to provide additional...

s of wealthier women were dominated by the corset

Corset

A corset is a garment worn to hold and shape the torso into a desired shape for aesthetic or medical purposes...

, which pushed the breasts upwards. In the latter part of the 19th century, various alternatives were experimented with, splitting the corset into a girdle

Girdle

A girdle is a garment that encircles the lower torso, perhaps extending below the hips, and worn often for support. The word girdle originally meant a belt. In modern English, the term girdle is most commonly used for a form of women's foundation wear that replaced the corset in popularity...

-like restraining device for the lower torso, and transferring the upper part to devices suspended from the shoulder.

Since the late 19th century, the bra has replaced the corset

Corset

A corset is a garment worn to hold and shape the torso into a desired shape for aesthetic or medical purposes...

as the most widely accepted method for supporting breasts. By the early 20th century, garments more closely resembling contemporary bras had emerged, although large-scale commercial production did not occur till the 1930s. Since then bras have replaced corsets (although some women prefer camisole

Camisole

A camisole is a sleeveless undergarment for women, normally extending to the waist. The camisole is usually made of satin, nylon, or cotton.- Historical definition :...

s) and a minority go without. Brassieres are a multi-billion-dollar industry dominated by large multinational corporations. During the 20th century, the emphasis on brassiere usage has shifted from functionality to fashion.

Overview

During recorded history, women have used a variety of garments and devices to cover, restrain, or elevate their breasts. Brassiere or bikini-like garments are depicted on some female athletes in the 14th century BC

14th century BC

The 14th century BC is a century which lasted from the year 1400 BC until 1301 BC.-Events:* 1397 BC: Pandion I, legendary King of Athens, dies after a reign of 40 years and is succeeded by his son Erechtheus II of Athens....

during the Minoan civilization

Minoan civilization

The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age civilization that arose on the island of Crete and flourished from approximately the 27th century BC to the 15th century BC. It was rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century through the work of the British archaeologist Arthur Evans...

era. Similar functionality was achieved by both outerwear and underwear. In China during the Ming Dynasty

Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...

a form of foundation cloth complete with cups and straps drawn over shoulders and tied to the girth seam at the lower back called a dudou (literally 'belly cover') was in vogue among rich women. Popularity continued into the Qing Dynasty

Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....

(1644–1911).

From the 16th century onwards, the undergarments of wealthier women in the Western world were dominated by the corset

Corset

A corset is a garment worn to hold and shape the torso into a desired shape for aesthetic or medical purposes...

, which pushed the breasts upwards. In the latter part of the 19th century, clothing designers began experimenting with various alternatives to the corset, trying things like splitting the corset into multiple parts: a girdle

Girdle

-like restraining device for the lower torso, and devices that suspended the breasts from the shoulder for the upper torso.

By the early 20th century, garments more closely resembling contemporary bras emerged, although large-scale commercial production did not occur until the 1930s. With metal shortages, World War II encouraged the end of the corset. By the time the war ended, most fashion-conscious women in Europe and North America were wearing brassieres. From there the brassiere was adopted by consumers in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Like other clothing, brassieres were initially sewn by small production companies and supplied to various retailers. The term “cup” was not used to describe bras until 1916, and manufacturers relied on stretchable cups to accommodate different sized breasts. Women with larger or pendulous breasts had the choice of long-line bras, built-up backs, wedge-shaped inserts between the cups, wider straps, power Lastex, firm bands under the cup, and even light boning.

In October 1932, the S.H. Camp and Company correlated the size and pendulousness of a woman's breasts to letters of the alphabet, A through D. Camp's advertising featured letter-labeled profiles of breasts in the February 1933 issue of Corset and Underwear Review. In 1937, Warner began to feature cup sizing in its products. Adjustable bands were introduced using multiple eye and hook positions in the 1930s.

Since then, bras have replaced corsets and bra manufacture and sale has become a multi-billion-dollar industry. Over time, the emphasis on bras has largely shifted from functionality to fashion.

There is an urban legend

Urban legend

An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...

that the brassiere was invented by a man named Otto Titzling

Otto Titzling

Otto Titzling is a fictional character who is apocryphally described as the inventor of the brassiere in a book Bust Up: The Uplifting Tale of Otto Titzling, published by Macdonald in London in 1971 and by Prentice-Hall in the USA....

("tit sling") who lost a lawsuit with Phillip de Brassiere ("fill up the brassiere"). This originated with the 1971 book Bust-Up: The Uplifting Tale of Otto Titzling and the Development of the Bra and was propagated in a comedic song from the movie Beaches
Beaches (film)
Beaches , is a 1988 American comedy-drama film adapted by Mary Agnes Donoghue from the Iris Rainer Dart novel of the same name...

.

Egypt

In ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

, women were generally bare breasted. The most common items of female attire were the skirt

Skirt

A skirt is a tube- or cone-shaped garment that hangs from the waist and covers all or part of the legs.In the western world, skirts are usually considered women's clothing. However, there are exceptions...

and the sheath dress, also described as a tunic

Tunic

A tunic is any of several types of clothing for the body, of various lengths reaching from the shoulders to somewhere between the hips and the ankles...

or kalasiris, a rectangular piece of cloth that was folded once and sewn down the edge to make a tube. The kalasiris might cover one or both shoulders or be worn with shoulder straps. While the top could reach anywhere from below the breast to the neck, the bottom hem generally touched the ankles. A variant was a single cross strap, partially over the left breast. The shorter kalasiris was mostly worn by common women or slaves, to be more comfortable when working.

India

Although majority of female figures in ancient Indian sculptures are devoid of a blouse, there are several instances of ancient Indian women wearing brassieres. The first historical reference to brassieres in India is found during the rule of King Harshavardhana (1st century AD). Sewn brassieres and blouses were very much in vogue during the Vijayanagara empire

Vijayanagara Empire

The Vijayanagara Empire , referred as the Kingdom of Bisnaga by the Portuguese, was an empire based in South Indian in the Deccan Plateau region. It was established in 1336 by Harihara I and his brother Bukka Raya I of the Yadava lineage. The empire rose to prominence as a culmination of attempts...

and the cities brimmed with tailors who specialized in tight fitting of these garments. The half-sleeved tight bodice or kanchuka figures prominently in the literature of the period, especially Basavapurana (1237 AD), which says kanchukas were worn by young girls as well.

Greece

Wearing a specialized garment designed to restrain a woman's breasts may date back to ancient Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

. Wall paintings in Crete, the centre of the Minoan civilization

Minoan civilization

, show what has been described as a 'bikini', apparently a woman performing in athletics. Similar depictions have been found in ruins from 4th Century Sicily at the Villa Romana del Casale

Villa Romana del Casale

Villa Romana del Casale is a Roman villa built in the first quarter of the 4th century and located about 5 km outside the town of Piazza Armerina, Sicily, southern Italy...

.

Minoan women on the island of Crete

Crete

Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...

3,000 years ago apparently wore garments that partially supported and also revealed their bare breasts; the best known example of this style is the Snake Goddess

Snake Goddess

Snake Goddess, indicates figurines of a woman holding a snake in each hand found during excavation of Minoan archaeological sites in Crete dating from approximately 1600 BCE.It seems that the two elegant idols found in Knossos represented goddesses and by implication, the term 'snake goddess'...

. Their clothing look somewhat like modern fitted and laced corsets or a corselette. The support device was worn outside other clothing and supported and exposed the breasts, pushing them upwards and making them more visible. The succeeding Mycenae

Mycenae

Mycenae is an archaeological site in Greece, located about 90 km south-west of Athens, in the north-eastern Peloponnese. Argos is 11 km to the south; Corinth, 48 km to the north...

an civilization emphasized the breast, which had a special cultural and religious significance.

Women in Classical Greece

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...

are often depicted loosely draped in diaphanous garments, or with one breast exposed. Women wore an apodesmos (later stethodesmos or mastodeton), a band of wool or linen that was wrapped across the breasts that was tied or pinned at the back. Roman women sometimes wore a band of cloth or leather (strophium or mamillare) to support the breasts.

A belt could also be fastened over a simple tunic-like garment or undergarment, just below the breasts or over the breasts. When the apodesmos was worn under the breasts, it accentuated them. Another word for a breast-band or belt was strophion. However, the most famous depiction of women exercising in Sparta, by Degas shows the women wearing only loincloths. The basic item of classical Greek costume was the peplos
Peplos
A peplos is a body-lengthGreek garment worn by women before 500 BC. The peplos is a tubular cloth folded inside-out from the top about halfway down, altering what was the top of the tube to the waist and the bottom of the tube to ankle-length. The garment is then gathered about the waist and the...

, later the chiton

Chiton (costume)

A chiton was a form of clothing worn by men and women in Ancient Greece, from the Archaic period to the Hellenistic period ....

(two rectangular pieces of cloth partially sewn together on both sides, with a 12" to 15" overfold or apotygma), which evolved into the chemise

Chemise

The term chemise or shift can refer to the classic smock, or else can refer to certain modern types of women's undergarments and dresses...

, the commonest item of under clothing worn by men and women for hundreds of years, also variously known as a smock or shift. In Sparta, women usually wore the chiton completely open on the left side.

Rome

Roman culture emphasised breasts less than the Greeks. Roman men and women wore a loose flowing tunica, sometimes with a girdle, and an outer cloak (palla

Palla (garment)

Palla is a traditional ancient Roman mantle worn by women, fastened by brooches. It was similar to the pallium that a man would wear. The shape was rectangular instead of semi-circular as with the traditional toga.The Palla was similar to a shawl that a woman of today would wear.The palla would...

). Women also adopted a form of the Greek apodesme, known as the strophium or mamillare. Younger women wore a fascia, a band of cloth, over the breast

Breast

The breast is the upper ventral region of the torso of a primate, in left and right sides, which in a female contains the mammary gland that secretes milk used to feed infants.Both men and women develop breasts from the same embryological tissues...

to restrict their growth, or a mamillare to conceal larger breasts. Roman dress was one step closer to the later Empire Gown, being gathered slightly under the bust, with no waist.

Primitive iterations of a brassiere are depicted in early Roman art in the ruins of Pompeii

Pompeii

The city of Pompeii is a partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning...

. These depictions date back to as early as 62 AD.

China

In China during the Ming Dynasty

Ming Dynasty

(1368–1644), a form of foundation cloth complete with cups and straps drawn over the shoulders and tied to the girth seam at the lower back called a dudou (literally 'belly cover') was in vogue among rich women. While they first arose in the Ming Dynasty, they were also common in the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912).

Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

it was exceptional for women to restrict or support their breasts, and if they did, they probably used something like a cloth binder, as evidence suggests in descriptions of the time. A widely quoted statement is that an edict of Strasbourg

Strasbourg

Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...

in the Holy Roman Empire

Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...

, dated 1370 states, "No woman will support the bust by the disposition of a blouse or by tightened dress." However, an exact source has not been located. By the time of Charles VII of France

Charles VII of France

Charles VII , called the Victorious or the Well-Served , was King of France from 1422 to his death, though he was initially opposed by Henry VI of England, whose Regent, the Duke of Bedford, ruled much of France including the capital, Paris...

(1403–1461), a gauze drape was used over the bust.

Generally, in the Middle Ages the breasts were minimized in dresses with straight bodices, full skirts and high necklines, designed primarily for function rather than emphasis on form. The 15th century ideal form was small breasted and full figured, symbolizing abundance of fertility. By the time of the Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

, décolletage

Décolletage

Décolletage is the upper part of a woman's torso, between her waist and neck, comprising her neck, shoulders, back and chest, that is exposed by the style of her clothing. However, the term is most commonly applied to a neckline which reveals or emphasizes cleavage...

became very fashionable. There was some status to firm breasts in the upper classes, the women of which did not breast feed. Infants were given to wet nurse

Wet nurse

A wet nurse is a woman who is used to breast feed and care for another's child. Wet nurses are used when the mother is unable or chooses not to nurse the child herself. Wet-nursed children may be known as "milk-siblings", and in some cultures the families are linked by a special relationship of...

s to breast feed, since nursing was bad if a woman wanted to maintain an ideal form. Among the wealthier classes, the corset was beginning to appear by the mid-15th century. Catherine de' Medici

Catherine de' Medici

Catherine de' Medici was an Italian noblewoman who was Queen consort of France from 1547 until 1559, as the wife of King Henry II of France....

(1519–1589, wife of King Henry II of France

Henry II of France

Henry II was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559.-Early years:Henry was born in the royal Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, the son of Francis I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany .His father was captured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 by his sworn enemy,...

) is widely, and wrongly, blamed for the corset. She was reported to have prohibited wide waists at court in the 1550s, legend suggesting she made them wear steel framework corsets

Elaborate constraints placed on women's figures over the years were not universal. Corsetry made it virtually impossible to work, so simpler functional garments were worn by women who worked inside or outside the home. Support for the breasts was often provided by a simple tie under the breast line, in the bodice.

Renaissance

Early corsets of the 16th century consisted of paste-stiffened linen and a primitive busk

Busk

A busk is the rigid element of a corset placed at the centre front.In stays, the corsets worn between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, the busk was intended to keep the front of the corset straight and upright. It was made of wood, ivory, or bone slipped into a pocket and tied in place with...

at the front, but later included iron supports at the side and back. The emphasis now was on form, with compression of the breasts forcing them upwards to the point of almost spilling out, so a considerable part of the breast was exposed. The ideal form was a flat torso, which inevitably pushed the breasts upwards and out. The labouring class by contrast wore a simple front-lacing cotte

Cotte

The Cotte was a medieval outer garment, a long sleeved shift, or tunic, usually girded, and worn by men and women. In medieval texts, it was used to translate tunica or chiton. Synonyms would include tunic or gown. It was worn over a shirt , and a sleeveless surcote could be worn over it...

.

The only period in which women were 'liberated' was the French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

and the Napoleonic Wars

Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

, during which any garment associated with the aristocracy was frowned upon, including those with visible décolletage. The breasts were often supported by a tie below the bust. In 1814 the court and the corset returned.
The history of the bra overlaps considerably that of the corset, from which it was derived. Some degree of emphasis of form can also be traced back to Greece, where a leather band style 'corset' could be worn to give definition to the hips and bust under the chiton. Early 'stays', as used in the 17th century, did not involve the bodice directly, but concentrated on constricting the waist, indirectly thrusting up the upper body parts. With time the stay came to involve support in the upper front part of the body as well. These supported and raised the breasts. The term 'corset

Corset

A corset is a garment worn to hold and shape the torso into a desired shape for aesthetic or medical purposes...

' gradually replaced the stay. The décolletage was always visible, but until the 1920s breasts were always treated en masse (monobosom). While the breasts were pushed out, they still essentially remained loose, or were flattened by overlying garments, unlike the modern encompassing constraints.

French Empire to 19th century

French Empire

The Empire

Empire silhouette

An Empire silhouette is created by a woman wearing a high-waisted dress, gathered near or just under the bust with a long, loose skirt, which skims the body. The outline is especially flattering to pear shapes wishing to disguise the stomach area or emphasise the bust. The shape of the dress also...

fashion originated in the pregnancy of the Empress Josephine. She found it convenient to wear dresses with a high waistline, just below the breasts. This design made her pregnancy less obvious. This homage to classical styles soon became popular, making the breasts more visible than the waist, and the "Empire" fashion was established. In Britain this period was known as the Regency. Regency fashions often copied French Empire fashions.

Victorian era

In the Victorian era

Victorian era

The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

, despite contemporary ideas about morality, women's clothing was paradoxically designed to emphasize both the breasts and hips by tightlacing

Tightlacing

Tightlacing is the practice of wearing a tightly-laced corset to achieve extreme modifications to the figure and posture and experience the sensations of a very tight corset. Those who practice tightlacing are called tightlacers...

the waist. Victorian women were encumbered with many layers of clothing, including a chemise

Chemise

The term chemise or shift can refer to the classic smock, or else can refer to certain modern types of women's undergarments and dresses...

with a drawstring neckline, usually drawers

Undergarment

, then the corset and corset cover, the under petticoat

Petticoat

A petticoat or underskirt is an article of clothing for women; specifically an undergarment to be worn under a skirt or a dress. The petticoat is a separate garment hanging from the waist ....

, the hoop skirt, the over petticoat, and finally the dress. According to the social expectations of the times, even the lowest-cut evening gown should dip no lower than three finger breadths below the clavicles.

Edwardian era

By the Edwardian era

Edwardian period

The Edwardian era or Edwardian period in the United Kingdom is the period covering the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910.The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 and the succession of her son Edward marked the end of the Victorian era...

, with some increase in women's physical activities, the corset started to retreat southward again, becoming more like a girdle, accompanied by the appearance of a separate upper garment, the Bust Bodice, or BB. For those who instead wore a one piece undershift (unionsuit), this separated into the camisole and drawers. These were not designed for 'support' but merely coverage.

Women's dress emphasized an 'S' shape, with an indrawn stomach giving prominence to the posterior and bust. In the late 19th century and early 20th century the bosom could still be displayed. 'The high-water mark of modesty would ebb after sunset some six inches!' Corsets remained the main form of 'support', but war and its impact on lifestyle and materials meant that its future was uncertain.

The Clothing Reform Movement

The evolution of the bra from the corset was driven by two parallel movements: health professionals' concerns about the cruelly constraining effects of the corset, and the clothing-reform movement of feminists, who saw that greater participation of women in society would require emancipation from corsetry. Prominent amongst these were the Rational Dress Society, the National Dress Reform Association, and the Reform Dress Association.

Although there were a number of voices warning about the considerable health risks of corsets, the health professions were generally muted, and in any case women ignored 'unfashionable' advice. The health professions concentrated more on psychosomatic complaints, which were in fact probably related to corsetry. Ill health was considered synonymous with femininity, and a pale and sickly demeanour, normative. (Fictional heroines often died from tuberculosis, or "consumption." This made them pale and kept them immobile.) Corsets were supposed to provide both physical and moral support.

Some physicians ignored colleagues who felt corsets were a medical necessity because of women's biology and the needs of civilized order. The physicians who raised the alarm pointed to nausea, bowel disturbances, eating disorders, breathlessness, flushing, fainting, and gynecological problems. Bed rest

Bed rest

Bed rest is a medical treatment involving a period of consistent recumbence in bed. It is used as a treatment for an illness or medical condition, especially when prescribed or chosen rather than resulting from severe prostration or imminent death...

was a common prescription for the 'weaker sex', which of course implied relief from corsetry.

Women's interest in sport, particularly bicycling, forced a rethinking, and women's groups called for 'emancipation garments'. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps urged women to 'burn the corsets!' in 1874, a foreshadowing of 1960s 'bra burning' (see below). Indirectly and directly, sports empowered women in other social climates.

Not surprisingly, corsetieres fought back, embellishing their products to be frilly and feminine in the 1870s. Advertising took on overtones of erotic imagery, even if in practice they acted as a deterrent to sexuality, especially when they started appearing in men's magazines, stressing cleavage

Cleavage (breasts)

Cleavage, anatomically known as the intramammary cleft, is the space between a woman's breasts lying over the sternum. Cleavage is exposed by a garment with a low neckline, such as ball gowns, evening gowns, swimwear, casual tops and other garments....

and bare arms (then taboo). It is not clear whether parents actively corseted their children to prevent them exploring their own sexuality. Dolls assumed the corseted image, implanting an image of the 'ideal' female form. Corsets certainly reinforced the image of a weaker sex, unable to defend themselves, and a challenge to disrobe.

In practice, early brassieres made little market penetration. They were expensive, and only educated wealthy reformers wore them to any extent.

American women who made important contributions included Amelia Bloomer

Amelia Bloomer

Amelia Jenks Bloomer was an American women's rights and temperance advocate. Even though she did not create the women's clothing reform style known as bloomers, her name became associated with it because of her early and strong advocacy.-Early life:Bloomer came from a family of modest means and...

(1818–1894) ("When you find a burden in belief or apparel, cast it off.”) and Dr. Mary Edwards Walker

Mary Edwards Walker

Mary Edwards Walker was an American feminist, abolitionist, prohibitionist, alleged spy, prisoner of war and surgeon. She is the only woman ever to receive the Medal of Honor....

(1832–1919).

The emergence of the bra in the 19th century

What is regarded as the world's oldest push-up bra was discovered in storage at the Science Museum in London. Designed to enhance cleavage, the brassiere is said to be from the early 19th Century.

There are considerable differences of opinion as to who 'invented' the brassière or bra. Patents indicate some of the landmark developments of the period. A large number of patents for bra-like devices were granted in the 19th century.

A bra-like device that gave a symmetrical rotundity to the wearer's breasts was patented in 1859 by Henry S. Lesher of Brooklyn, New York. In 1863, a "corset substitute" was patented by Luman L. Chapman of Camden, New Jersey. Historians refer to it as a "proto-brassiere".

In 1876, dressmaker Olivia Flynt was granted four patents covering the "true Corset" or "Flynt Waist". It was aimed at the larger-breasted woman. Reformers stimulated demand for and probably purchased these early garments on 'hygienic' grounds because of their concerns about the corset. Initially Flynt's garments were only available by mail order, but they eventually appeared in department and clothing stores and catalogues. Her designs won a bronze meal at the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association in 1878, at the Cotton Centennial Expoostion in Atlanta in 1884-5, and at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

According to Life magazine, in 1889 Herminie Cadolle

Herminie Cadolle

Herminie Cadolle was the inventor of the modern bra and founder of the Cadolle lingerie house.Herminie was a close friend of the French insurrectionist Louise Michel, and it was this connection that lead her to leave for the safety of Buenos Aires...

of France invented the first modern bra. It appeared in a corset catalogue as a two-piece undergarment, which she originally called the corselet gorge, and later le bien-être (or 'the well-being'). Her garment effectively cut the traditional corset in two. The lower part was a corset for the waist, the upper supporting the breasts by means of shoulder straps. Her description reads "designed to sustain the bosom and supported by the shoulders". She patented her invention and showed it at the Great Exhibition of 1889. The company, still family-owned, claims today that Herminie 'freed women by inventing the first Bra.' Her garment was probably more comfortable than the original corsets. By 1905 the upper half was being sold separately as a soutien-gorge, the name by which bras are still known in France. She also introduced the use of "rubber thread" or elastic

Elastomer

An elastomer is a polymer with the property of viscoelasticity , generally having notably low Young's modulus and high yield strain compared with other materials. The term, which is derived from elastic polymer, is often used interchangeably with the term rubber, although the latter is preferred...

.

In 1893, Marie Tucek received a U.S. patent for a device that consisted of separate pockets for each breast above a metal supporting plate and shoulder straps fastened by hook-and-eye. This invention more closely resembled the modern bra known today, and was a precursor to the underwire bra

Underwire bra

An underwire bra is a brassiere with a wire built into the underside of the cup intended to lift, separate, shape, and provide additional support for a woman's breasts...

. Apparently she failed to successfully market it.

Since women's magazines printed patterns, home-sewn garments competed with factory-made ready-to-wear garments. The brassiere was at first an alternative to the corset, for negligée

Negligee

The negligee is a form of women's clothing consisting of a sheer usually long dressing gown. It is a form of nightgown intended for wear at night and in the bedroom...

or at-home wear, or was worn by those women who had medical issues with corsets. After the straight-fronted corset

History of corsets

A corset is a garment that girds the torso and shapes it according to the fashionable silhouette of the day. Most often it has been used for cinching the waist and supporting the breasts....

became fashionable in the early 20th century, a brassiere or "bust supporter" became a necessity for full-busted women, as the straight-fronted corset did not offer as much support and containment as the Victorian styles. Early brassieres were either wrap-around bodice

Bodice

A bodice, historically, is an article of clothing for women, covering the body from the neck to the waist. In modern usage it typically refers to a specific type of upper garment common in Europe during the 16th to the 18th century, or to the upper portion of a modern dress to distinguish it from...

s or boned, close-fitting camisole

Camisole

A camisole is a sleeveless undergarment for women, normally extending to the waist. The camisole is usually made of satin, nylon, or cotton.- Historical definition :...

s (both worn over the corset).They were designed to hold the bust in and down against the corset, which provided upward support.

Advertising of the times, typically in periodicals, stressed the advantages of bras in health and comfort over corsets, and portrayed garments with shoulder supports, in a mono-bosom style and with limited adaptability. Their major appeal was to those for whom lung function and mobility were priorities, rather than outer appearance.

The 20th century and the modern era bra

In 1910, Mary Phelps Jacob (known later in life as Caresse Crosby), a 19-year-old New York socialite, purchased a sheer evening gown for a social event. At that time, the only acceptable undergarment was a corset

Corset

A corset is a garment worn to hold and shape the torso into a desired shape for aesthetic or medical purposes...

stiffened with whalebone. Polly had large breasts and found that the whalebone visibly poked out around her plunging neckline and from under the sheer fabric. Dissatisfied with this arrangement, she worked with her maid to fashion two silk handkerchiefs together with some pink ribbon and cord.
Her innovation drew immediate attention that evening, and at the request of family and friends, she made more of her new device. When she received a request for one from a stranger, who offered a dollar for her efforts, she realized that her device could turn into a viable business.

On 3 November 1914, the U.S. Patent Office

United States Patent and Trademark Office

The United States Patent and Trademark Office is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that issues patents to inventors and businesses for their inventions, and trademark registration for product and intellectual property identification.The USPTO is based in Alexandria, Virginia,...

issued the first U.S. patent for the 'Backless Brassiere'. Her patent was for a device that was lightweight, soft, comfortable to wear, and naturally separated the breasts, unlike the corset, which was heavy, stiff, uncomfortable, and had the effect of creating a single "monobosom".

She managed to secure a few orders from department stores, but her business never took off. Her husband Harry Crosby

Harry Crosby

Harry Crosby was an American heir, a bon vivant, poet, publisher, and for some, epitomized the Lost Generation in American literature. He was the son of one of the richest banking families in New England, a member of the Boston Brahmin, and the nephew of Jane Norton Grew, the wife of financier J....

discouraged her from pursuing the business and persuaded her to close it. She later sold the brassiere patent to the Warners Brothers Corset Company in Bridgeport

Bridgeport

Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut.Bridgeport may also refer to:-Places:In Canada:* Bridgeport, Nova ScotiaIn the United States:* Bridgeport, Alabama* Bridgeport, California, in Mono County...

, Connecticut

Connecticut

Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

, for US$1,500 (roughly equivalent to $ in current dollars). Warner manufactured the "Crosby" bra for a while, but it did not become a popular style and eventually was discontinued. Warner went on to earn more than fifteen million dollars from the bra patent over the next thirty years.

Bras became more common and more widely promoted over the course of the 1910s, aided by the continuing trend towards lighter, shorter corsets that offered increasingly less bust support and containment. In 1917 the U.S. War Industries Board asked women to stop buying corsets to free up metal for war production. This was said to have saved some 28,000 tons of metal, enough to build two battleships.

It has been said that the bra took off the way it did in large part because of the first World War, which shook up gender roles, putting many women to work in factories and uniforms for the first time. The war also influenced social attitudes towards women and helped to liberate them from corsets. But women were already moving into the retail and clerical sectors. Thus the bra 'came out', from something ('bust girdle') discreetly tucked into the back pages of women's magazines in the 1890s, to prominent display in department stores such as Sears, Roebuck and Montgomery Ward by 1918. Advertising was now promoting the shaping of the bust to contemporary fashion demands, and sales reflected this.

The 1920s

As the corset became shorter during the later 1910s, it provided less support to the bust. By 1920 the corset started at the waist, and bust containment yielded entirely to the bra. A low, sloping bustline became more fashionable. Brassieres from the late 1910s and early 1920s were merely slightly shaped bandeaus (bandeaux) style, holding the bust in and down by means of a clip attached to the corset.

This culminated in the "boyish" silhouette of the Flapper

Flapper

Flapper in the 1920s was a term applied to a "new breed" of young Western women who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior...

era of the 1920s, with little bust definition. The term (which in the mid-1910s referred to preteen and early-teenage girls) was adopted by the J. Walter Thompson

JWT

JWT is one of the largest advertising agencies in the United States and the fourth-largest in the world. It is one of the key companies of Sir Martin Sorrell's WPP Group and is headquartered in New York. The global agency is led by Worldwide Chairman and Global CEO Bob Jeffrey who took over the...

advertising agency in the 1920s for their younger adult customers. The androgynous ("boyish") or prepubescent figure then in style downplayed women's natural curves through the use of a bandeau brassiere, which flattened women's breasts. It was relatively easy for small-busted women to conform to the flat-chested look of the Flapper era. Women with larger breasts tried products like the popular Symington Side Lacer, which when laced at both sides pulled and helped to flatten women's chests. Yet some 'bras' of the early 1920s were little more than camisoles.

In 1922, Russian immigrant Ida Rosenthal

Ida Rosenthal

Ida Rosenthal was a Russian-born American dressmaker and businesswoman who is often credited as the inventor of the brassiere. At the age of 18, she emigrated to the United States, following her fiancé William Rosenthal, and Americanized her name to Cohen...

was a seamstress at the small New York City dress shop Enid Frocks. She and her husband William Rosenthal, along with shop owner Enid Bissett, changed the look of women's fashion. They noticed that a bra that fit one woman did not fit another woman with the same bra size. With $4500 invested in their new business, they also developed bras for all ages. Their innovation was designed to make their dresses look better on the wearer. It increased the shaping of the bandeau bra to enhance and support women's breasts. They named the company Maiden Form

Maidenform

Maidenform Brands is a manufacturer of women's underwear, founded in 1922 by three people: seamstress Ida Rosenthal; Enid Bissett, who owned the shop that employed her; and Ida's husband, William Rosenthal...

, a deliberate contrast with the name of a competitor, "Boyishform Company". Maiden Form routed Boyishform by 1924, accenting and uplifting rather than flattening the bust. In 1927, William Rosenthal, the president of Maiden Form

Maidenform

, filed patents for nursing, full figured and the first seamed uplift bra.

These fashion changes coincided with health professionals beginning to link breast care and comfort to motherhood and lactation, and campaigned against breast flattening ("race-suicide"), and the emphasis shifted from minimizing the breasts to uplifting and accenting them. Women, especially the younger set, welcomed the bra as a modern garment.

While manufacturing was beginning to become more organised, homemade bras and bandeaux were still quite popular, usually made of white cotton, but they were little more than bust bodices with some separation.

The 1930s

The word 'brassiere' was gradually shortened to 'bra' in the 1930s. According to a 1934 survey by Harper's Bazaar
Harper's Bazaar
Harper’s Bazaar is an American fashion magazine, first published in 1867. Harper’s Bazaar is published by Hearst and, as a magazine, considers itself to be the style resource for “women who are the first to buy the best, from casual to couture.”...

, bra was the most commonly used expression among college women. The bra was becoming more sophisticated, and home-sewn versions vanished in the 30s. In October 1932, the S.H. Camp and Company correlated the size and pendulousness of a woman's breasts to letters of the alphabet, A through D. Camp's advertising featured letter-labeled profiles of breasts in the February 1933 issue of Corset and Underwear Review. In 1937, Warner began to feature cup sizing in its products. Two other companies, Model and Fay-Miss, also began to offer A, B, C and D cups in the late 1930s. Catalog companies continued to use the designations Small, Medium and Large through the 1940s. Adjustable bands were introduced using multiple eye and hook positions in the 1930s.

As with other women's products, consumer adoption was encouraged by successful advertising and marketing

Marketing

Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...

campaigns. Saleswomen played a key role, helping clients find the right garment, as did the changing role of women in society

Society

A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...

. Much of this marketing

Marketing

was aimed at young women.

Bras rapidly became a major industry over the 1930s, with improvements in fiber technology, fabrics, colours, patterns, and options, and did much better than the retail industry in general. Innovations included Warners' use of elastic, the adjustable strap, the sized cup, and padded bras for smaller-breasted women. In the US production moved outside of New York and Chicago, and advertising started to exploit Hollywood glamour and become more specialised. Department stores developed fitting areas, and customers, stores and manufacturers all benefited. Manufacturers even arranged fitting training courses for saleswomen. International sales started to form an increasing part of the U.S. bra manufacturer's market. Prices started to make bras available to a wider market, and home-made competition dwindled. Other major manufacturers of the 30s included Triumph, Maidenform, Gossard, (Courtaulds

Courtaulds

Courtaulds was a United Kingdom-based manufacturer of fabric, clothing, artificial fibres, and chemicals.-Foundation:The Company was founded by George Courtauld and his cousin Peter Taylor in 1794 as a silk, crepe and textile business at Pebmarsh in north Essex trading as George Courtauld & Co...

), Spirella

Spirella

Spirella was a company which manufactured made-to-measure corsets. It was founded on a patent of dressbone, for bustles , but started corset manufacture in 1904. At its height it had factories in the USA , the UK and Sweden...

, Spencer, Twilfit, and Symington.

The culturally preferred silhouette among Western women during the 1930s was a pointy bust, which further increased demand for a forming garment.

The 1940s

The Second World War had a major impact on clothing. Military women of lower rank were fitted with uniform underwear. Advertising appealed to both patriotism and the concept that bras and girdles were somehow 'protection'. Dress codes appeared – for example, Lockheed

Lockheed Corporation

The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace company. Lockheed was founded in 1912 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995.-Origins:...

informed their workers that bras must be worn because of 'good taste, anatomical support, and morale'. Military terminology

Military terminology

Military terminology refers to the terms and language of military organizations and personnel as belonging to a discrete category, as distinguishable by their usage in military doctrine, as they serve to depoliticise, dehumanise, or otherwise abstract discussion about its operations from an actual...

, such as the highly structured conically pointed Torpedo or Bullet (or even Cone) bra started to appear in the 1940-50s, designed for 'maximum projection'. A new image was the Sweater Girl, a busty and wholesome 'girl next door' whose tight fitting outergarments accentuated her artificially enhanced curves, while under and outer wires appeared. Sweater Girls often wore bullet

Bullet

A bullet is a projectile propelled by a firearm, sling, or air gun. Bullets do not normally contain explosives, but damage the intended target by impact and penetration...

bras. The image portrayed by actresses like Jane Russell

Jane Russell

Jane Russell was an American film actress and was one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s....

of the "lift and separate" design went on to influence the development of later brassieres.

The war presented unique challenges for the industry, women's occupations shifted dramatically, with far more employed outside the home and in industry, while limitations on material availability had a large impact on design. Advertising, promotion, and consumerism were limited but started to appear directed at minorities (e.g., Ebony
Ebony (magazine)
Ebony, a monthly magazine for the African-American market, was founded by John H. Johnson and has published continuously since the autumn of 1945...

in 1945) and teens. Many manufacturers only survived by making tents and parachutes in addition to bras. American industry was now freed from European influences, particularly French, and it became more distinctive. Again there was concern about the use of badly needed steel in corsets and the British Government carried out a survey of women's usage of underwear in 1941. This showed that "on average, women owned 1.2 brassieres (housewives 0.8 and agricultural workers 1.9)".
Following the Second World War, material availability, production and marketing, and demand slowly recovered. A postwar baby boom created a demand for maternity and nursing bras, and television provided new promotional opportunities.

The 1950s

A reviving postwar economy fueled demands for consumer goods with greater variety. Manufacturers met this with new fabrics, colours, patterns, and styles. Padding and stretchability were among other innovations. Hollywood glamour became an increasingly powerful influence in fashion. Changes in retailing also saw a reduction in custom fitting by professionals.

The 1960s

The 60s and 70s reflected increasing interest in quality and fashion. Maternity and mastectomy bras began to find a new respectability, and the increasing use of washing machines created a need for products that were more durable. While girdles gave way to panty-hose, the bra continued to evolve. Marketing campaigns like those for the "Snoozable" and "Sweet dreams" (Maidenform, 1962) promoted wearing a bra 24 hours a day.

Cultural changes in the 1960s represented potential threats to the market. These included the emergence of counterculture, the Civil Rights Movement

Civil rights movement

The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...

and a resurgence of feminism with Betty Friedan

Betty Friedan

Betty Friedan was an American writer, activist, and feminist.A leading figure in the Women's Movement in the United States, her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique is often credited with sparking the "second wave" of American feminism in the twentieth century...

's The Feminine Mystique

The Feminine Mystique

The Feminine Mystique, published February 19, 1963, by W.W. Norton and Co., is a nonfiction book written by Betty Friedan. It is widely credited with sparking the beginning of second-wave feminism in the United States....

in 1963. Also the "monokini

Monokini

A monokini, sometimes referred to as a unikini, is a woman's one-piece garment comprising only the lower half of a bikini, leaving the breasts uncovered...

" appeared in Europe and free love

Free love

The term free love has been used to describe a social movement that rejects marriage, which is seen as a form of social bondage. The Free Love movement’s initial goal was to separate the state from sexual matters such as marriage, birth control, and adultery...

in the United States.

The Wonderbra was created in 1964 by Louise Poirier for Canadelle, a Canadian lingerie company. It has 54 design elements that lift and support the bustline while creating a deep plunge and push-together effect. First year sales for the Wonderbra were approximated at US$120 million. They repositioned Wonderbra as a romantic, fashionable and sexy brand.

Feminist protests, Miss America, and "bra burning"

In the late 1960s, some of the emblems of femininity became targets of feminist activism. Feminists charged that these objects, typified as patriarchal, reduced women to the status of sex objects. Some women publicly disavowed bras in an anti-sexist

Sexism

Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...

act of female liberation

Feminism

Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...

.

When Germaine Greer stated that "Bras are a ludicrous invention," her statement resonated with many women who had been questioning the role of the bra. Pivotal in popular bra culture is a now-notorious protest against the 1968 Miss America

Miss America

The Miss America pageant is a long-standing competition which awards scholarships to young women from the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...

beauty pageant, seen as an oppression of women. About 400 women from the New York Radical Women
New York Radical Women
New York Radical Women was an early second-wave feminist group that existed from 1967–1969.NYRW was founded in New York City in the fall of 1967, by Shulamith Firestone and Pam Allen. Early members included: Ros Baxandall, Carol Hanisch, Patricia Mainardi, Robin Morgan, Irene Peslikis, Kathie...

were involved in a demonstration at the Atlantic City Convention Hall shortly after the Democratic National Convention

Democratic National Convention

The Democratic National Convention is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 national convention...

.

Protesters saw the pageant and its symbols as an oppression of women (because of its emphasis on an arbitrary standard of beauty, and its elevation of its choice of the "most beautiful girl in America" to a pedestal for public worship and commercial exploitation). On 7 September 1968, a "Freedom Trash Can" was placed on the ground, and filled with bras, high-heeled shoes, false eyelashes, girdles, curlers, hairspray, makeup

Cosmetics

Cosmetics are substances used to enhance the appearance or odor of the human body. Cosmetics include skin-care creams, lotions, powders, perfumes, lipsticks, fingernail and toe nail polish, eye and facial makeup, towelettes, permanent waves, colored contact lenses, hair colors, hair sprays and...

, corsets, magazines (such as Playboy

Playboy

Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...

), and other items thought to be "instruments of torture," accouterments of enforced femininity

Femininity

Femininity is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with girls and women. Though socially constructed, femininity is made up of both socially defined and biologically created factors...

. Someone suggested lighting a fire, but a permit could not be obtained, and so (contrary to the subsequent urban legend) there was no burning, nor did anyone take off her bra. Another similar protest was held in 1970. At least one actual public bra-burning is documented, at a feminist rally in Lower Sproul Plaza in Berkeley, CA on June 2, 1970, where a 38-C bra was included among a number of items (including birth control pills, nylons and a copy of Redbook) that were ceremonially burned in a wastebasket with a fire extinguisher handy.

The Atlantic City event received quite a bit of media coverage at the time but the notion of women burning their bras was merely a concatenation of several movements, including sexual liberation, in the media imagery. A number of journalists who wrote descriptions of the incident drew parallels with the young men who had burned their draft

Conscription

Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...

cards in opposition to the Vietnam War

Opposition to the Vietnam War

The movement against US involvment in the in Vietnam War began in the United States with demonstrations in 1964 and grew in strength in later years. The US became polarized between those who advocated continued involvement in Vietnam, and those who wanted peace. Peace movements consisted largely of...

with the women's action and used the term "bra-burning." These parallels were encouraged by organisers such as Robin Morgan

Robin Morgan

Robin Morgan is a former child actor turned American radical feminist activist, writer, poet, and editor of Sisterhood is Powerful and Ms. Magazine....

. Lindsay van Gelder's account in the New York Post carried a headline "Bra Burners and Miss America". The phrase became headline material and was quickly associated with women who chose to go braless, following Germaine Greer

Germaine Greer

Germaine Greer is an Australian writer, academic, journalist and scholar of early modern English literature, widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of the later 20th century....

's comments. Feminism and "bra-burning" then became linked in popular culture and Greer became a metaphor for bra burning. It has been suggested that the association between feminism and bra-burning was encouraged by those in opposition to the feminist movement, as it created an image less of women seeking freedom from sexism, appearing more as though they were attempting to assert themselves as sexual beings. This might lead to the assumption that, as Bonnie J. Dow wrote in her article "Feminism, Miss America, and Media Mythology," they were merely trying to be "trendy, and to attract men."

The association between "bra-burning" and the feminist movement has led to somewhat of a misrepresentation of the movement and the actual purpose of the "freedom trash can." By being associated with an act like bra-burning, feminists may be seen, by those less knowledgeable of the movement, as law-breaking radicals, eager to shock the public. For obvious reasons, this is not good for the movement, and promotes the efforts of those against feminism to invalidate the movement. Since then anti-feminists have used "bra burning" and "braless" as derogatory and trivializing terms for the feminist movement.

The 1970s onwards

In the 70s, like other garment makers, bra manufacturers moved production offshore. The evolution of the bra reflects the constantly changing idea of what an 'ideal' woman should look like—flat, round, pointy, conical, or even 'natural'. The contemporary bra also reflects advances in manufacturing and availability of fabric types and colours, enabling it to be transformed from a utilitarian item to a fashion statement, countering the negative attitudes some women had about bras. Designers have also incorporated numerous devices to produce varying shapes, cleavage, and to give women bras they could wear with open-back dresses, off-the-shoulder dresses, plunging necklines, and the like.

Two design challenges that bra manufacturers face at present seem paradoxical. On the one hand, there is a demand for minimal bras that allow plunging necklines and reduce interference with the lines of outer garments, such as the shelf bra. On the other hand, body mass and bust size is increasing, leading to a higher demand for larger sizes. Over a 10 year period, the most common size purchased in the UK went from 34B to 36C. In 2001, 27 %% of UK sales were D or larger.

Bras are a billion-dollar industry that continues to grow ($15 billion in the US in 2001, £1 billion in UK.) Large corporations such as HanesBrands Inc. control most bra manufacturing, Gossard, Berlei

Berlei

Berlei is a brand of women's lingerie and in particular bras and girdles.-History:The brand originated in Australia in 1917. Berlei undergarments are now sold in Australia by Pacific Brands and in the United Kingdom by Courtaulds Textiles....

and Courtaulds with 34 %% of the UK market. Victoria's Secret

Victoria's Secret

Victoria's Secret is an American retailer of women's wear, lingerie and beauty products. It is the largest segment of publicly-traded Limited Brands with sales of over US$5 billion and an operating income of $1 billion in 2006...

is an exception.

Manufacturers' marketing and advertising often appeals to fashion and image over fit, comfort and function. Since about 1994, manufacturers have re-focused their advertising, moving from advertising functional brassieres that emphasize support and foundation, to selling lingerie that emphasize fashion while sacrificing basic fit and function, like linings under scratchy lace.

Future of bras

Brassieres are worn by the great majority of women in Western society. Estimates about what proportion of Western

Western culture

Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...

women wear bras varies, but most surveys report from 75% to 95%. About 90% of Australia women wear a bra as of 2006. There are now an unprecedented array of styles and models, including full-coverage bras, balconette cup bras that expose the aerolas and nipples, and sports bra

Sports bra

A sports bra is a bra that provides additional support to female breasts during physical exercise. Sturdier than typical bras, they minimize breast movement, alleviate discomfort, and reduce potential damage to chest ligaments. Many women wear sports bras to reduce pain, and physical discomfort...

s that can sometimes we worn as outerwear. Women, health professionals, feminists and fashion writers appear to be increasingly questioning its place and function, and asking whether it will go the way of pantyhose, garter belts and stockings.

It is now commonplace to see models and other celebrities who do not wear bras in public, including Britney Spears

Britney Spears

Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...

, Clare Danes, Lindsay Lohan

Lindsay Lohan

Lindsay Lohan is an American actress, pop singer and model. She began her career as a child fashion model before making her motion picture debut in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap at the age of 11...

, and Nadine Coyle

Nadine Coyle

Nadine Coyle is an Irish singer, songwriter, actress, and model who rose to fame in the early 2000s as a member of the band Six before becoming a member of successful girl-group Girls Aloud. The group amassed a joint fortune of £25 million by May 2009...

Many outergarments like sundresses, tank tops, and formal evening wear are designed to be worn without bras. Fashion writers continue to suggest alternatives to bras or ways of dressing without bras, emphasising that wearing a bra is a matter of choice and not a requirement. Given the discomfort women experience with ill-fitting bras, an increasing number of women, once they are home, are switching to undershirts, jogbras, or nothing at all. Unhappy bra owners have donated thousands of bras to the Braball Sculpture, a collection of 18,085 bras. The organizer, Emily Duffy, wears a 42B and switched to stretch undershirts with built-in bras because standard bras cut her mid-section.

In 1964, Danish Fashion historian Rudolf Kristian Albert Broby-Johansen wrote that that the topless look, which liberated breasts from bras, should be treated seriously. He asserted that it was a way for a new generation of women to express themselves. In 1969, he wrote an article titled "Obituary for the Bra" in which he predicted the imminent demise of bras.

Overview

Egypt

India

Greece

Rome

China

Middle Ages

Renaissance

French Empire to 19th century

French Empire

Victorian era

Edwardian era

The Clothing Reform Movement

The emergence of the bra in the 19th century

The 20th century and the modern era bra

The 1920s

The 1930s

The 1940s

The 1950s

The 1960s

Feminist protests, Miss America, and "bra burning"

The 1970s onwards

Future of bras

See also