A bra, short for brassiere or brassière (, or ; ), is a
form-fitting
A form-fitting garment is an article of clothing that tightly follows the contours of the part of the body being covered. A feature of Western societies is the popularity of form-fitting clothing worn by women, compared to equivalent male garment ...
undergarment
Undergarments, underclothing, or underwear are items of clothing worn beneath outer clothes, usually in direct contact with the skin, although they may comprise more than a single layer. They serve to keep outer garments from being soiled o ...
that is primarily used to support and cover
breast
The breast is one of two prominences located on the upper ventral region of a primate's torso. Both females and males develop breasts from the same embryological tissues.
In females, it serves as the mammary gland, which produces and secret ...
s. It can serve a range of other practical and aesthetic purposes, including enhancing or reducing the appearance of breast size and creating
cleavage. Bras can also serve specific functions, such as
nursing bra
A nursing bra is a specialized brassiere that provides additional support to women who are lactating and permits comfortable breastfeeding without the need to remove the bra. This is accomplished by specially designed bra cups that include flaps ...
s to facilitate
breastfeeding
Breastfeeding, or nursing, is the process by which human breast milk is fed to a child. Breast milk may be from the breast, or may be expressed by hand or pumped and fed to the infant. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that br ...
or
sports bra
A sports bra is a bra that provides support to the breasts during physical exercise. Sturdier than typical bras, they minimize breast movement and alleviate discomfort. Many women wear sports bras to reduce pain and physical discomfort caused ...
s to minimize discomfort during exercise.
A typical bra consists of a chest band that wraps around the torso, supporting two breast cups that are held in place by shoulder straps. A bra is usually closed in the back by a
hook and eye fastener
A hook-and-eye closure is a simple and secure method of fastening garments together. It consists of a metal hook, commonly wire bent to shape, and an eye (or "eyelet") of the same material into which the hook fits.
History
The hook and eye clo ...
. However, bras are available in a large range of styles, whose designs can vary widely. Initially, the bra was exclusively an undergarment, but the sports bra has gained acceptance as outerwear, as have fashions that deliberately expose the bra straps.
The bra gained widespread adoption in the early twentieth century, when it largely replaced the
corset. The first modern bra is attributed to
Caresse Crosby, a New York publisher and activist who created the garment in 1910 by using two handkerchiefs and some ribbon. After patenting her design in 1914, she briefly manufactured bras at two-woman factory in Boston before selling her patent to the
Warner Brothers Corset Company
The Warnaco Group, Inc. was an American textile/clothing corporation which designed, sourced, marketed, licensed, and distributed a wide range of underwear, sportswear, and swimwear worldwide. Its products were sold under several brand names ...
, which began mass-producing the garment.
Bras have gained symbolic significance beyond their mere functionality. Since
training bras become standard during
puberty
Puberty is the process of physical changes through which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction. It is initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads: the ovaries in a girl, the testes in a boy. ...
, the garment can symbolize a rite of passage to adulthood. However, some feminists have argued that bras sexualize and objectify women's breasts to conform to the
male gaze
In feminist theory, the male gaze is the act of depicting women and the world in the visual arts and in literature from a masculine, heterosexual perspective that presents and represents women as sexual objects for the pleasure of the heteros ...
. Surveys suggest that increasing numbers of women are going
braless or adopting more comfortable wireless bras and
bralettes to achieve more comfort.
Etymology
The term ''brassiere'', from French ''brassière'', was used by the ''Evening Herald'' in Syracuse, New York, in 1893. It gained wider acceptance in 1904 when the DeBevoise Company used it in their advertising copy—although the word is actually French for a child's undershirt. In French, it is called a (literally, "throat-supporter").
It and other early versions resembled a
camisole
A camisole is a sleeveless undergarment or innerwear typically worn by women, normally extending to the waist. The camisole is usually made of satin, nylon, silk, or cotton.
Historical definition
Historically, ''camisole'' referred to jackets ...
stiffened with
boning.
''
Vogue
Vogue may refer to:
Business
* ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine
** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine
** ''Vogue China'', ...
'' magazine first used the term ''brassiere'' in 1907,
and by 1911 the word had entered the ''
Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
''.
On 3 November 1914, the newly formed US patent category for "brassieres" was inaugurated with the first patent issued to
Mary Phelps Jacob
Caresse Crosby (born Mary Phelps Jacob; April 20, 1892 – January 24, 1970) was the first recipient of a patent for the modern bra, an American patron of the arts, publisher, and the "literary godmother to the Lost Generation of expatriate wri ...
, later and better known as
Caresse Crosby.
In the 1930s, ''brassiere''/''brassière'' was gradually shortened to ''bra''.
[
]
History
Several lingerie and shapewear
Kim Kardashian in Shapewear-dress
A foundation garment (also known as shapewear or shaping underwear) is an undergarment designed to impermanently alter the wearer's body shape, to achieve what some view as a more fashionable figure. The func ...
manufacturers, among them Wonderbra
The Wonderbra is a type of push-up underwire brassiere that gained worldwide prominence in the 1990s. Although the Wonderbra name was first trademarked in the U.S. in 1955, the brand was developed in Canada. Moses (Moe) Nadler, founder and major ...
, Frederick's of Hollywood
Frederick's of Hollywood is an American lingerie brand formerly with stores in shopping malls across the United States. In 2015, all 111 retail stores were closed in advance of a bankruptcy filing. The brand was acquired by Authentic Brands Gro ...
, Agent Provocateur
An agent provocateur () is a person who commits, or who acts to entice another person to commit, an illegal or rash act or falsely implicate them in partaking in an illegal act, so as to ruin the reputation of, or entice legal action against, th ...
and Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret is an American lingerie, clothing, and beauty retailer known for high visibility marketing and branding, starting with a popular catalog and followed by an annual fashion show with supermodels dubbed Angels. As the largest ret ...
, produce bras that enhance cleavage. As many as 30 kinds of bras are available, including push-up, strapless, bandeau, demicup, sports bra, the minimiser, padded, a T-shirt bra, multiway, plunge, wireless, maternity, seamless, silicone, and stick-on. The history of the brassière is full of myths in which people like Caresse Crosby, Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...
, Herminie Cadolle
Herminie Cadolle (1845–1926) was a French inventor of the modern bra and founder of the Cadolle Lingerie House. Cadolle was born, raised, and lived much of her early life in France. She was a close friend of the insurrectionist Louise Michel, ...
and Otto Titzling
Otto Titzling is a fictional character who is apocryphally described as the inventor of the brassière in the 1971 book ''Bust-Up: The Uplifting Tale of Otto Titzling'', published by Macdonald in London and by Prentice-Hall in the USA.
The name, ...
command center stage.
Before the spread of brassières, the female bust was encased in corsets and structured garments called " bust improvers", made of boning and lace. The history of corsets
The corset has been an indispensable supportive undergarment for women, in Europe for several centuries, evolving as fashion trends have changed and being known, depending on era and geography, as a pair of bodies, stays and corsets. The appeara ...
indicates they started to go out of fashion by 1917, when metal was needed to make tanks and munitions for World War I,[ and when 1920s fashions emphasized boyish figures.][Jill Fields, ''An Intimate Affair: Women, Lingerie, and Sexuality'', page 75, University of California Press, 2007, ]
When corsets became unfashionable, brassières and padding helped to project, display and emphasize the breasts. In 1893, New Yorker Marie Tucek was granted a patent for a "breast supporter", described as a modification of the corset, and was very similar to a modern push-up bra
There are a great many brassiere designs that are suitable for a wide variety of business and social settings and suitable to wear with a variety of outer clothing. The bra's shape, coverage, functionality, fit, fashion, fabric, and colour can ...
designed to support the breasts. It consisted of a plate made of metal, cardboard or other stiff material shaped to fit against the torso under the breasts, following the contour of the breasts. It was covered with silk, canvas or other cloth, which extended above the plate to form a pocket for each breast. The plate curved around the torso and ended near the armpits.
Early brassières
Wearing a garment to support the breasts may date back to ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...
. Women wore an ''apodesmos'', later ''stēthodesmē'', ''mastodesmos'' and ''mastodeton'', all meaning "breast-band", a band of wool or linen that was wrapped across the breasts and tied or pinned at the back. Roman women wore breast-bands during sport, such as those shown on the ''Coronation of the Winner'' mosaic (also known as the "Bikini mosaic").
Fragments of linen textiles found at Lengberg Castle
Lengberg Castle is a medieval castle in Nikolsdorf, East Tyrol, Austria, about east of Lienz. The castle was built by the earls of Lechsgemünde beginning in the late 12th century, and came under the control of the Archbishop of Salzburg in th ...
in East Tyrol
East Tyrol, occasionally East Tirol (german: Osttirol), is an exclave of the Austrian state of Tyrol, separated from the main North Tyrol part by the short common border of Salzburg and Italian South Tyrol (''Südtirol'', it, Alto Adige). It i ...
in Austria dated to between 1440 and 1485 are believed to have been bras. Two of them had cups made from two pieces of linen sewn with fabric that extended to the bottom of the torso with a row of six eyelets for fastening with a lace or string. One had two shoulder straps and was decorated with lace in the cleavage.
From the 16th century, the undergarments of wealthier women in the Western world were dominated by the corset, which pushed the breasts upwards. In the later 19th century, clothing designers began experimenting with alternatives, splitting the corset into multiple parts: a girdle
A belt, especially if a cord or rope, is called a girdle if it is worn as part of Christian liturgical vestments, or in certain historical, literary or sports contexts.
Girdles are used to close a cassock in Christian denominations, including th ...
-like restraining device for the lower torso, and devices that suspended the breasts from the shoulder to the upper torso.
Modern bra
Though the first bra, a linen and lace garment that looks almost exactly like a modern bra, was discovered in an early 15th century collection from Lengberg Castle
Lengberg Castle is a medieval castle in Nikolsdorf, East Tyrol, Austria, about east of Lienz. The castle was built by the earls of Lechsgemünde beginning in the late 12th century, and came under the control of the Archbishop of Salzburg in th ...
in Tyrol
Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...
, Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
, there is no other evidence of any use of bras in the 1400s.
In 1914, the first modern bra was patented by New York publisher, activist, and socialite Caresse Crosby (born Mary Phelps Jacob).[Jihan Forbes]
A Brief History Of The Bra
''Elle'', 2013-11-13 Frustrated with a whale bone
Baleen is a filter-feeding system inside the mouths of baleen whales. To use baleen, the whale first opens its mouth underwater to take in water. The whale then pushes the water out, and animals such as krill are filtered by the baleen and r ...
corset that kept popping through a new party dress,[Staff Reporter]
100 years of everyone's favourite undergarment
''Deccan Chronicle'', 2019-03-30 she created the bra from two handkerchiefs and some ribbon to create cleavage.[Misha Ketchell,]
The story of ... the bra
, ''The Converstation'', 2014-11-05[Kirsten Fleming]
100 years of everyone's favorite undergarment
''New York Post'', 2014-02-22
Crosby sold bras to friends for one dollar. Soon the two of them founded the Fashion Form Brassière Company, a two-woman factory in Boston. Crosby patented the first bra as "the backless brassière" in 1914. After making a few hundred bras and some orders from department stores, she was persuaded by her husband to close the company. She sold the patent to The Warner Brothers Corset Company
The Warnaco Group, Inc. was an American textile/clothing corporation which designed, sourced, marketed, licensed, and distributed a wide range of underwear, sportswear, and swimwear worldwide. Its products were sold under several brand names ...
for US$1,500. In the next 30 years, Warner Brothers made more than US$15 million from the design.
According to Cadolle Lingerie House, Herminie Cadolle
Herminie Cadolle (1845–1926) was a French inventor of the modern bra and founder of the Cadolle Lingerie House. Cadolle was born, raised, and lived much of her early life in France. She was a close friend of the insurrectionist Louise Michel, ...
, a French inventor, was the first inventor to patent the modern 'brassiere', called the "corselet-gorge", lingerie which separated the upper bra portion from the lower corset, the first step toward the modern bra. An urban legend
An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...
that the brassière was invented by a man named Otto Titzling
Otto Titzling is a fictional character who is apocryphally described as the inventor of the brassière in the 1971 book ''Bust-Up: The Uplifting Tale of Otto Titzling'', published by Macdonald in London and by Prentice-Hall in the USA.
The name, ...
("tit sling") who lost a lawsuit with ''Phillip de Brassière'' ("fill up the brassière") 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
A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...
''.
Half the patents filed for the design and manufacture of the bra were created by women. The Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
-based German, Christine Hardt, patented the first modern brassière in 1899. Sigmund Lindauer from Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt, Germany, developed a brassière for mass production and patented it in 1912. It was mass-produced by Mechanische Trikotweberei Ludwig Maier und Cie. in Böblingen, Germany. In the United States, Mary Phelps Jacob
Caresse Crosby (born Mary Phelps Jacob; April 20, 1892 – January 24, 1970) was the first recipient of a patent for the modern bra, an American patron of the arts, publisher, and the "literary godmother to the Lost Generation of expatriate wri ...
received a patent in 1914 for the first brassière design that is recognized as the basis for modern bras. Mass production in the early 20th century made the garment widely available to women in the United States, England, Western Europe, and other countries influenced by western fashion.[ Metal shortages in World War I encouraged the end of the corset.
Development of the underwire bra started in the 1930s,] though it did not gain widespread popularity until the 1950s, when the end of World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
freed metal for domestic use. Aviator and filmmaker Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...
designed a prototype for an aerodynamic underwire bra for Jane Russell
Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell (June 21, 1921 – February 28, 2011) was an American actress, singer, and model. She was one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s. She starred in more than 20 films.
Russell moved from th ...
when filming ''The Outlaw
''The Outlaw'' is a 1943 American Western film, directed by Howard Hughes and starring Jack Buetel, Jane Russell, Thomas Mitchell, and Walter Huston. Hughes also produced the film, while Howard Hawks served as an uncredited co-director. Th ...
'' in 1941. According to Hughes, the resultant amount was "the length of the actual cleavage is five and one-quarter inches."[Daphne Merkin,]
The Great Divide
, ''New York Times'', August 28, 2005 Bras in 1940s left a substantial amount of fabric in the center, thus creating a separation of breasts instead of the pushed-together cleavage of today. Frederick Mellinger
Frederick Mellinger (15 November 1890 – 29 August 1970) was a German actor.
Filmography
* '' Hitler – Beast of Berlin'' (1939)
* ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' (1939)
* ''Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet
''Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet'' is a 194 ...
of Frederick's of Hollywood created the first padded bra in 1947, followed by an early push-up bra a year later (dubbed "The Rising Star"[).][
A padded bra adds material (foam, silicone, gel, air, fluid etc.) to the cups to help the breasts look fuller.][Maisha Z. Johnson]
Padded bra
Healthline, April 24, 2019-04-24 There are different designs, from a slight lift to a highly pushed-up effect,[Patricia O'Grady, ''The Guide to Breast Reconstruction'', page 85, AuthorHouse, 2014, ] that provide coverage and support, hides nipples, add shape to breasts that are far apart and adds comfort.[ Graduated padding uses more padding at the bottom of the cups that gradually tapers off towards the top. There also are semi-padded bras that suits deep neck dresses.][Pratima Ati]
30 Types of Bras Every Woman Should Know – A Complete Guide
Style Craze, 2020-01-20 With the advent of padded bras, sales of removable pads took a plunge, though some padded bras also have removable inserts.[ Actress ]Julia Roberts
Julia Fiona Roberts (born October 28, 1967) is an American actress. Known for her leading roles in films encompassing a variety of genres, she has received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and thr ...
was required to wear a custom made silicone gel filled bra for the movie ''Erin Brockovich
Erin Brockovich (née Pattee; born June 22, 1960) is an American legal clerk, consumer advocate, and environmental activist who, despite her lack of education in the law, was instrumental in building a case against Pacific Gas & Electric Compan ...
'' in order to increase her cleavage.
Brassières were initially manufactured by small production companies and supplied to retailers. The term "cup" was not used until 1916, and manufacturers relied on stretchable cups to accommodate different sized breasts. Women with larger or sagging breasts had the choice of long-line bras, built-up backs, wedge-shaped inserts between the cups, wider straps, Lastex Lastex is a type of elastic yarn that was introduced in the 1930s and was primarily used for swimwear, brassieres, girdles and corselettes. It consists of a rubber core surrounded by wool, rayon, silk or cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy ...
, firm bands under the cup, and light boning.
In October 1932, the S.H. Camp and Company correlated the size and pendulousness of breasts to letters 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 hook and eye closures in the 1930s. By the time World War II ended, most fashion-conscious women in Europe and North America were wearing brassière, and women in Asia, Africa, and Latin America began to adopt it.[
]
1960s–1980s
In fall 1963 and spring 1964, the Western fashion trends were dominated by plunging necklines, while the movie goers were charmed by movies like '' Tom Jones'' that portrayed "aggressive cleavages". Lingerie and Shapewear manufacturers like Warner Brothers, Gossard, Formfit
The Formfit Company was a manufacturer of women's "foundation garments", mainly corsets and girdles. Founded in 1917 with headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, it was one of the largest, if not the largest manufacturer of such products in the world. L ...
, and Bali
Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...
took the opportunity to market plunge bras.[ A plunge bra covers the nipples and bottom of the breasts while leaving the top part bare making it suitable for low-cut tops and deep V-necks.][Maisha Z. Johnson]
Plunge bra
Healthline, April 24, 2019-04-24 It also has a lower, shorter and narrower center gore
Gore may refer to:
Places Australia
* Gore, Queensland
* Gore Creek (New South Wales)
* Gore Island (Queensland)
Canada
* Gore, Nova Scotia, a rural community
* Gore, Quebec, a township municipality
* Gore Bay, Ontario, a township on Manitouli ...
that maintains support while increasing cleavage by allowing the gore to drop several inches below the middle of the breasts.[Cora Harrington, ''In Intimate Detail: How to Choose, Wear, and Love Lingerie'', page 64, Rodale, 2018, ] Plunge bras comes in different depths that provide great cleavage. Like a push up bra these have some padding and provide support,[ as well as to help push the breasts together and create cleavage.][ Bali and ]Vassarette
Vassarette is a brand of women's underwear owned by Vanity Fair Brands, a division of Fruit of the Loom. Until 2010 the brand was owned by the Northwestern Knitting Company, which became Munsingwear. Their lines include bras, stockings and li ...
also marketed lace bras that maximized cleavage.
The first push-up bra
There are a great many brassiere designs that are suitable for a wide variety of business and social settings and suitable to wear with a variety of outer clothing. The bra's shape, coverage, functionality, fit, fashion, fabric, and colour can ...
was created in 1964 by Canadian Louise Poirier and patented for Wonderbra
The Wonderbra is a type of push-up underwire brassiere that gained worldwide prominence in the 1990s. Although the Wonderbra name was first trademarked in the U.S. in 1955, the brand was developed in Canada. Moses (Moe) Nadler, founder and major ...
(trademarked in 1935[), then owned by Canadelle, a Canadian lingerie company in 1971.][Sam Stall, Lou Harry and Julia Spalding, ''The Encyclopedia of Guilty Pleasures'', page 308, Quirk Books, 2004, ] A push up bra is designed to press the breasts upwards and closer together to give a fuller appearance with help of padded cups, differing from other padded bras in location of the pads.[ It leaves the upper and inner area of breasts uncovered adding more cleavage.][Maisha Z. Johnson]
Push up bra
Healthline, April 24, 2019-04-24 These are available in many designs and every size starting from A to E.[ Most of the push-up bras have underwires for added lift and support,][ while the padding is commonly made of foam.][
]
1990s onward
The Wonderbra brand was acquired, in 1994, by Sara Lee Corporation
The Sara Lee Corporation was an American consumer-goods company based in Downers Grove, Illinois. It had operations in more than 40 countries and sold its products in over 180 countries. Its international operations were headquartered in Utrecht ...
and, since 2006, licensed to HanesBrands Inc and Sun Capital for different markets. It had 54 design elements, including a three-part cup, underwires, a precision-angled back, rigid straps, and removable "cookies".[ When the push-up plunge bra first appeared in the US market one Wonderbra sold every 15 seconds, driving a first year sale of US$120 million.][ The bra became one of the most complex pieces of lingerie ever created.
In 1994, supermodel ]Eva Herzigova
Eva or EVA may refer to:
* Eva (name), a feminine given name
Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters
* Eva (Dynamite Entertainment), a comic book character by Dynamite Entertainment
* Eva (''Devil May Cry''), Dante's mother in t ...
's cleavage photographed by Ellen von Unwerth for Wonderbra's controversial advertising campaign ''Hello Boys'' helped shape the ideal of women, an experience Herzigova described as "empowering". In 1999, the advertising poster was placed at 10th position in the Poster of the Century competition compiled by trade magazine Campaign
Campaign or The Campaign may refer to:
Types of campaigns
* Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed
*Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme
* Bl ...
. In 2011, it was voted the top advertising campaign of all time in a poll by Outdoor Media Centre, and advertising and marketing portal, and was featured in an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum. It helped to bring the brand into forefront of the competition for cleavage after 30 years of relative obscurity.[ On the first Friday of every April in ]South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
, brassière
A bra, short for brassiere or brassière (, or ; ), is a form-fitting undergarment that is primarily used to support and cover breasts. It can serve a range of other practical and aesthetic purposes, including enhancing or reducing the appear ...
marketer Wonderbra sponsors a National Cleavage Day National Cleavage Day (abbreviated NCD) was an annual celebration held in South Africa, sponsored by the brassiere marketer Wonderbra. National Cleavage Day was started in 2002 and held at the end of March or the beginning of April every year. .[National Cleavage Day]
''Wonderbra.co.za''[There's a special day just for your cleavage]
''Independent Online''
America's largest lingerie retailer Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret is an American lingerie, clothing, and beauty retailer known for high visibility marketing and branding, starting with a popular catalog and followed by an annual fashion show with supermodels dubbed Angels. As the largest ret ...
was launched by Roy Raymond, a Stanford alumnus, in San Francisco in late 1970s with a similar appeal.[Rowan Pelling]
100 years of the bra - a girl's best friend
''The Telegraph'', 2013-10-06 Victoria's Secret Angels
Victoria's Secret is an American lingerie, clothing, and beauty retailer known for high visibility marketing and branding, starting with a popular catalog and followed by an annual fashion show with supermodels dubbed Angels. As the largest ret ...
held its first fashion show at Plaza Hotel in New York in 1995.[Maude Bass-Krueger]
Vogue's fashion encyclopaedia: The history of the bra
''Vogue'', 2019-10-23 Even traditional brands, who were producing 1950s style pointy-cups, low-backs, low-fronts and no-straps,[Jane Farrell-Beck and Colleen Gau, ''Uplift: The Bra in America'', page 144, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002, ] like Maidenform
Maidenform Brands is a manufacturer of women's underwear, founded in 1922 by seamstress Ida Rosenthal; Enid Bissett, who owned the shop that employed her; and Ida's husband, William Rosenthal. They rebelled against the flat-chested designs of t ...
joined the competition in 1995. In 1999 the event was first webcast. By 2001, the event was being aired on network television with 12 million viewers for the first broadcast. Other lingerie manufacturers like Frederick's of Hollywood and Agent Provocateur also joined the competition by that time,[ with the former introducing a design called Hollywood Extreme Cleavage Bra that helped give the impression of a spherical cleavage like augmented breasts that was popularized by stars like ]Pamela Anderson
Pamela Denise Anderson (born July 1, 1967) is a Canadian-American actress and model. She is best known for her glamour modeling work in ''Playboy'' magazine and for her appearances on the television series ''Baywatch'' (1992–1997).
Anders ...
.
The underwire bra
An underwire bra (also under wire bra, under-wire bra, or underwired bra) is a brassiere that utilizes a thin, semi-circular strip of rigid material fitted inside the brassiere fabric to help lift, separate, shape, and support a woman's breasts. ...
utilizes a wire sewn into the bra fabric and under each cup, from the center gore to under the wearer's armpit. It helps to lift, separate, shape, and support the breasts. These bras use a thin strip of metal, plastic or resin, usually with a nylon coating at both ends. Some underwire bra styles also come in soft cup versions. Underwire bras accounted for 60% of the United Kingdom bra market in 2000 and 70% in 2005. About 70% of women who wear bras wear a steel underwire bra according to underwear manufacturer industries of New York in 2009. In 2001, 70% (350 million) of the bras sold in the United States were underwire bras. In 2005, underwire bras were the fastest growing segment of the market. There has been complaints that underwire bras restrict the flow of blood and lymph fluid
Lymph (from Latin, , meaning "water") is the fluid that flows through the lymphatic system, a system composed of lymph vessels (channels) and intervening lymph nodes whose function, like the venous system, is to return fluid from the tissues to ...
around the breasts preventing drainage of toxins, though there has been no evidence of that.
In the next decade, particularly during the COVID-19 lockdowns
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions colloquially known as lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions) have been implemented in numerous countri ...
, bralette
A bralette is a lightweight bra without an underwire, designed primarily for comfort. Bralettes are also sometimes worn as outerwear top,Linda DyettThe Bralette Is Back. This Time Blouses Are Optional ''The New York Times'', 2019-07-31 and a ...
s and soft bras started replacing underwired and padded bras, sometimes also serving as an outerwear.[Linda Dyett]
The Bralette Is Back. This Time Blouses Are Optional
''The New York Times'', 2019-07-31 At the same time popularity of brands like Victoria's Secret decreased significantly. Because, according to Sarah Shotton, creative director of Agent Provocateur, "Now it's about the athletic body, health and wellbeing", than "about the male gaze
In feminist theory, the male gaze is the act of depicting women and the world in the visual arts and in literature from a masculine, heterosexual perspective that presents and represents women as sexual objects for the pleasure of the heteros ...
," while according to independent lingerie designer Araks Yeramyan "It was #MeToo that catapulted the bralette movement into what it is today."[ Some bralettes still provide plunging designs, light padding, bottom support or significant cleavage.
]
Manufacture
Construction
Mass-produced bras are manufactured to fit a prototypical woman standing with both arms at her sides. The design assumes that both breasts are equally sized and symmetrical. Manufacturing a well-fitting bra is a challenge since the garment is supposed to be form-fitting but women's breasts may sag, vary in volume, width, height, shape, and position on the chest. Manufacturers make standard bra sizes that provide a "close" fit, however even a woman with accurate measurements can have a difficult time finding a correctly fitted bra because of the variations in sizes between different manufacturers. Some manufacturers create " vanity sizes" and deliberately mis-state the size of their bras in an attempt to persuade women that they are slimmer and more buxom.
A bra is one of the most complicated garments to make. A typical design has between 20 and 48 parts, including the band, gore, side panel, cup, apex, neckline, underwire, strap, ring, slider, strap join, and closure. Bras are built on a square frame model. Lingerie
Lingerie (, , ) is a category of primarily women's clothing including undergarments (mainly brassieres), sleepwear, and lightweight robes. The choice of the word is often motivated by an intention to imply that the garments are alluring, fash ...
designer Chantal Thomass said,
The primary component offering the most support is a chest band that wraps around the torso. It supports two cups that are usually held in place by two shoulder strap
A shoulder strap is a strap over a shoulder. They are often affixed to women's dresses to support its weight or as part of its style. The term is also applied to carrying bags.
Dress shoulder strap
Image:Camisole.png, Camisole
Image:Preprom.jpg, ...
s. The chest band is usually closed in the back by a hook and eye fastener
A fastener (US English) or fastening (UK English) is a hardware device that mechanically joins or affixes two or more objects together. In general, fasteners are used to create non-permanent joints; that is, joints that can be removed or disman ...
, but smaller busted models may be fastened at the front. Sleep bras or athletic bras do not have fasteners and are pulled on over the head and breasts. The section between the cups is called a gore. The section under the armpit where the band joins the cups is called the "back wing".
Bra components, including the cup top and bottom (if seamed), the central, side and back panels, and straps, are cut to manufacturer's specifications. Many layers of fabric may be cut at the same time using computer-controlled lasers or bandsaw shearing devices. The pieces are assembled by piece workers using industrial sewing machines or automated machines. Coated metal hooks and eyes are sewn in by machine and heat processed or ironed into the back ends of the band and a tag or label is attached or printed onto the bra itself.[ The completed bras are folded (mechanically or manually), and packaged for shipment.]
The chest band and cups, not the shoulder straps, are designed to support the weight of women's breasts. Strapless bras rely on an underwire and additional seaming and stiffening panels to support them. The shoulder straps of some sports bras cross over at the back to take the pressure off the shoulders when arms are raised. Manufacturers continually experiment with proprietary frame designs. For example, the Playtex "18-Hour Bra" model utilizes an M-Frame design.[
]
Materials
Bras were originally made of linen, cotton broadcloth, and twill weaves and sewn using flat-felled or bias-tape seams. They are now made of a variety of materials, including Tricot, Spandex
Spandex, Lycra, or elastane is a synthetic fiber known for its exceptional elasticity. It is a polyether-polyurea copolymer that was invented in 1958 by chemist Joseph Shivers at DuPont's Benger Laboratory in Waynesboro, Virginia, US.
The g ...
, Spanette, Latex
Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latexes are found in nature, but synthetic latexes are common as well.
In nature, latex is found as a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants (angiosperms ...
, microfiber
Microfiber (or microfibre) is synthetic fiber finer than one denier or decitex/thread, having a diameter of less than ten micrometers. A strand of silk is about one denier and about a fifth of the diameter of a human hair.
The most common ty ...
, satin
A satin weave is a type of fabric weave that produces a characteristically glossy, smooth or lustrous material, typically with a glossy top surface and a dull back. It is one of three fundamental types of textile weaves alongside plain weave ...
, Jacquard Jacquard may refer to:
People
* Albert Jacquard (1925-2013), French geneticist and essayist
* Joseph Marie Jacquard (1752-1834), French weaver and inventor of the Jacquard loom
* Robert Jacquard (born 1958), American politician
Other uses
* A M Ja ...
, foam, mesh, and lace
Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, lace is divided into two main categories, needlelace and bobbin lace, although there are other types of lace, such as knitted o ...
,[ which are blended to achieve specific purposes. Spandex, a synthetic fiber with built-in "stretch memory", can be blended with cotton, polyester, or nylon. Mesh is a high-tech synthetic composed of ultra-fine filaments that are tightly knit for smoothness.][
Sixty to seventy per cent of bras sold in the UK and US have underwired cups. The underwire is made of metal, plastic, or resin.] Said the antecedents for underwire in bras date to at least 1893, when Marie Tucek of New York City patented a ''breast supporter'', a sort of early push-up bra made of either metal or cardboard and then covered with fabric. Underwire is built around the perimeter of the cup where it attaches to the band, increasing its rigidity to improve support, lift, and separation.
Wirefree or softcup bras have additional seaming and internal reinforcement.
By the late 1970s, wire-free bras were emerging both at Hanky Panky and at Hanro
Hanro International GmbH, with headquarters in Götzis in Austria, produces lingerie, nightwear, and loungewearSeexplanationon Merriam-Webster, retrieved on 15 March 2021. for men and women. The company’s products can be found in almost 50 c ...
in Switzerland. Cosabella in Italy and in France followed in the 1980s, as did Eberjey in the 1990s. Others use padding or shaping materials to enhance bust size or cleavage.
Size and fitting
In most countries, bras come in a band and cup size, such as 34C; 34 is the chest band, or the measurement around the torso directly underneath the breasts, and C is the cup size, which refers to the volume of the breasts. Most bras are offered in 36 sizes; the Triumph "Doreen" comes in 67 sizes, up to 46J.
The cup size varies depending on the band size. A D cup on a 38 band is larger in volume than a D cup on a 34 band, as the volume of a woman's breast increases as her chest band dimension increases. In countries that have adopted the European EN 13402
The joint European standard for size labelling of clothes, formally known as EN 13402 Size designation of clothes, is a European standard for labelling clothes sizes which has been partially adopted, and aims to make it easier to find and selec ...
dress-size standard, the measurement is rounded to the nearest multiple of .
International manufacturing standards and measurement systems vary widely. Bras are designed for an ideal body, but women's anatomy vary widely. Ten percent of women's breasts are asymmetrical, with the left breast being larger in 62 percent of cases. One woman's breasts may be ptotic and widely spaced, another's might be centered closely on the chest, upright, and very full. As a result, finding a correctly fitting bra is extremely difficult. When women find a bra that appears to fit, they tend to stay with that size, even though they may lose and gain weight.[
In a survey in the United Kingdom, 60 per cent of over 2,000 women between the ages of 16 to 75 said they had had a bra fitting, and 99 per cent said that fit was the least important factor when selecting a bra.] Increased publicity about the issue of poorly fitted bras has increased the number of women seeking a fitting. The UK retailer Marks & Spencer
Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...
stated that about 8,000 women are fitted for bras in their stores weekly.[ Despite this, about 80–85 percent of women still wear the wrong bra size.]
Bra experts recommend professional bra fittings from the lingerie department of a clothing store or a specialty lingerie store, especially for cup sizes D or larger, and particularly if there has been significant weight gain or loss, or if the wearer is continually adjusting her bra.[ Women in the UK change their bra size on average six times over their lifetimes.
]
Signs of a loose bra band include the band riding up the back. If the band causes flesh to spill over the edges, it is too small. A woman can test whether a bra band is too tight or loose by reversing the bra on her torso so that the cups are in the back and then check for fit and comfort. Experts suggest that women choose a band size that fits using the outermost set of hooks. This allows the wearer to use the tighter hooks as the bra stretches during its lifetime.
Styles
Bras may be designed to enhance a woman's breast size, or to create cleavage, or for other aesthetic, fashion, or more practical considerations. Nursing bra
A nursing bra is a specialized brassiere that provides additional support to women who are lactating and permits comfortable breastfeeding without the need to remove the bra. This is accomplished by specially designed bra cups that include flaps ...
s are designed to aid breastfeeding
Breastfeeding, or nursing, is the process by which human breast milk is fed to a child. Breast milk may be from the breast, or may be expressed by hand or pumped and fed to the infant. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that br ...
. Compression bras, such as sports bra
A sports bra is a bra that provides support to the breasts during physical exercise. Sturdier than typical bras, they minimize breast movement and alleviate discomfort. Many women wear sports bras to reduce pain and physical discomfort caused ...
s, push against and minimize breast movement, whereas encapsulation bras have cups for support. Breast support may be built into some swimsuits, camisoles and dresses. Cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
bras are designed specifically for breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...
patients who have undergone a mastectomy
Mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely. A mastectomy is usually carried out to treat breast cancer. In some cases, women believed to be at high risk of breast cancer have the operat ...
. The styles provide post-surgical support, and some include pads or pockets for stuffing.
Bras come in a variety of styles, including backless, balconette, convertible, shelf, full cup, full coverage bra, demi-cup, minimizing, padded, plunge, lounge bra, posture, push-up, racerback, sheer, strapless, T-shirt, underwire, unlined, and soft cup.
Culture
Fashion
Women's choices about what bra to wear are consciously and unconsciously affected by social perceptions of the ideal female body shape
Female body shape or female figure is the cumulative product of a woman's skeletal structure and the quantity and distribution of muscle and fat on the body.
There is a wide range of normality of female body shapes. Female figures are typical ...
, which changes over time. As lingerie, women wear bras for sex appeal. Bras can also be used to make a social statement as evidenced by Jean-Paul Gaultier
Jean Paul Gaultier (; born 24 April 1952) is a French haute couture and prêt-à-porter fashion designer. He is described as an " enfant terrible" of the fashion industry and is known for his unconventional designs with motifs including corset ...
's designs and the cone-shaped bra Madonna wore outside her clothing on her Blond Ambition World Tour
The Blond Ambition World Tour (billed as Blond Ambition World Tour 90) was the third concert tour by American singer Madonna. It supported her fourth studio album '' Like a Prayer'' (1989), and the soundtrack album to the 1990 film ''Dick Tracy ...
.
In the 1920s in the United States, the flapper
Flappers were a subculture of young Western women in the 1920s who wore short skirts (knee height was considered short during that period), bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered accepta ...
aesthetic involved flattening the breasts.
During the 1940s and 1950s, the sweater girl became fashionable, supported by a ''bullet bra
There are a great many brassiere designs that are suitable for a wide variety of business and social settings and suitable to wear with a variety of outer clothing. The bra's shape, coverage, functionality, fit, fashion, fabric, and colour can ...
'' (known also as a torpedo or cone bra) as worn by Jane Russell
Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell (June 21, 1921 – February 28, 2011) was an American actress, singer, and model. She was one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s. She starred in more than 20 films.
Russell moved from th ...
and Patti Page
Clara Ann Fowler (November 8, 1927 – January 1, 2013), known professionally as Patti Page, was an American singer and actress. Primarily known for pop and country music, she was the top-charting female vocalist and best-selling female ar ...
.
In the early 1960s, smaller breasts gained popularity.
As outerwear, bras in the form of bikini tops in the 1950s became an acceptable public display. During the 1960s, designers and manufacturers introduced padded and underwire bras. After the Miss America protest
The Miss America protest was a demonstration held at the Miss America 1969 contest on September 7, 1968, attended by about 200 feminists and civil rights advocates. The feminist protest was organized by New York Radical Women and included puttin ...
in September 1968, manufacturers were concerned that women would stop wearing bras. In response, many altered their marketing and claimed that wearing their bra was like "not wearing a bra". In the 1970s women sought more comfortable and natural-looking bras.
In the late 1990s larger breasts became more fashionable in England. Iris Marion Young described preferences in the United States in 1990: "round, sitting high on the chest, large but not bulbous, with the look of firmness." This is regarded as contradictory in several ways.
Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret is an American lingerie, clothing, and beauty retailer known for high visibility marketing and branding, starting with a popular catalog and followed by an annual fashion show with supermodels dubbed Angels. As the largest ret ...
commissions a fantasy bra every autumn. In 2003 it hired the jeweller Mouawad
Mouawad is a family-owned international company of Lebanese origin that makes and sells jewelry, objects of art, and luxury watches. The firm has headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, with a Middle East headquarters at Jumeirah Lakes Towers in Dub ...
to design one containing more than 2500 carats of diamonds and sapphires; valued at US$10 million, it was the world's most valuable bra at the time.[
]
Undergarment as outerwear
Sports bra
A sports bra is a bra that provides support to the breasts during physical exercise. Sturdier than typical bras, they minimize breast movement and alleviate discomfort. Many women wear sports bras to reduce pain and physical discomfort caused ...
s were invented in 1975. Women wore them under other clothing for the next 25 years.[ But on 10 July 1999, Brandi Chastain scored the fifth kick in the ]penalty shootout
The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...
to give the United States the win over China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
in the final game of the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup Final. In celebration, she spontaneously whipped off her jersey, exposing her sports bra. Her act is regarded by some as a historical event that boosted wearing sports bras alone. From that point forward, sports bras were increasingly worn as outerwear.
Madonna was one of the first to start showing her bra straps, in the late 1980s. A corset she wore as outerwear during her 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour
The Blond Ambition World Tour (billed as Blond Ambition World Tour 90) was the third concert tour by American singer Madonna. It supported her fourth studio album '' Like a Prayer'' (1989), and the soundtrack album to the 1990 film ''Dick Tracy ...
sold for US$52,000 in 2012 at the Christie's Pop Culture auction in London. Versace
Gianni Versace S.r.l. (), usually referred to as Versace ( ), is an Italian luxury fashion company founded by Gianni Versace in 1978 known for flashy prints and bright colors. The company produces Italian-made ready-to-wear and accessories, as ...
's autumn 2013 couture collection featured fashions that were open in the front, revealing underwire bras. It became fashionable from the early 1990s to wear clothing that showed bra straps.
Wearing clothes that reveal the bra or straps became so common that ''Cosmopolitan'' created guidelines in 2012 on how to expose them. Advice included avoiding plain, flesh-toned, smooth-cup bras, so that the exposure does not appear accidental; making sure the bra is in good condition; and wearing a style that either matches the colour of the outerwear or is dramatically different.
Decreasing Western usage
While a few women have a medical and surgical need to wear a brassiere, informal surveys have found that many women began wearing bras to be fashionable, to conform to social or maternal pressure, or for physical support. Very few cited comfort as the reason. In fact, many women experience so much discomfort that they remove their bra as soon as they can.[
In Western society, since the 1960s, there has been a slow but steady trend towards ]bralessness
In Western society, since the 1960s, there has been a slow but steady trend towards bralessness among a number of women, especially millennials, who have expressed opposition to and are giving up wearing bras. In 2016, '' Allure'' magazine fas ...
among a number of women, especially millennials, who have expressed opposition to and are giving up wearing bras. Being seen in public while not wearing a bra has become more acceptable over the past 6 decades, encouraging more women to go without. In 2016, '' Allure'' magazine fashion director Rachael Wang wrote, "Going braless is as old as feminism but it seems to be bubbling to the surface more recently as a direct response to Third Wave moments like #freethenipple hashtag campaign, increased trans-visibility like Caitlyn Jenner's '' Vanity Fair'' cover ... and Lena Dunham
Lena Dunham (, born May 13, 1986) is an American writer, director, actress, and producer. She is known as the creator, writer, and star of the HBO television series ''Girls (TV series), Girls'' (2012–2017), for which she received several Emmy ...
's show ''Girls
A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. When a girl becomes an adult, she is accurately described as a ''woman''. However, the term ''girl'' is also used for other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.c ...
'' (which features young women often without bras)."
In an online survey for ''All You
''All You'' was an American women’s monthly magazine published by Time Inc. and sold at Walmart, Sam's Club and via subscription. The monthly magazine was first published in August 2004. ''All You'' focused on value: Each story offered money-sav ...
'' magazine in 2013, 25 percent of women reported that they do not wear a bra every day. Surveys have reported that 5–25 per cent of Western women do not wear a bra.
A National No Bra Day was first observed in the United States on 9 July 2011. Women posted on Twitter about the relief they felt when taking off their bra. More than 250,000 people expressed an interest in "attending" the day on a Facebook page. No Bra Day is now observed internationally on 13 October.[
A ]Harris Poll
The Harris Poll (legal name: Harris Insights and Analytics) is an American market research and analytics company that has been tracking the sentiment, behaviors and motivations of American adults since 1963. In addition to the traditional consulti ...
commissioned by '' Playtex'' asked more than 1,000 women what they like in a bra. Among the respondents, 67 per cent said they prefer wearing a bra to going braless, while 85 per cent wanted to wear a "shape-enhancing bra that feels like nothing at all." They were split as regards underwire bras: 49 per cent said they prefer underwire bras, the same percentage as those who said they prefer wireless bras. According to underwire manufacturer S & S Industries of New York, who supply bras to Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret is an American lingerie, clothing, and beauty retailer known for high visibility marketing and branding, starting with a popular catalog and followed by an annual fashion show with supermodels dubbed Angels. As the largest ret ...
, Bali
Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...
, Warner's
The Warnaco Group, Inc. was an American textile/clothing corporation which designed, sourced, marketed, licensed, and distributed a wide range of underwear, sportswear, and swimwear worldwide. Its products were sold under several brand names ...
, Playtex, Vanity Fair, and other labels, about 70 per cent of bra-wearing women wear underwire bras.
COVID-19 lockdowns led to more women adopting wireless bras and bralettes for comfort. The company Knix, which manufactures exclusively soft-cup bras, reported a 100 percent increase in sales between January 2020 and January 2021. “I don’t think women are going to want to go back to wearing their regular everyday bras,” stated the chief product officer for Lululemon
lululemon athletica inc. (; styled in all lowercase) is a Canadian multinational athletic apparel retailer headquartered in British Columbia and incorporated in Delaware, United States. It was founded in 1998 as a retailer of yoga pants and ot ...
.
Usage in the developing world
Bras are not universally worn around the world; in some developing countries bras may cost up to 10–30 hours of a woman's wages, making them unaffordable to most of the population.[ , women in ]Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...
needed to pay up to a week's wages for a new bra. Bras are highly prized at second-hand markets in West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...
. The Uplift Project provides recycled bras to women in developing countries. Since 2005 they have shipped 330,000, including to Fiji, Vanuatu, Tonga, and Cambodia.
In 2009 Somalia's hard-line Islamic group Al-Shabaab forced women to shake their breasts at gunpoint to see if they were wearing bras, which they called "un-Islamic".[ A resident of ]Mogadishu
Mogadishu (, also ; so, Muqdisho or ; ar, مقديشو ; it, Mogadiscio ), locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port ...
whose daughters were whipped said, "The Islamists say a woman's chest should be firm naturally, or flat."
Economic impact
Consumers spend around $16 billion a year worldwide on bras.[ In the US during 2012, women owned an average of nine bras and wore six on a regular basis.] That increased from 2006, when the average American woman owned six, one of which was strapless, and one in a colour other than white. British women in a 2009 survey reported that they owned an average of 16 bras.
The average bra size among North American women has changed from 34B in 1983 to a 34DD in 2012–2013, and from 36C in 2013 to 36DD in the UK during 2014–2015. The change in bra size has been linked to growing obesity rates, breast implants, increased birth control usage, estrogen mimicking pollutants, the availability of a larger selection of bras, and women wearing better fitting bras.[
]
Bras are made in Asian countries, including Sri Lanka, India, and China. While there has been some social pressure from the anti-sweatshop and anti-globalization movement
The anti-globalization movement or counter-globalization movement, is a social movement critical of economic globalization. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globalis ...
s on manufacturers to reduce use of sweatshop
A sweatshop or sweat factory is a crowded workplace with very poor, socially unacceptable or illegal working conditions. Some illegal working conditions include poor ventilation, little to no breaks, inadequate work space, insufficient lighting, o ...
labour, most major apparel manufacturers rely on them directly and indirectly. Prior to 2005, a trade agreement limited textile imports to the European Union and the US. China was exporting US$33.9 billion in textiles and clothing each year to the EU and the US. When those quotas expired on 1 January 2005, the so-called Bra Wars began. Within six months, China shipped 30 million more bras to the two markets: 33 per cent more to the US and 63 per cent more to the EU. , an average bra cost £29.80. , Africa imported US$107 million worth of bras, with South Africa accounting for 40 per cent. Morocco was second and Nigeria third, while Mauritius topped purchasing on a per capita
''Per capita'' is a Latin phrase literally meaning "by heads" or "for each head", and idiomatically used to mean "per person". The term is used in a wide variety of social sciences and statistical research contexts, including government statistic ...
basis.
In countries where labour costs are low, bras that cost US$5–7 to manufacture sell for US$50 or more in American retail stores. , female garment workers in Sri Lanka earned about US$2.20 per day.[ Similarly, Honduran garment factory workers in 2003 were paid US$0.24 for each $50 ]Sean John
Sean John is a privately held fashion lifestyle company created by music mogul Sean Combs. The line made its fashion debut with a men's sportswear collection for the spring 1998 season.
Individuals of note who have represented the brand in advert ...
sweatshirt they made, less than one-half of one per cent of the retail price. In 2009, residents in the textile manufacturing city of Gurao in the Guangdong
Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
province of China made more than 200 million bras. Children were employed to assemble bras and were paid 0.30 yuan for every 100 bra straps they helped assemble. In one day they could earn 20 to 30 yuan.
Western feminist opinions
In 1968 at the feminist Miss America protest
The Miss America protest was a demonstration held at the Miss America 1969 contest on September 7, 1968, attended by about 200 feminists and civil rights advocates. The feminist protest was organized by New York Radical Women and included puttin ...
, protesters symbolically threw a number of feminine products into a "Freedom Trash Can". These included bras, which were among items the protesters called "instruments of female torture" and accoutrements of what they perceived to be enforced femininity
Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as socially constructed, and there is also some evidence that some behaviors considered f ...
. A local news story in the Atlantic City ''Press'' erroneously reported that "the bras, girdles, falsies, curlers, and copies of popular women's magazines burned in the 'Freedom Trash Can'". Individuals who were present said that no one burned a bra nor did anyone take off her bra. However, a female reporter (Lindsy Van Gelder) covering the protest drew an analogy between the feminist protesters and Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
protesters who burned their draft cards, and the parallel between protesters burning their draft cards and women burning their bras was encouraged by some organizers including Robin Morgan
Robin Morgan (born January 29, 1941) is an American poet, writer, activist, journalist, lecturer and former child actor. Since the early 1960s, she has been a key radical feminist member of the American Women's Movement, and a leader in the ...
. "The media picked up on the bra part", Carol Hanisch
Carol Hanisch (born 1942) is a radical feminist activist. She was an important member of New York Radical Women and Redstockings. She is best known for popularizing the phrase "the personal is political" in a 1970 essay of the same name.https: ...
said later. "I often say that if they had called us 'girdle burners,' every woman in America would have run to join us."
Feminism and "bra-burning" became linked in popular culture. The analogous term ''jockstrap-burning'' has since been coined as a reference to masculism
Masculism or masculinism may variously refer to ideologies and socio-political movements that seek to eliminate sexism against men, equalize their rights with women, and increase adherence to or promotion of attributes regarded as typical of men ...
. While feminist women did not literally burn their bras, some stopped wearing them in protest. The feminist author Bonnie J. Dow has suggested that the association between feminism and bra-burning was encouraged by individuals who opposed the feminist movement. "Bra-burning" created an image that women weren't really seeking freedom from sexism, but were attempting to assert themselves as sexual beings. This might lead individuals to believe, as Susan J. Douglas wrote, that the women were merely trying to be "trendy, and to attract men." Some feminist activists believe that anti-feminists use the bra burning myth and the subject of going braless to trivialize what the protesters were trying to accomplish at the feminist 1968 Miss America protest
The Miss America protest was a demonstration held at the Miss America 1969 contest on September 7, 1968, attended by about 200 feminists and civil rights advocates. The feminist protest was organized by New York Radical Women and included puttin ...
and the feminist movement in general.
The trope
Trope or tropes may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Trope (cinema), a cinematic convention for conveying a concept
* Trope (literature), a figure of speech or common literary device
* Trope (music), any of a variety of different things ...
of feminists burning their bras was anticipated by an earlier generation of feminists who called for burning corsets as a step toward liberation. In 1873, American novelist Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward (August 31, 1844January 28, 1911) was an early feminist American author and intellectual who challenged traditional Christian beliefs of the afterlife, challenged women's traditional roles in marriage and family, ...
wrote:
Some feminists began arguing in the 1960s and 1970s that the bra was an example of how women's clothing shaped and even deformed women's bodies to male expectations. In 1964, Professor Lisa Jardine
Lisa Anne Jardine (née Bronowski; 12 April 1944 – 25 October 2015) was a British historian of the early modern period.
From 1990 to 2011, she was Centenary Professor of Renaissance Studies and Director of the Centre for Editing Lives and ...
described her dinner with Australian writer and public intellectual Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer (; born 29 January 1939) is an Australian writer and public intellectual, regarded as one of the major voices of the radical feminist movement in the latter half of the 20th century.
Specializing in English and women's literat ...
during a formal college dinner in Newnham College, Cambridge
Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge.
The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...
:
Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer (; born 29 January 1939) is an Australian writer and public intellectual, regarded as one of the major voices of the radical feminist movement in the latter half of the 20th century.
Specializing in English and women's literat ...
's book ''The Female Eunuch
''The Female Eunuch'' is a 1970 book by Germaine Greer that became an international bestseller and an important text in the feminist movement. Greer's thesis is that the "traditional" suburban, consumerist, nuclear family represses women sexual ...
'' (1970) became associated with the anti-bra movement because she pointed out how restrictive and uncomfortable a bra could be. "Bras are a ludicrous invention," she wrote, "but if you make bralessness a rule, you're just subjecting yourself to yet another repression."
Susan Brownmiller
Susan Brownmiller (born Susan Warhaftig; February 15, 1935) is an American journalist, author and feminist activist best known for her 1975 book '' Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape'', which was selected by The New York Public Library as o ...
in her book ''Femininity'' (1984) took the position that women without bras shock and anger men because men "implicitly think that they own breasts and that only they should remove bras."
The feminist author Iris Marion Young wrote in 2005 that the bra "serves as a barrier to touch" and that a braless woman is " deobjectified", eliminating the "hard, pointy look that phallic culture posits as the norm." Without a bra, in her view, women's breasts are not consistently shaped objects but change as the woman moves, reflecting the natural body. Other feminist anti-bra arguments from Young in 2005 include that training bra
A training bra (also trainer bra, starter bra, or first bra) is a lightweight brassiere designed for girls who have begun to develop breasts, at Tanner stage II and III. The training bra is intended to be worn during puberty when the breasts are ...
s are used to indoctrinate girls into thinking about their breasts as sexual objects and to accentuate their sexuality. Young also wrote in 2007 that, in American culture, breasts are subject to patriarchal American media-dominated culture hat
A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
objectifies breasts before such a distancing glance that freezes and masters." The academic Wendy Burns-Ardolino wrote in 2007 that women's decision to wear bras is mediated by the "male gaze
In feminist theory, the male gaze is the act of depicting women and the world in the visual arts and in literature from a masculine, heterosexual perspective that presents and represents women as sexual objects for the pleasure of the heteros ...
".
Health
Fit
Many women look forward to the time of day when they can take off their bra.
Some women experience generalized breast discomfort and tenderness from fibrocystic breast changes
Fibrocystic breast changes is a condition of the breasts where there may be pain, breast cysts, and breast masses. The breasts may be described as "lumpy" or "doughy". Symptoms may worsen during certain parts of the menstrual cycle due to hormonal ...
, and their breast tissue is often described as "lumpy", "rope-like", or "doughy". Doctors often recommend that women wear a well-fitted, supportive bra to help resolve the symptoms.
Exercise
Biomechanical studies have demonstrated that, depending on the activity and the size of a woman's breast, when she walks or runs braless, her breasts may move up and down by or more, and also oscillate side to side.[
Researchers have also found that as women's breast size increased, they took part in less physical activity, especially vigorous exercise. Few very-large-breasted women jogged, for example. To avoid exercise-related discomfort and pain, medical experts suggest women wear a well-fitted ]sports bra
A sports bra is a bra that provides support to the breasts during physical exercise. Sturdier than typical bras, they minimize breast movement and alleviate discomfort. Many women wear sports bras to reduce pain and physical discomfort caused ...
during activity.
Breast sagging
Women sometimes wear bras because they mistakenly believe they prevent breasts from sagging ( ptosis) as they get older.[ Physicians, lingerie retailers, teenagers, and adult women used to believe that bras were medically required to support breasts. In a 1952 article in ''Parents' Magazine'', Frank H. Crowell erroneously reported that it was important for teen girls to begin wearing bras early. According to Crowell, this would prevent sagging breasts, stretched blood vessels, and poor circulation later on.]
This belief was based on the false idea that breasts cannot anatomically support themselves. A 2013 study by Jean-Denis Rouillon said that wearing a bra may actually weaken supportive tissue. Bra manufacturers are careful to claim that bras only affect the shape of breasts while they are being worn. The key factors influencing breast ptosis over a woman's lifetime are cigarette
A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opp ...
smoking, her number of pregnancies, gravity
In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...
, higher body mass index
Body mass index (BMI) is a value derived from the mass (weight) and height of a person. The BMI is defined as the body mass divided by the square of the body height, and is expressed in units of kg/m2, resulting from mass in kilograms and he ...
, larger bra cup size, and significant weight gain and loss.[
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See also
* Bustier
A bustier (, alternatively bustiere) is a form-fitting garment for women traditionally worn as lingerie. Its primary purpose is to push up the bust by tightening against the upper midriff and forcing the breasts up while gently shaping the wais ...
* Handbra
A handbra (also hand bra or hand-bra) is the practice of covering female nipples and areolae with hands or arms. It often is done in compliance with censors' guidelines, public authorities and community standards when female breasts are required ...
* Male bra
__NOTOC__
Male bra – also known as a compression bra, compression vest, or gynecomastia vest – refers to brassieres that are worn by men. Men sometimes develop breastsCox, Therese Smith. (August 1, 2000) Charleston Daily Mail ''Men wh ...
* Pasties
Pasties (singular pasty or pastie) are patches that cover a person's nipples and areolae, typically self-adhesive or affixed with adhesive. They originated as part of burlesque shows, providing a commercial form of bare-breasted entertainment. T ...
* Victorian dress reform
Victorian dress reform was an objective of the Victorian dress reform movement (also known as the rational dress movement) of the middle and late Victorian era, led by various reformers who proposed, designed, and wore clothing considered more ...
* Panties
Panties (in American English; also called pants, undies, or knickers in British English) are a form of women's underwear. Panties can be form-fitting or loose. Typical components include an elastic waistband, a crotch panel to cover the genita ...
References
Footnotes
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External links
* —1859 ''Combined breast pads and arm-pit shield''
* —1907 ''Bust supporter''
* —1914 Mary Phelps Jacob's ''Brassiere''
{{Authority control
1880s fashion
19th-century fashion
20th-century fashion
21st-century fashion
Brassieres
Breast
Feminism and health
History of clothing (Western fashion)
American inventions
Women's clothing