![Villa romana bikini girls](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Villa_romana_bikini_girls.JPG)
The history of bras (brassières; variously pronounced) is inextricably intertwined with the
social history
Social history, often called the new social history, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in his ...
of the status of women, including the evolution of fashion and changing views of the female body.
Women throughout history have used a variety of garments and devices to support, cover, restrain, reveal, or modify the appearance of their
breasts
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 ...
. Bra- or bikini-like garments are depicted in art of female athletes of the
Minoan civilization
The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age Aegean civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean Islands, whose earliest beginnings were from 3500BC, with the complex urban civilization beginning around 2000BC, and then declining from 1450BC ...
, ca. 14th century BC and there is some evidence to suggest that even from the Greco-Roman period women had developed specialized bra-like garments used for the purpose of supporting the breast. By the 14th century AD the proto-bra was in development in Europe and from approximately the 16th century AD onward, the
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 ...
s of wealthier women in the
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and state (polity), states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania. were dominated by the
corset
A corset is a support garment commonly worn to hold and train the torso into a desired shape, traditionally a smaller waist or larger bottom, for aesthetic or medical purposes (either for the duration of wearing it or with a more lasting effe ...
. Corsets varied in length from short ones, which only supported the bust, to longer ones which were also used to shape the waist. In the latter part of the 19th century, women experimented with various alternatives such as splitting the corset into 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 shaping device for the lower torso and transferring the upper part to devices suspended from the shoulder.
By the early 20th century, garments more closely resembling contemporary bras had emerged, although large-scale commercial production did not occur until the 1930s. Since then bras have replaced corsets (although some women prefer
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 ...
s) and some, as well, go without. The metal shortages of World War I encouraged the end of the corset. By the time the war ended, most fashion-conscious women in Europe and North America were wearing bras. From there the bra was adopted by women in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Antiquity
Greece
There is some evidence to suggest that a specialized garment meant to support and contain women's 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 ...
, though most of this evidence is literary rather than visual or textile. In Book 14 of Homer's ''
Iliad
The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odysse ...
'', written in the
archaic period of Classical Antiquity, the poet refers to
Aphrodite's "embroidered girdle" ( grc, κεστός ἱμάς, ) as being "loosed from her breasts," perhaps indicating that this may be a reference to a decorated breast-band rather than a girdle or belt, as is often interpreted. There is at least one example of late-Hellenic sculpture that seems to confirm this, depicting the goddess wrapping a ''stróphion'' (from ''stróphos'' "twisted band" + the diminutive suffix ''-ion'') around her chest.
The stróphion is also mentioned in
Aristophanes
Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme
In Ancient Greece, a deme or ( grc, δῆμος, plural: demoi, δημοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Athens and other city-states ...
' plays ''
Lysistrata
''Lysistrata'' ( or ; Attic Greek: , ''Lysistrátē'', "Army Disbander") is an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC. It is a comic account of a woman's extraordinary mission to end the Peloponne ...
'' and ''
Women at the Thesmophoria''. However, it is currently impossible to tell whether the stróphion was an everyday garment worn by the average woman or an item of clothing reserved for certain situations or specific types of women. Some sources suggest that it may have been in use as a common undergarment while others are doubtful. Most early Grecian sculpture and vase paintings that depict women in states of undress show no indication of any kind of breast-band, instead revealing the shape of the breast through draped clothing, or even the nipple itself, with no sign of an intervening item of clothing between chiton and skin.
Rome
![Pompeii Fresco Brassiere](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Pompeii_Fresco_Brassiere.jpg)
There is considerably more evidence for the use of Roman ''strophium'', their adaptation of the stróphion, which was also referred to as the ''fascia'', ''fasciola'', ''taenia'', or ''mamillare''. This garment, which apparently could be made from a variety of materials, was mentioned in writings by
Martial
Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman poet from Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of ''Epigrams'', published in Rome between AD 86 and ...
,
Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
, and in the
Scriptores Historiae Augustae
The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, designated heirs and usurpers from 117 to 284. Supposedly modeled on the sim ...
.
The Middle Ages
![Lippo lippi woman](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Lippo_lippi_woman.jpg)
Dates are uncertain, but it is believed that by the High Middle Ages, bra-like garments meant to support and restrain the breasts were already in use by at least some women in western Europe. Both
Henri de Mondeville
Henri de Mondeville (1320) was a medieval French surgeon who made a significant number of contributions to anatomy and surgery, and was the first Frenchman to author a surgical treatise, ''La Chirurgie'' (1306-1320). Very little is known about the ...
, surgeon to
King Phillip the Fair of France and
Konrad Stolle, writing over a hundred years apart (c. 1315 and c. 1480 respectively) mention "breast bags" or "shirts with bags" that women used to contain their breasts. Stolle calls these inventions "indecent" and another, anonymous, writer of 15th century Germany talks of how many women would make these garments and then wear them, and says of one woman: "all the young men that look at her, can see her beautiful breasts..." Unlike the Greek stróphion, there is quite a bit of visual evidence of these garments' existence, mostly from the 15th century in the form of playing cards, illustrated manuscripts, and more. The fashion worn by women of status in this period probably necessitated the wearing of specialized undergarments because of the lifted, separated position of the breasts, which could only be achieved by the presence of separated cups.
Until 2008, however, no physical evidence of this sort of undergarment had ever been found, but that year four lace-decorated fragments of underclothing were discovered among 3,000 textile fragments during a renovation project in
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 the ...
, Austria. All four garments were carbon-dated to the 15th century, and illustrate three different styles: the first and second are high-necked, with fabric stretching above the cups to cover the décolletage, and are sleeveless and cut just below the bust; the third has two broad shoulder straps and a possible back strap; and the fourth garment most resembles a modern longline bra, with linen cups joined vertically at the center of the breast and a linen extension cut at about to the level of the ribcage and fastened with a row of eyelets on the front left side of the body. Though none of these fragments have attached skirts like the garments depicted in the visual evidence do, there is reason to believe that, originally, this wasn't the case, and that sometime before the fragmented garments were discarded the skirts were removed, perhaps in order to reuse the fabric they were made of.
The corset
No one knows who invented the corset, but it probably came into being sometime around the turn of the 16th century. During this period, the lifted, separated "apple breasts" look, so popular in the Middle Ages, began to go out of style and the mono-boob returned with a vengeance. The corset (called "a pair of bodies" in English or "paire de corps" in French at this time) formed the chest and torso into a smooth, conical shape that worked with the farthingale to create the illusion of a tiny waist.
Shortened stays
This look remained relatively unchanged throughout most of the 18th century, when the pair of bodies came to be called "stays," but in the 1780s and 1790s the shape of stays changed radically to suit the changing fashions of the times. It was around this time that stays started to be called corsets in France, but many of these "shortened stays" or "short stays," as they were sometimes called in Britain, resembled earlier support garments as much as they resembled stays, with fitted cups that held the breasts apart.
Re-emergence of the bra
Victorian dress reform movement
The evolution of the bra from the corset was driven by two parallel movements: health professionals' concerns about the cruel, 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 among these were the Rational Dress Society, the National Dress Reform Association, and the Reform Dress Association.
In practice, early bras 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 Jenks Bloomer (May 27, 1818 – December 30, 1894) was an American newspaper editor, women's rights and temperance advocate. Even though she did not create the women's clothing reform style known as bloomers, her name became associate ...
(1818–1894) ("When you find a burden in belief or apparel, cast it off") and Dr.
Mary Edwards Walker
Mary Edwards Walker, M.D. (November 26, 1832 – February 21, 1919), commonly referred to as Dr. Mary Walker, was an American abolitionist, prohibitionist, prisoner of war and surgeon. She is the only woman to ever receive the Medal of Honor. ...
(1832–1919).
Early bra designs and patents
There are considerable differences of opinion about who invented the modern brassière. Patent dates indicate some of the landmark developments; 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-bra."
In 1876, dressmaker Olivia Flynt was granted four patents covering the "true Corset" or "Flynt Waist." It was aimed at larger-breasted women. 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 medal at the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association in 1878, at the Cotton Centennial Exposition in Atlanta in 1884–5, and at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.
According to ''
Life
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...
'' magazine, in 1889
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, w ...
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 and the upper part supported the breasts with 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."
By 1905, the upper half was 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
Elastic is a word often used to describe or identify certain types of elastomer, elastic used in garments or stretchable fabrics.
Elastic may also refer to:
Alternative name
* Rubber band, ring-shaped band of rubber used to hold objects togeth ...
.
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
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. ...
.
Home-sewn garments competed with factory-made, ready-to-wear garments. The bra was at first an alternative to the corset, as a
negligée
The negligee or ''négligée'' (french: négligé ; ), also known in French as déshabillé (), is a form of see-through clothing for women consisting of a sheer, usually long, dressing gown. It is a form of nightgown intended for wear at night ...
or at-home wear, or worn by women with medical issues stemming from corsets. After the
straight-fronted corset became fashionable in the early 20th century, a bra or "bust supporter" became a necessity for full-busted women because the straight-fronted corset did not offer as much support and containment as the Victorian styles. Early bras were either wrap-around
bodice
A bodice () is an article of clothing traditionally for women and girls, covering the torso from the neck to the waist. The term typically refers to a specific type of upper garment common in Europe during the 16th to the 18th century, or to the ...
s or boned, close-fitting
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 ...
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.
20th century bra designs
The 1910s
Sigmund Lindauer from Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt, Germany developed a bra for mass production in 1912 and patented it in 1913. It was mass-produced by Mechanischen Trikotweberei Ludwig Maier und Cie. in Böblingen, Germany. With metal shortages, World War I encouraged the end of the corset. By the time the war ended, most fashion-conscious women in Europe and North America were wearing bras. From there the bra was adopted by women in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
In 1910, Mary Phelps Jacob (known later in life as
Caresse Crosby
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 writ ...
), a 19-year-old New York socialite, purchased a sheer evening gown for a debutante ball. At that time, the only acceptable undergarment was a
corset
A corset is a support garment commonly worn to hold and train the torso into a desired shape, traditionally a smaller waist or larger bottom, for aesthetic or medical purposes (either for the duration of wearing it or with a more lasting effe ...
stiffened with whalebone. Mary 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
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alexa ...
issued the first U.S. patent for the "Backless Bra." Crosby's 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 "monobosom."
Crosby managed to secure a few orders from department stores, but her business never took off. Her husband
Harry Crosby
Harry Crosby (June 4, 1898 – December 10, 1929) was an American heir, World War I veteran, ''bon vivant'', poet, and publisher who for some epitomized the Lost Generation in American literature. He was the son of one of the richest banking fam ...
discouraged her from pursuing the business and persuaded her to close it.
She later sold the bra patent to the
Warners Brothers Corset Company in
Bridgeport
Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnoc ...
,
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
, for $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 $15 million from the bra patent over the next 30 years.
Bras became more common and 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 at the beginning of the U.S. involvement in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, 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 World War I, which shook up gender roles by putting many women to work in factories and uniforms for the first time. The war also influenced social attitudes toward women and helped to liberate them from corsets. But women were already moving into the retail and clerical sectors. Thus the bra emerged from something that was once 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
This culminated in the "boyish" silhouette of 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 acceptab ...
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
J. Walter Thompson (JWT) was an advertisement holding company incorporated in 1896 by American advertising pioneer James Walter Thompson. The company was acquired in 1987 by multinational holding company WPP plc, and in November 2018, WPP merge ...
advertising agency in the 1920s for their younger adult customers. The
androgynous
Androgyny is the possession of both masculine and feminine characteristics. Androgyny may be expressed with regard to biological sex, gender identity, or gender expression.
When ''androgyny'' refers to mixed biological sex characteristics i ...
figure then in style downplayed women's natural curves through the use of a bandeau bra, which flattened 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 that, when laced at the 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 (née Kaganovich; January 9, 1886 – March 29, 1973) was a Belarusian-born American dressmaker and businesswoman who co-founded Maidenform.
Biography
She was born to a Jewish family in Rakaŭ, near Minsk, then part of the Russ ...
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 $4,500 invested in their new business, they developed bras for all ages. Their innovation was designed to make their dresses look better on the wearer by increasing the shaping of the bandeau bra to enhance and support women's breasts. They named the company
Maiden Form, a deliberate contrast with the name of a competitor, "Boyishform Company."
[ Maiden Form routed Boyishform by 1924, accenting and lifting rather than flattening the bust. In 1927, William Rosenthal, the president of Maiden Form, 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. 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 organized, 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'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. It was first published in New York City on November 2, 1867, as the weekly ''Harper's Bazar''. ''Harper's Bazaar'' is published by Hearst and considers itself to be the st ...
'', "bra" was the most commonly used expression for the garment among college women. 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, 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 is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...
campaigns. Saleswomen played a key role, helping clients find the right garment, as did the changing role of women in society
A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Socie ...
. Much of this marketing
Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...
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
Glamour is the impression of attraction or fascination that a particularly luxurious or elegant appearance creates, an impression which intensifies reality. Typically, a person, event, location, technology, or product such as a piece of clothing ...
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 1930s included Triumph, Maidenform, Gossard, (Courtaulds
Courtaulds was a United Kingdom-based manufacturer of fabric, clothing, artificial fibres, and chemicals. It was established in 1794 and became the world's leading man-made fibre production company before being broken up in 1990 into Courtaulds ...
), Spirella
The name Spirella refers to the Spirella Stay which was invented by Marcus Merritt Beeman in the US in 1904 and made from tightly twisted and flattened coils of wire. The founders were Beeman, William Wallace Kincaid and Jesse Homan Pardee.
Or ...
, 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. In the United States, military women were enlisted for the first time in the lower ranks and were fitted with uniform underwear. Willson Goggles, a Pennsylvania firm that manufactured safety equipment for manual workers, is believed to have introduced the plastic "SAF-T-BRA", designed to protect women on the factory floor. Advertising appealed to both patriotism and the concept that bras and 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 ...
s were somehow "protection". Dress codes appearedfor example, Lockheed informed their workers that bras must be worn because of "good taste, anatomical support, and morale".
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, they serve to depoliticise, dehumanise, or otherwise a ...
crept into product marketing, as represented by the highly structured, conically pointed Torpedo or Bullet bra, designed for "maximum projection". The bullet bra was worn by the Sweater Girl
The term "sweater girl" was made popular in the 1940s and 1950s to describe Hollywood actors like Lana Turner, Jayne Mansfield, and Jane Russell, who adopted the popular fashion of wearing tight, form-fitting sweaters that emphasized the woman's ...
, a busty and wholesome "girl next door" whose tight-fitting outer garments accentuated her artificially enhanced curve
In mathematics, a curve (also called a curved line in older texts) is an object similar to a line (geometry), line, but that does not have to be Linearity, straight.
Intuitively, a curve may be thought of as the trace left by a moving point (ge ...
s. Underwire began to be used in bra construction.
For the movie, ''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 ...
'', which features actress 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 ...
, the producer and airplane designer Howard Hughes constructed the Cantilever bra for Russell to wear in the movie. Hughes constructed the bra on the principles of bridge building, with the goal of fitting and supporting Russell's breasts. This innovative new design caused a stir, and many women sought to recreate the look in their own wardrobe.
The war presented unique challenges for industry. Women's occupations shifted dramatically, with far more employed outside the home, and severe material shortages limited design choices. Advertising, promotion, and consumerism were limited but started to appear directed at minorities (e.g., ''Ebony
Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus ''Diospyros'', which also contains the persimmons. Unlike most woods, ebony is dense enough to sink in water. It is finely textured and has a mirror finish when pol ...
'' in 1945) and teens. Many manufacturers only survived by making tents and parachutes in addition to bras. However, the war also freed the American industry from European influences, particularly French, and it became more distinctive. As in World War I, there was concern about the use of badly needed steel in corsets; in 1941 the British Government carried out a survey of women's usage of underwear that showed that "on average, women owned 1.2 bras (housewives 0.8 and agricultural workers 1.9)".
The 1950s
Following the Second World War, new kinds of material were increasingly available, and production and marketing increased, creating a demand for a greater variety of consumer goods, including bras. The baby boom
A baby boom is a period marked by a significant increase of birth rate. This demographic phenomenon is usually ascribed within certain geographical bounds of defined national and cultural populations. People born during these periods are often ca ...
specifically created a demand for maternity and 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 and television provided new promotional opportunities. Manufacturers responded with new fabrics, colors, patterns, styles, padding, and elasticity.
Hollywood fashion and glamour influenced women's choices more than ever, leading to the popularity of bras like the cone-shaped, spiral-stitched 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 ...
that was worn by actresses like 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 ...
, Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...
, and Lana Turner
Lana Turner ( ; born Julia Jean Turner; February 8, 1921June 29, 1995) was an American actress. Over the course of her nearly 50-year career, she achieved fame as both a pin-up model and a film actress, as well as for her highly publicized per ...
, who was nicknamed the "Sweater Girl
The term "sweater girl" was made popular in the 1940s and 1950s to describe Hollywood actors like Lana Turner, Jayne Mansfield, and Jane Russell, who adopted the popular fashion of wearing tight, form-fitting sweaters that emphasized the woman's ...
". Bullet bras allowed women to add a cup size to their bust.
Bras
A broadband remote access server (BRAS, B-RAS or BBRAS) routes traffic to and from broadband remote access devices such as digital subscriber line access multiplexers (DSLAM) on an Internet service provider's (ISP) network. BRAS can also be refe ...
for pre-teen and girls entering puberty were first marketed during the 1950s. Prior to the introduction of training bras, young girls in Western countries usually wore a one-piece "waist" or 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 ...
without cups or darts.
The 1960s
The 1960s 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 pantyhose, the bra continued to evolve. Marketing campaigns like those for the "Snoozable" and "Sweet Dreams" promoted wearing a bra 24 hours a day.
In October 1964, Rudy Gernreich
Rudolf "Rudi" Gernreich (August 8, 1922 April 21, 1985) was an Austrian-born American fashion designer whose avant-garde clothing designs are generally regarded as the most innovative and dynamic fashion of the 1960s. He purposefully used fashio ...
released the "No Bra", a soft-cup, light-weight, seamless, sheer nylon and elastic tricot bra in sizes 32 to 36, A and B cups, manufactured by Exquisite Form. His minimalist bra was a revolutionary departure from the heavy, torpedo-shaped bras of the 1950s, initiating a trend toward more natural shapes and soft, sheer fabrics. He also designed an "All-in-None" design with a deep, plunging front, and a "No-Back" long-line version, which featured a contoured stretch-waistband that allowed a woman to wear a backless dress.
The 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 ...
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
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 ...
as a romantic, fashionable and sexy brand.
The 1970s
In the 1970s, like other garment makers, bra manufacturers moved production offshore.
With the growing popularity of jogging and other forms of exercise, it became apparent that there was a need for an athletic garment for women's breasts. The first commercially available sports bra was the "Free Swing Tennis Bra" introduced by Glamorise Foundations, Inc. in 1975. The first general exercise bra, initially called a "jockbra", was invented in 1977 by Lisa Lindahl
Lisa Lindahl (born November 23, 1948) is an American writer, artist, activist, and inventor. Lindahl is credited as one of the inventors of the first women's general exercise bra, known as the jockbra, in 1977 along with theater costume designer ...
and theater costume designer Polly Smith with the help of Smith's assistant, Hinda Schreiber. Both Lindahl and her sister, Victoria Woodrow, complained about their bad experience exercising in ordinary bras, having experienced runaway straps, chafing and sore breasts. During the course of Lindahl and Smith's exploration for a better alternative, it was suggested that what they needed was a jockstrap
A jockstrap, also a jock (male), jill (female), strap, cup, groin guard, pelvic protector (female), supporter, or athletic supporter, is an undergarment for protecting the testes and penis or vulva during contact sports or other vigorous physic ...
for women's breasts. In the costume shop of Royall Tyler Theatre at the University of Vermont
The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is amon ...
, Lindahl and Smith actually sewed two jockstraps together and nicknamed it a "jockbra". It was later renamed a "jogbra". One of their original Jogbras is bronzed and on display near the costume shop of the theatre. Two others are housed by the Smithsonian and another by the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 F ...
.
File:Circa 1975 Wonderbra.jpg, A Canadian Wonderbra branded plunge, push-up bra, c. 1975
File:Jogbra np193950z 7d278t288 dl full size.jpg, Jogbra, back view with packaging, "The Professional Athletic Support Bra That Keeps Breasts from Bouncing"
The 1980s
Throughout the 1980s fashion led the way in the look and feel of bras. Western TV shows featured classy, powerful, and well-formed ladies, usually donning low-cut tops to show an enhanced chest with an equally classy matching bra.
The onset of classy and stylish Teddy suits also encompassed this decade and sales of silicone increased the need for bigger and more supportive bras.
Models and celebrities all donned fashionable and extravagant bras, showing these off at red carpets events become the norm.
The 1990s
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 bras that emphasize support and foundation, to selling lingerie that emphasize fashion while sacrificing basic fit and function, like linings under scratchy lace.
The 2000s
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.
The 2000s brought two large design changes to the bra. The molded one-piece, seamless bra cup became ubiquitous. They are heat-molded around round forms of synthetic fibers or foam that keeps their rounded shape. This construction can include padded bras, contour bras and so-called T-shirt bras. Also new and ubiquitous in the 2000s was the popularity of printed designs such as floral or patterned prints.
Bras are a billion-dollar industry ($15 billion in the US in 2001, £1 billion in UK.) that continues to grow. Large corporations such as HanesBrands Inc. control most bra manufacturing, Gossard, Berlei
Berlei is a brand of women's lingerie and in particular bras and girdles.
History
The company began in Sydney in 1910. The Berlei brand originated in 1917. Berlei undergarments are now sold in Australia by Hanesbrands and in the United King ...
and Courtaulds with 34% of the UK market. 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 ...
is an exception.
The 2010s and 2020
In the late 2010s and early 2020, 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 gaining in popularity, to the detriment of underwired and padded bras. At the same time popularity of brands like 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 ...
decreased significantly. In 2017, the sales of cleavage-boosting bras fell by 45% while at 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 ...
, sales of wireless bras grew by 40%. Some have attributed the rising popularity of bralettes to a new focus on the "athletic body, health and wellbeing," rather than "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 heterosex ...
," while others suggest a connection to the #MeToo movement.[Linda Dyett]
The Bralette Is Back. This Time Blouses Are Optional
''The New York Times'', 2019-07-31
Bralettes have also become popular 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 countrie ...
due to a focus on comfort while working from home.
History of the No-Bra Movement
Second-wave feminism and the Miss America protest
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 putting ...
, protestors symbolically threw a number of feminine products into a "Freedom Trash Can". These included bras, which were among items the protestors called "instruments of female torture" and accouterments 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 fe ...
. Individuals who were present said that no one burned a bra nor did anyone take off her bra.
However, respected author Joseph Campbell
Joseph John Campbell (March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987) was an American writer. He was a professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College who worked in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work covers many aspects of the ...
found a local news story that contradicted the feminists' statements, reporting that lingerie was in fact burned at least briefly that day. An article on page 4 of the Atlantic City ''Press'' reported, "Bra-burners blitz boardwalk". It stated, "As the bras, girdles, falsies, curlers, and copies of popular women’s magazines burned in the ''Freedom Trash Can'', the demonstration reached the pinnacle of ridicule when the participants paraded a small lamb wearing a gold banner worded ''Miss America''." A second story in the same newspaper written by Jon Katz
Jon Katz (born August 8, 1947) is an American journalist, author, and photographer. He was a contributor to the online magazine ''HotWired'', the technology website ''Slashdot'', and the online news magazine ''Slate''. In his early career as an au ...
did not mention burning lingerie, but Campbell interviewed Katz. Katz, who was present that day, confirmed that bras and other items had been set on fire: "...the fire was small, and quickly was extinguished." The feminists insisted afterward that the newspaper report was wrong.
Female reporter Lindsy Van Gelder who covered 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 state they did not literally burn bras that day, some stopped wearing them in protest. Author and feminist 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 she wrote in her 2003 article "Feminism, Miss America, and Media Mythology," that the women were merely trying to be "trendy, and to attract men." Women associated with an act like symbolically burning their bra may be seen by some as law-breaking radicals, eager to shock the public. This view may have supported the efforts of opponents to feminism and their desire to invalidate the movement. 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 putting ...
and the feminist movement in general.
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 literatu ...
'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."
In 1984, feminist 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 ...
took the position in her book ''Femininity'' that women without bras shock and anger men because men "implicitly think that they own breasts and that only they should remove bras."
Third-Wave Feminism
Feminist author Iris Marion Young
Iris Marion Young (2 January 1949 – 1 August 2006) was an American political theorist and socialist feminist who focused on the nature of justice and social difference. She served as Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago an ...
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 " pitalist, patriarchal
Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of Dominance hierarchy, dominance and Social privilege, privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical Anthropology, anthropological term for families or clans controll ...
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." 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 heterosex ...
".
Non-Western equivalents
While the modern bra has evolved, almost directly, from the proto-bra of the Middle Ages, other cultures across the world and across history have invented garments that serve similar purposes. This is only a short list; for a more in-depth view, please see each garment's separate page.
China
Over the course of its long history, China has produced many different types of women's undergarments that serve congruent purposes to those of the European bra and corset. The most well-known example is the ''dudou
A ''dudou'' (; also known by other names) is a traditional Chinese form of the bodice, originally worn as an undershirt with medicinal properties. With the opening of China, it is sometimes encountered in Western and modern Chinese fashion as a ...
'' (Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
: 肚兜, 兜肚, or 兜兜; also known by other names
Other often refers to:
* Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy
Other or The Other may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack
* ''The Other'' (1930 film), ...
), a diamond-shaped garment used to flatten the breasts and preserve the stomach '' qi,'' which was developed in the Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
. Other similar items of clothing include the ''baofu'' (抱腹) from the Han dynasty
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
; the ''liangdang'' (裲襠) from the Wei Jin period; the ''hezi'' (诃子) from the Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
; the ''moxiong'' (抹胸) from the Song dynasty
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
; the hehuan jin (合欢襟) from the Yuan dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...
; and the ''zhuyao'' (主腰) from the Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
.
India
The first historical reference to breast-support garments in India is found during the rule of King Harshavardhana
Harshavardhana (IAST Harṣa-vardhana; c. 590–647 CE) was a Pushyabhuti emperor who ruled northern India from 606 to 647 CE. He was the son of Prabhakaravardhana who had defeated the Alchon Huna invaders, and the younger brother of Rajyava ...
(1st century AD). Sewn bras and blouses were very much in vogue during the Vijayanagara empire
The Vijayanagara Empire, also called the Karnata Kingdom, was a Hinduism, Hindu empire based in the region of South India, which consisted the modern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and some parts of Telangana an ...
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.
Vietnam
The yếm
A ''yếm'' or ''áo yếm'' (, chữ Nôm: 裺) is a traditional Vietnamese undergarment that was once worn by Vietnamese women across all classes. It was most usually worn underneath a blouse or mantle to preserve modesty.
It is a simple gar ...
is a traditional Vietnamese garment that evolved from the Chinese dudou, which was brought to Vietnam during the Ming Qing dynasty. It was worn by women from all classes with a skirt called ''váy đụp''. Although the yếm's popularity died out in the 20th century due to Westernization
Westernization (or Westernisation), also Europeanisation or occidentalization (from the ''Occident''), is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in areas such as industry, technology, science, education, politics, economi ...
, it has recently seen a revitalization with the invention of the modern ''áo yếm'', which is slightly different in style.
See also
* Bra
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 appea ...
* List of bra designs
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 ...
* 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 ...
* 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 ...
References
Further reading
Berry, Cheree, Hoorah for the Bra. Abrams 2006.
* Cunnington, Cecil Willett and Phillis Emily Cunnington
Phillis Emily Cunnington (1 November 1887 – 24 October 1974) was an English medical doctor and collector, writer and historian on costume and fashion. She and her husband Cecil Willett Cunnington (1878–1961) worked together not only in the ...
''The History of Underclothes''
Dover 1992 (reissue of London ed., 1951 by Michael Joseph)
* Ewing, Elizabeth and Webber, Jean. Fashion in Underwear (Paperback) Batsford 1971
* Farrell-Beck, Jane and Gau, Colleen. ''Uplift: The Bra in America.'' Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002 xvi, 243 pp. $35.00, . (for reviews, see next section)
* Greer, Germaine. ''The Female Eunuch'' (1970). 2002 edition Farrar Straus Giroux
* Hollander, Anne
''Bra Story: A Tale of Uplift''
''Slate'' 20 March 1997
* Pedersen, Stephanie. ''Bra: A Thousand Years of Style, Support & Seduction''. Hardcover: 127 pages. David & Charles Publishers (30 November 2004).
* Steele, Valerie. ''The Corset: A Cultural History'' Paperback: 208 pages Yale University Press (8 February 2003)
* Summers, Leigh. ''Bound to Please: A History of the Victorian Corset''. Berg Publishers (1 October 2003)
* Warner, L. C. ''Always Starting Things''. Warner Brothers, Bridgeport, Connecticut, 1948
kamat.com/kalranga
* ttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/28/LVEFSSDBD.DTL "Bra – A Century of Suspension" ''San Francisco Chronicle''. 28 October 2007.
"100 years of the bra"
''Times of India''. 15 July 2007.
"Double Anniversary for bra". ''St Petersburg Times''. 4 December 2007.
* ttp://www.freepatentsonline.com/7234996.html United States Patent 7234996 (2005)
Clothing and Dress for Women in the Art of Ancient Greece
Journal articles
* Freeman SK (Winter 2004)
"In Style: Femininity and Fashion Since the Victorian Era"
''Journal of Women's History''. 16(4): 191–206. .
Documentaries
*
Videos
Cheree Berry: Hoorah for the bra
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:History of Brassieres
Brassieres
Brassieres
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 ...