Women have used garments designed to lift, separate and restrain their breasts ever since 2500 BC. Back then, warrior Minoan women from the Greek isle of Crete used to wear a bra-resembling garment, shoving their bare breasts upward, exposing their nakedness.
From the 1500s until the 1800s the corset was the primary under-garment used by women for the purpose of shaping the waist and lifting the breasts. In 1893, Marie Tucek patented the “Breast Supporter” – the first garment similar to the modern-day bra that used shoulder straps with a hook-and-eye closure to support the breasts in pockets of fabric.
By 1907, the term “brassiere” began to show up in high-profile women magazines and eventually, around 1912, it appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary.
In 1913, New York socialite Mary Phelps Jacob took matters into her own hands and fashioned her own corset replacement out of two silk handkerchiefs and some ribbon. Her friends were sold on this innovative idea and encouraged Mary to apply for a patent for her “Backless Brassiere” design. Within a short time, Mary lost interest in the garment business and sold her patent to Warner Brothers Corset Company for $1,500.
In the 60′s when Yves St. Laurent designed a sheer blouse worn without a bra, feminists started the liberation movement, or burn your bra campaign. Many small sized women stopped wearing bras beneath opaque garments. Few were brave enough to do it with a sheer blouse, and that decade became a milestone in the bra industry.
By the time of the second millennium women were adding inserts to their bras called affectionately chicken fillets. It took 3 years and a half to one witty Brit, Michelle Mone, to develop and launch in May 2000 the Ultimo bra, a silicone gel filled bra that creates cleavage whilst giving comfort.
And yet, bras have come a long way even since 2000. A visit to Figleaves for example will show you the latest trends in bridal and evening wear bras, perfect for strapless and difficult to wear fashion clothing.
Further reading:
Bras & girdles
History of brassieres
