10 bras in history
TEXT: Yunna Vradiy
Last week we told how clothes changed the look of the breasts and the way of life of women. Together with the invention of the bra, we got more freedom. Throughout its nearly 150-year history, he, like his predecessor, the corset, has changed in accordance with the requirements of society. In a society where women have the right to vote, it has become easier to choose underwear for their figure, lifestyle and ideas about sexuality.
First push-up
In the London Museum of Sciences stored model of the first bra, designed for breast augmentation. Tight cups of linen of the 80s of the XIX century and a pair of round liners carried about the same functionality as today's Wonderbra. And if now you don’t surprise anyone with the wearing of a dummy bra, then 250 years ago it was an innovation and required some ingenuity and even courage. Until 1907, when the first bra appeared in American Vogue, the wearing of this lingerie was an exclusively private history: the bras were sewn at home or in a private atelier and they were available only to the richest and most resolute.
The first patented bra
Many designers of the early 20th century declared their involvement in the invention of the bra. It is impossible to find out for certain who was the first, but one can definitely say that Mary Phelps Jacobs, a resident of New York, was the first to patent her bra in 1910. It all started with the fact that Jacobs did not want to hold another ball, gasping in a tight corset. As a replacement for him, Jacobs came up with a simple design consisting of a pink satin ribbon and a pair of silk handkerchiefs. Sew all together was entrusted to the maid. Later, on the basis of this model, one of the first universal bras was developed, allowing women to play sports, live an active life, breathe deeply, feel free. Mary Phelps Jacobs sold the Warner Corset Company patent for $ 1,500. If she chose licensing fees, she could get rich - the company for several years earned $ 15 million in mass production of bras.
Sweet Dreams Bra
In the 50s, tighter bras with a stiff cup replaced the softer and more pleasant to wear. The first model of this kind was the Sweet Dreams bra. It was originally positioned as a model that you can (and, according to the creators, you need) to wear 24 hours a day to save the shape of the mammary glands. Today, the use of bra in the prevention of sagging breasts is called into question. It is believed that by constantly wearing the bra breast muscles lose their tone. In the 50s, nobody knows about it yet, everyone watches films with young Brigitte Bardot and want the Sweet Dreams model “like hers”.
Marilyn Monroe's Secret Bra
A bet that played on Monroe twice. The first is due to the comedy of the comedy "The Seven Year Itch" (1955), which, however, went down in history due to the scene with a white dress fluttering over the ventilation of the metro with an American armhole. The bra was responsible for the impressive volume of the bodice and the seductive hollow in the neckline. The second time was in 2009, when a bra was put up for auction, in which, apparently, Monroe starred in this film. A model with additional double straps, a wire frame and cups that increase the volume explained why the breast size was very different in the nude photo and clothes. The latter made Monroe in our eyes a simple earthly woman who, like many, was not sure of her natural forms and resorted to various tricks.
Bra "Angelica"
In the 60s, the Balconette model ("balcony", Fr.), Also known as the Demi Cup, appeared. The rigid construction on steel bones is made in such a way as to support the breast, while leaving it at the same time half-naked. In the USSR, its existence is known thanks to the 1964 film Angelica, Marquis of Angels, after which the model immediately receives a name in honor of the main character. Against the background of nondescript utilitarian products of the Soviet light industry, imported "Angelica" looks like a real piece of art. Get at least one model "Angelica" was considered a great success in life.
Jogbra's first sports support top
One of the first models of bras that replaced the corset were created, among other things, for athletes who were much freer in the new model of underwear. However, the sports supporting top Jogbra, as we imagine it, was invented in 1977 by Lisa Lindal, Polly Simt and Hind Miller. Initially, it was a special model for running. However, a few years later, she was useful to the followers of Jane Fonda and her aerobics. Today, innovative sconces of large companies are testing for breast movement with different types of physical activity, they are made of high-tech materials so that tops keep their shape after thousands of washes. Sports bras are comfortable, technological, you can wear them as a crop top. Thus, sports bras are gradually replacing the usual bras against the background of the growing popularity of sportswear (Activewear), which is becoming everyday.
Bras "Bullet" and "Cone" by Jean-Paul Gotye
Bullet Bra bullet bra was extremely popular in America in the 40s-50s. This is due to the images of pin-up heroines called up by their deliberate sexuality and literally sticking out their breasts to encourage American soldiers during World War II. Later in the films of Hitchcock now and then you can see the "dangerous" heroines, whose sharp bras and that look cut the pile of their mohair sweaters. To completely fill the non-physiological cone-shaped cups of the "bullet", the girls had to fill it with everything from cotton to socks. However, the most memorable version of the “bullet” was her comeback in the 90s, when Jean-Paul Gauthier prepared for the “Blond Ambition” tour during Madonna’s 1990 a provocative series of stage costumes, developing the idea of underwear as outerwear. Gauthier transformed the corset from a slimming object into a symbol of sexual power, presenting the female body in a public space not for sexual arousal, but for aggressive expression. The most memorable items were silk pink and gold corsets with conical cups. Following Madonna, bullet bras and cones begin to be worn as ordinary items of clothing - over T-shirts and blouses. Later, Gauthier and Madonna repeatedly returned to this model, showing her new topical interpretations. In 1999, a vintage-style underwear brand, What Katie Did, returns the Bullet Bra to industrial production. Trend is picked up by fashion brands and the mass market, and now you can buy the bullet in the Diesel store and in the Marks and Spencer department store.
Wonderbra bra
The first push-up with pads for additional volume Wonderbra "invented" back in 1964, Louise Poirier as part of her work for Canadian linen manufacturers Canadelle. However, Wonderbra became a sensation and a source of millions in revenues from worldwide sales only in the early 90s. Aggressive marketing played a significant role in this. In 2011, the British agency Outdoor Media Center conducted a survey, according to which the 1994 Billboard “Hello Boys” with the Czech model Eva Herzigova in the Wonderbra bra turned out to be the greatest print ad of all times and peoples. At that time, the number of advertising sites with advertising for the famous push-up was limited, since many of them became the cause of accidents: drivers who had gazed at Herzigov stopped watching the road. The attitude towards Wonderbra all these 50 years is ambiguous. On the one hand, apart from sexual provocation, this model looks spectacular with many feminine things and often helps the figure to look proportional. On the other hand, this is pure deception, since, wearing, for example, a snag on a date, the girl “promises” her chest several sizes larger than her real one: in the dark Middle Ages, such tricks, like eyebrows made of mouse wool, could mislead someone but in our age of electricity they may look to some extent incongruous.
Hot fantasy bra
Since 1996, Victoria's Secret each year produces a crown of its collection of lingerie - a bra with precious stones. Since 2001, the hybrid of the light and jewelry industry has been shown on the catwalk as a closing show. To demonstrate Hot Fantasy Bra on yourself is a great honor for the model. Heidi Klum honored her three times, Gisele Bundchen, Tyra Banks, Karolina Kurkova and Adriana Lima - twice. The most famous advertising image with this model belongs to the very first - Million Dollar Miracle Bra, which was filmed on Claudia Schiffer. And the most expensive in the history of the subject of underwear (worth $ 15 million) put on herself in 2000 by Gisele Bundchen. It is difficult to relate unequivocally to this phenomenon. Obviously, this is an exclusively marketing product and its goal is to advertise Victoria's Secret “panties and bras for a couple of bucks": no one has bought any of Hot Fantasy Bra. And even so incomprehensible, whether it is an expensive frame for a priceless breast, or the attitude to the mammary glands as an object for clever decorations.
Bra as an art object
It is difficult to choose any particular model. A whole wave of artistes appeared, the brightest were Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, who began to present themselves in a grotesque style, and wardrobe items, including underwear, are often transformed into their style from sex to modern pop art. Whether it is the automatic vestment bras at Lady Gaga or the cup in the form of cupcakes by Katy Perry - all this is an ironic understanding of the power, strength, and appetizing of women, sorry for the expression, the charms. Sexy beauties all tired? Okay! We will bring sexuality to the point of absurdity, we will make the symbols the most obvious, and the secondary sexual characteristics will be hypertrophied. We laugh at ourselves before everyone else, so that others will not teach. Millions of girls around the world are showing the home version of this choice, preferring funny Hebe with the image of Spongebob or donuts to pathetic red lace.