A Brief History of the Brassiere
Our relationship with the brassiere is one of love / hate. Many women say it's the first thing they take off when they get home.
But like them or loathe them, our figures would be considerably worse without the support, particularly as we get older.
Most women fondly remember their first bra. I was 12 when I got mine, and it was well overdue. At the time floral bras were all the rage and I bought a blue one in BHS, without being measured. I randomly chose the size 32 AAA (yes, three As) and it was far too small, but I carried on wearing it until my mum finally caved in and bought me a pair of pink and mauve floral bras from Marks and Spencer.
Who invented the Bra?
The question of "who invented the brassiere?" turns out to be quite complex.
There are claims made for several inventors, among them the aptly-named Otto Titzling. It was claimed that in 1912 he invented a contraption for the large bosom of an opera singer in his boarding house. But it turns out to be untrue.
Clara P. Clark invented the “improved corset” in 1874, and Olivia P. Flynt’s 1876 “bust supporter” could possibly be pointed to as the original brassiere.
Mary Phelps Jacob received a patent in 1914 for the first brassiere 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. This is her design, using a pair of silk hankies:
It wasn't until the early 1930s that brassieres became commonplace. It was shortened to the common "bra" and large-scale production began. But more importantly, cup sizes become a thing. S.H. Camp and Company correlated sizes of a woman's breasts to letters of the alphabet (A through D)
Bra Fashions
The "Torpedo shape" was popular in the 1940s and briefly came back in fashion when Jean-Paul Gaultier designed one for Madonna in 1990. It briefly spawned a trend of wearing a bras as outerwear.
The Wonderbra, the first "push up" bra, has been around since 1964 and was invented by a Canadian company. One of the company's billboards famously featured Eva Herzigová's cleavage with the slogan "Hello boys" in 1994, and was said to have caused car accidents.
In 1977 the first sports bra came along, and also in that year the retailer Victoria's Secret came into being. The Victoria's Secret annual fashion show is famous for its jewel encrusted bras, as seen here on Gisele Bundchen, in a set valued at $15m.
Today it's possible to get bras in every conceivable shape and material. Long line bras and softer styles such as "bralettes" have returned to fashion. Here's a non-padded bralette from Marks and Spencer. M&S still dominates the lingerie sector in the UK which is worth UK underwear market is worth £1.5bn. Soozie Jenkinson from M&S told Draper's Record: "This is very dynamic market, where there’s a lot going on. We have a 35% market share in bras, and we sell more than 21 million bras every year. Success is about anticipating trends and looking forward, to fashion trends, lifestyle trends, textile trends – it all goes in the creative pot."
We're bigger boobed nowadays
The bras we're wearing have got bigger. The average bra size in the UK is now 36DD. In the 70s, it was 34B. This is mainly due to the fact that the average woman in the UK is becoming increasingly heavier.
Getting measured
One of the messages from bra retailers is the need for women to get measured, and fairly frequently, as sizes can fluctuate as we age or lose/gain weight. Most women don't, it's fair to say, and some are wearing bras that are far too small for them. I've never been measured professionally, and the main reason is I feel sure they will put me in a bra with a smaller back size, and I hate that "tight" feeling plus the risk of back fat overhang.