When was brassiere invented

In classical Greece, women were known to wear a strap of fabric, known as an apodesmos, which resembled a bandeau top and bound the breasts and kept them in place. Corsets were considered mandatory for middle and upper-class women at the time.

They were shaped like funnels and stiffened with stays made of whale bone. Her clever invention allowed her to wear the plunging necklines of the time. War Industries Board asked American women to stop buying corsets in to make more metal available for the war effort.

By the end of the war, 28, tons of metal were saved when women ditched their cumbersome corsets. They are credited with introducing the letter sizing system. Many innovations were made to the brassiere throughout the years, including the use of elastic and standard cup sizes. In , a Russian immigrant named Ida Rosenthal founded Maidenform. Rosenthal was responsible for grouping women into bust size categories cup sizes. It has been said that the bra, as it came to be called in the s, owed its success to World War I.

The war shook up gender roles, putting many women to work in factories and uniforms for the first time. Then, in , the U. War Industries Board asked women to stop buying corsets in order to reserve metal. They did stop buying corsets, which freed up some 28, tons of metal — enough to build two battleships. Jacob died in , but she lived long enough to see the bra go through a number of transformations and become immensely popular all over the world. She was also politically active and founded the organization Women Against War.

Don't miss our next newsletter! Cricket Media Articles. Unlike a century earlier, comfort and sexiness can now coexist. This article was featured in the InsideHook newsletter. Sign up now. Sign up for InsideHook to get our best content delivered to your inbox every weekday. And awesome. Popular at InsideHook. Chicago Los Angeles New York. The Goods Deals Subscribe Account. History April 26, am. Portrait of Dutch model Frederique Van Der Wal as she lies on a bed, her hands over her head and dressed only in a light colored bra, dark socks, and a strategically placed sheet, late s or early s.

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