Corsetry 101: Definitions

Bras

Colors used for Names:

General

UK   US

Alternative

Bras (or, more formally, brassieres) are garments used to support the breasts. They may cover only the breasts, or they may extend down the body, covering the chest, the waist, and sometimes even the top of the hips. They can be rounded or pointy, designed to enhance or minimise the size of the breasts, or even to flatten them, and they can be light and feminine, lacy or even skimpy, or they can be made from heavy fabric with a rather industrial appearance. They often incorporate an underwire to help define the shape of the breast. Most have shoulder straps, but some are strapless.

Underwire bras have a roughly semicircular piece of wire built into the bottom of each cup to help define the shape of the breast. This can substantially improve the appearance of both the bra itself and the supported breast, but unless it fits the breast accurately it can be uncomfortable.

Padded bras incorporate padding (usually plastic foam) in the construction of the cup, to make the breast appear bigger than it really is.

The name, brassiere, was concocted in America by someone who either had a very poor grasp of French, or simply wanted a name that sounded French. The French name for bra is Soutien gorge, and brassiere is actually a type of knapsack.

Simple

Basic bra with moulded cups

JC Penney catalogue 1993

The bra on the far left has one piece moulded cups, giving a soft rounded shape, while the cups in the bra on the right have been built up from several pieces of material to give a more sharply defined shape.

The third bra (near left) is designed to be worn with a low-cut dress. Note the deep division between the cups, the decorative lace on the top half of the cup, and the widely spaced shoulder straps (which would have a strong tendency to fall off many womens shoulders).

Convertible bras

Convertible bra (front view)

These days few women seem to care, but it used to be considered very bad form for your bra straps to show. The convertible bra was designed to allow the straps to be arranged in different ways to suit the particular type of dress being worn. This bra could be worn with the straps in the conventional configuration, or crisscross, or halter style. Note the additional strap around the midriff, which serves no very obvious purpose, but which would be most unsuitable for the bare belly styles favoured by many modern girls.

Long-line bras

Back opening long bra

Front opening bra

Sears 1990

If a woman wears a normal length bra with a high waisted girdle, any spare flesh will tend to pop out between the bra and the girdle, forming an unsightly bulge. The longline bra is designed to prevent this, by coming down over the girdle. It was usually fitted with several corset hooks, or governors, which are hooks on short lengths of elastic, designed to be hooked into rings sewn to the girdle, so the bra could not rise up off the girdle.

Long bras come in various lengths. The models at the far left are full-length garments, suitable for wearing over a high waisted girdle, while that on the right is an even longer model, possibly intended to be worn without a girdle, in conjunction with a full skirt. The third model is a three-quarter length bra. This is probably designed primarily to give additional support to a full bust.

Most bras are fastened at the back, but you have to be fairly agile to be able to fasten your own back opening longline bra, so many styles are also available in a front opening version.

Strapless bras

Short strapless bra

Strapless bras are designed to be worn with low-cut evening dresses without shoulder straps.

The bra on the left is a short model. These are not very effective, and can usually only be worn by women with relatively small breasts.

This type of bra reminds me of the model who was asked what held up her low-cut dress. She replied "Gravity -- the gravity of what would happen if it fell down!"

Strapless bras are most effective if they are long enough to come down onto the hips, as in the image on the right. This garment is supported by the waistband resting against the top of the hips, and the breasts are held up by the vertical bones on each side, and under the cups.

Strapless bras are often cut low at the back, as shown on the left. They are usually heavily boned, and are often made either of satin elastic, or of decorative lace, as in these examples.

Merry Widow

Modern Merry Widow

Fontanell p115

In 1952 MGM films released a new film version of Franz Lehar's operetta 'The Merry Widow', starring Lana Turner and Fernando Lamass. Warners (or was it Maidenform?) designed an extra long strapless bra with long suspenders for Lana Turner to wear. This was then released for sale to the general public as the 'Merry Widow'. This was originally a registered trade name, but soon came to be regarded as the generic name for garments of this type.

The garment on the far right is the true Merry Widow. The original garment had a rigid tape around the waist (more clearly seen on the centre garment) which nipped in the waist sharply. However not many women were prepared to put up with this, and it was soon discontinued.

In the Fifties, when ballerina dresses were very popular, practically every young woman had at least one Merry Widow in her wardrobe.

Bullet bras

In the Fifties, in man's endless search to make their womenfolk's figures more outstanding, someone devised a process of circular stitching to reinforce the cups of a bra, producing the rigid bullet shaped cups which supported the magnificent breasts of the film stars of the day.

These led to numerous jokes about men becoming impaled upon their girlfriends bras, and so on.

Padded bras

Simple padded bra

JCPenney 1993

'Falsie'

JC Penney 1993

Inflatable bra

Bressler P42

At least since the middle of last century, and probably for long before that, women with small breasts have sought to enhance them. The manufacturers were always keen to help, and devised an endless range of padded bras like the example on the upper left. Sometimes the ladies did this for themselves by padding their bras with handkerchiefs, or with specially made pads, or 'Falsies', like the one center left.

Inventors, too, have exercised their ingenuity, and have devised many strange devices, like the inflatable bra below left. These were never really successful, but gave rise to urban legends about suitors who pierced their ladies bra while pinning a corsage to her dress, about leaky bras which gradually went flat through during the evening, leaving the girl conspicuously lopsided, and even about air hostesses, whose bras exploded when they reached cruising altitude.

See: Urban legends; the exploding bra

The photo on the right shows the girl whose boyfriend punctured her bra when he tried to pin a corsage to her dress. In it she is ruefully studying the damage at the end of the evening.

This image is quite extraordinary, because photographers normally went to no end of trouble when they were taking advertising photos to ensure that everything fitted perfectly. This would appear to be a genuine girdle advertisement, but no attempt has been made either to fit the bra to the model, or to enhance the model to fit the bra.

And just in case you thought that the bra was a modern invention, in 2004 Chinese archaeologist Shao Guotian reported that when they entered a recently discovered tomb in the province of Aohan, in Inner Mongolia, archeological workers found a cotton padded brassiere that was golden in color, daintily designed and was very similar in style and in function to those worn by modern women. "It was made of fine silk and had shoulder strings and back strings just like brassieres of today," said Shao. "It's a pity most of the cotton padding in the cups [was] already decayed."

The original story appeared in a number of places, but I have not been able to find any more recent information, and suspect that it was subsequently discredited.

The Wonderbra

The Wonderbra, modelled by Adriana Sklenarikova

The bra that was recalled

In 1963 a Canadian designer, Louise Poirier, invented a "WonderBra - Push Up Plunge Bra”, designed to show off a woman's breasts to the best advantage. But apparently she did not do anything with it, and it was not until 1993 that the Bali company, founded by Sam and Sara Stein in 1927, took up the idea. They launched their WonderBra in the UK, where it created a fashion sensation.

In May 1994, Sara Lee introduced "The One and Only Wonderbra®" to the U.S. with incredible fanfare and excitement. It quickly became the No. 1 push-up bra wherever it was sold. Eva Herzigova became the first official Wonderbra model, changing the look of intimate apparel in advertising forever.
The Wonderbra quickly became a legend, and all the other manufacturers rushed to produce competing models. It has even inspired at least two songs.

Wonderbra recently recalled its latest 'Deep Plunge Clearly Daring' bra, shortly after it was released in UK, after purchasers reported that the clear plastic strap joining the 2 cups had broken while being worn.

The Wonderbra Song [Pam Ayres]

Another Wonderbra song [Madelaine Kane's website]

History [Bali website]

Wonderbra recall [Lifestyle website]

Minimiser bras

Minimiser bras are usually made from a fairly heavy fabric, and are cut in a way that makes the breasts look smaller, without actually squashing them. This can make it easier for a woman with large breasts to find clothes that fit her properly. It also reduces the embarrassment some women feel (or, in these days of oversized everything, used to feel) about being 'over-endowed'.

Sports bras

Sears 1990

Sports bras are designed to give good support to the breasts, and to minimise the amount they bounce during active sports. They usually are fairly simple design, and are made of a soft material, with no wires or bones to dig in or chafe.

The bra on the left is a 'pull-on crop top' style, while that on the right is a conventional style.

Nursing or

Maternity

Maternity bra 1985

Nursing, or maternity, bras have cups which can be opened for the mother to feed her baby. At other times the cup is held in place by a clip which attaches to a hook on the shoulder strap. Otherwise they are normal, if usually rather substantial, bras.

Teenage

Sub-teen bra

Sears 1985

Quelle (German) 1980

At least since the Second World War, girls in the States have been much more socially advanced than they are in most other countries. Many regarded foundation garments as an important symbol of approaching adulthood, and desperately longed to have 'adult' underwear.

After the war they also had a lot more pocket money than girls elsewhere, and as soon as the corsetry manufacturers realised this, they did everything they could both to encourage this desire, and to satisfy it. They introduced ranges of teen, and even sub-teen girdles and bras, and advertised them heavily in teenage magazines and on television. Many of the advertisements emphasised the importance of guiding or training the girls body as it grew, so that it developed in the right way.

The bra on the top left is a typical example of a 'sub-teen' bra. It serves no useful purpose whatsoever, other than to enable the girl to think "At last; I'm wearing a bra!" (and, more importantly, to transfer some of her parents money to the industry).

Despite their entreaties, and the availability of garments such as these, it seems that in the fifties most girls did not actually get their first bra until they had something to put into it.

The Art of Corsetry   Ed: Bunyip Bluegum