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Proper Bra Sizing & Fit
History of Lingerie
Ah, the female silhouette. It
can
really vary, cant it? And it really has over the ages.
what's been acceptable to society
has changed from one extreme to the other, and back again.
But the silhouette has
been governed by what's draped over it. And throughout
history, its been adorned
in many different ways, with different areas accentuated along
the way. Women
have worn everything from a heavy whalebone contraption
with laces and pulleys,
all the way to the light silky sexy lingerie of today. To try to
make some sense
of the transformation of the silhouette over the years, lets
look at the
history of sexy lingerie, why it changed, and how it changed.
The First
Lingerie
When we think of sexy lingerie,
we think of light, thin
material, usually see-through, draped adoringly over the
female body, covering
just enough to titillate the impressionable male. But well
before Christ, on the
island of Crete, in the Mediterranean Sea, women were very
bold. Their idea of
lingerie was a boned bodice corset, designed not for support,
but to tease men,
by pushing their breasts up and out, literally exposing them in
their entire
splendor. Although they achieved the 'sexy' part, the 'lingerie'
part was
nothing like what we think of as lingerie today.
Throughout time, as each vision
of the
silhouette emerged, clothing was created to fit and accentuate
this shape. There were,
of course, two main elements in a silhouette – the bust and
the butt.
Some societies wanted the bust to be prominent, while some
felt that the butt
should be the 'point of interest'. One thing that's never
changed is that we’re at
the mercy of the fashion gurus, whatever they say is in, that's
what we wear.
The Silhouette
Goes From Profound to
Padded
Society in the Middle Ages felt
that the
silhouette should be restrained, especially the breasts, which
they thought should be
firm and small. In those days, women wore many styles of
corsets over their
dresses, all with the similar purpose of flattening their breasts.
And in case some
men didn't notice this flattering flattening, some women
actually attached
small bells around their neckline, the jingling bringing
attention to the jiggling v.
During the Renaissance, the
Spanish fashion experts saw
the silhouette as padded – in all the right places. They wanted
to see women
with cone-shaped breasts, flat stomachs and narrow waists.
And women went to
great lengths to achieve this look – more than reasonable
lengths, as we see it
today. They actually had to have other people dress them
because the cinching up
of their corsets was done up their backs and required a lot of
strength. In
fact, they were trussed and bound tighter than a Thanksgiving
turkey.
This unnatural shaping of the
silhouette was met
with disapproval by proponents of good health. Doctors
complained that these
corsets compressed women’s bodies so tightly, their internal
organs were being
squeezed, and their ribs were being pushed out of shape. It
was quite common for women
to swoon and faint – usually attributed to the females' delicate
nature.
Actually, it was because they just couldn't breathe! There was
one report of a woman
who actually died when her ribs were cinched so tightly that
they pierced her
liver. Wow, the cost of looking sexy!
By the 18th century, life was
becoming lighter,
and clothing trends followed. Although the whalebone
structure of the corset
still kept women tightly silhouetted, there was a definite
movement to incorporate
the artistry that marked the era. Corsets were decorated with
beautiful
embroidery, ribbons and laces. And that wasn't the only thing
that drew male attention,
they also pushed the breasts up, threatening to jump right
out.
Later in the 18th century, people
started rebelling
against many things and corsets were no exception. Again,
doctors spoke out
about the dangers of these body presses. And this time they
were heard – enough
to actually have boned corsets outlawed.
The Softer
Silhouette is
Highlighted
By the early 1800s, the
silhouette was still enhanced,
calling for the support that the old corset had given. So the
corset returned,
but with more elaborate methods of construction. Boning was
still used, but in
smaller sections, allowing for more movement. And since the
fashion of the day
was for a more separated look for breasts, a corset-maker
named Leroy came up
with a model he called a "divorce". (Perhaps it was named
that because by the
time the husband got it undone, he'd lost interest! And
separation does precede
divorce, doesn't it?) But seriously folks, this problem of lacing
and unlacing
was met by corset designers – they developed systems that
allowed women to
undress themselves.
During the 1840s, with the much-
exaggerated silhouette
for women, whalebone came back into use, but this time with
huge hoops and
crinolines, covered with all kinds of fabric and trim. In those
days, a man knew
he'd found a fashionable woman if he could put his hands
around her waist. And
because women were still trying to attract men, they cinched
themselves up even
tighter.
The hoop-and-crinoline look was
soon replaced by the
soft-S silhouette, still using the corset, but adding the bustle to
the back.
Now they'd created an exaggerated bottom. This was fine,
except women had to
stand a lot because most of their butts were covered by the
cumbersome bustle.
Of course, the men liked this because it gave them more
opportunities to view
those sexy bustles.
As fashion design became more
innovative, more varieties
of corsets were created. Now you could get a lightly-boned
corset for the
morning, a boneless corset for the beach, an elastic corset for
horseback
riding, and a jersey corset for bicycle riding. With all the
activities women
participated in, think of how many corsets they would need!
The Corset is
Extended, Then
Expended
By the end of the 19th century,
the corset had become
a supporter not only of breasts, but of the newly-created
stockings.
Stockings were held up by garters and suspenders attached to
the corset, a very complex
system of rigging.
By the beginning of the 20th
century, corsets were being
laced down as far as the knee. But many people didn’t like
that style, and
fashion designers were leaning towards an uncorseted, more
free-flowing style.
As a result, sexy lingerie for women was about to take a
whole new turn. With
the advent of the industrial revolution, and the invention of
the sewing
machine, Germany and France opened the first corset
factories.
In 1913, Mary Phelps Jacob
created a new type of bra. It
was much softer and much shorter than a corset. And it
allowed the breasts to be
shaped in their natural state. When too many people started
asking Mary for her
design, she thought she'd better get it protected. So she
applied for a patent.
She eventually sold this patent to Warner Company.
After World War I, women
began to enter the workforce
and corsets were definitely not appropriate for wear in
factories. They
needed shorter skirts made of cooler and lighter fabric that
was easy to care for.
The other factor was that the war had taken its toll on their
supply of men,
which meant more competition in landing a man, they needed
to look their sexiest!
Then came the Roaring
Twenties, with it's elaborate parties. Fashion changed
dramatically, the boyish silhouette was
in. The quest for flat chests and stomachs, and straight hips
and buttocks,
led the fashion industry to create the liberty bodice, the
chemise, and
bloomers. loose-fitting and light. And a long-overdue
substitute for plain old white appeared,
pastel colored lingerie. The first brassieres were designed to
flatten the
breasts, adding to the total boyish look. The corset was no
longer needed – except
the bottom part that held up the stockings. So the corset was
shortened right
down to a belt. the suspender belt.
The 30s Brought
Back the Full-Figured
Silhouette
The 30s brought with them a
complete turnaround in
the shape of the desired silhouette. The woman's feminine
side once again became
the priority. Women were encouraged to look well-
proportioned, full-figured,
but still reasonably slim in the hips. Now women had a full set
of lingerie
to outfit themselves, a breast-enhancing brassiere, an elastic
suspender belt, and
the girdle, that kept all the curves in the right places.
One of the biggest
advancements in the lingerie industry
came in the 1930s, when Dunlop Rubber invented Lastex.
Lastex was an elastic
fiber that could be interwoven with the fabric used to make
lingerie fashions.
Now the industry could make lingerie in various sizes, to
properly fit a woman's
shape.
But then came World War II, and
with it, its shortages.
Germany couldn't import the fabrics they'd been using and
their industry dried
up. People started making home-knitted underwear out of
anything they could
find. Not very sexy, to say the least. But they were warm.
After the war, lingerie consisted
of the basic bras and
suspender belts. This was the norm for most women. But the
teenage girl,
emerging from the oppression of the war, and looking for
excitement, became a
target market. These teenagers were anxious to grow up, and
wearing lingerie was
a big step towards getting there. So the lingerie industry
started to create
sexy lingerie sets that would attract the attention of these
young girls. And
the German lingerie industry exploded.
Over in America, the lingerie
industry was making its
own mark. Everyone was trying to create something new and
different. The market
was flooded with all kinds of innovations to help women look
sexy. For
example, Howard Hughes created a new bra. a special wire-
reinforced design for Jane
Russell. (Was that the one that got her the Oscar for "Best
Support"?)
The Silhouette
Suffers as Bras are
Burned
As the 60s brought a wave of
women's emancipation
movements, feminists burned their bras. It's ironic that they
had lots of
support for this movement, because now that they'd burned
their bras, their
support was gone. And, later in life, they'd find that their
support sagged.
This movement gave the lingerie
industry a heavy hit.
Many manufacturers were forced out of business. But on the
positive side, Lycra
had just been invented, and women's legs began to be
adorned in tights or, even
better for the men, the sexy little mini-skirt. And with the mini-
skirt came a
demand for bikini briefs.
By the 1980s, wire-reinforced
bras had become the
number-one seller. For those who need that added support,
these are still very
popular today. Probably the biggest seller now is the the push-
up bra.
Today's Silhouette
Varies in Shape, But
Always Looks Good in Sexy Lingerie
Think of how far lingerie has
come – from
the push-up corsets of ancient Greece, to the push-up bra of
today. The history
of sexy lingerie proves one fact, some things never change.
Obviously, the
purpose hasn't changed, women still want to look sexy. The
only thing that has changed
is the method.
We now have a society that
allows much more freedom
than in the past. We have lighter, lacier, sexier fabric. We
have more liberal
ideas of how much can be bared. And of course, the men are
all for it. So the goal
of the lingerie industry remains the same, to create an image
of a woman who's
desirable and sexy. And if you look at all the sexy lingerie
websites, you'll
see that the industry is achieving its goal. Right guys?
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