2500
BC |
| Minoan women on the island of Crete wear bra-like
garments that lift the bare breast out of their clothing.
|
450BC-285AD |
| Roman and Greek women used a band
strapped around their breasts to reduce their bust size. |
1550s |
| Catherine de Médicis, of France enforces ban
on "thick waists" at court functions through
the introduction of the steel corset. A wide variety
of corsets become the dominant undergarment for restraint
over the next 350 years. |
1850s |
| US patents registered for first
known bra-like devices. Corsets fall out of style. |
1860s |
|
Corsets come back in fashion heavily.
Severe corset "training" is common, which
reduces waists to such unhealthy levels that ribs
and internal organs become deformed.
|
1875 |
| Designer Susan Taylor Converse creates a no-bones/eyelets/laces/pulleys
garment called the "Union Under-Flannel",
made from wool fabrics. Manufacturers George Frost and
George Phelps patent it. |
1889 |
| Corset-maker Herminie Cadolle invents a bra-like garment
called "Bien-être", resembling a "Victorian
bikini", its main feature that makes it different
from the traditional corset, is that breasts are supported
by the shoulders rather than squeezed up from below.
Although marketed as a health aid in 1889, the item
does not gain widespread notice. |
1893 |
| Marie Tucek patents the "Breast Supporter”,
it includes separate pockets for each breast, shoulder
straps, and hook-and-eye closures, making it the earliest
known design to be similar to modern-day bras. |
1907 |
| Vogue magazine first uses the term "brassiere",
which comes from the old French word for 'upper arm'.
Before this, bra-like devices were known by the French
term "soutien-gorge", literally meaning "throat
support", or "breast support". |
1912 |
| The term "brassiere"
first appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary. |
1913 |
| Mary Phelps Jacob, Dissatisfied with the idea of having
to wear a heavy corset underneath a new sheer evening
gown, Mary and her maid, Marie, improvises a garment
from two silk handkerchiefs, cord, and some ribbon. |
1914 |
| Mary Phelps Jacob applies for a patent on for her
"Backless Brassiere". This "brassiere"
She sells the patent to Warner Brothers Corset Company,
for $1,500. Warner's is said to have made over 15 million
dollars over the next 30 years from the patent. |
1914-1918 |
| Women enter into the work force during World War I.
As women begin working in factories, wearing corsets
become a problem. |
1917 |
| The U.S. War Industries Board requests women to stop
buying corsets to reduce the consumption of metal. |
1920s |
|
Warner introduces a tight, chest-flattening
bra.
|
1928 |
| Ida Rosenthal, a Russian immigrant, and her husband
William found Maidenform. Ida is responsible for the
creation of cup sizes, and developed bras for every
stage of life (puberty to maturity). |
1930s |
| The word bra becomes popular (short
for brassiere). Warner produces the first all-elastic
bra that shows off a woman's curves. |
1935 |
| Warner's creates the cup sizing system, which becomes
the system commonly used throughout the world. |
1941-1945 |
| As common materials (cotton, rubber, silk and steel)
are in short supply, manufacturers start using synthetic
fabrics. |
1946 |
The first bikini
swim wear is introduced in Paris. Invented by engineer
Louis Reard, and named after the Bikini Atoll (site
of a nuclear weapons test), because the bathing suits
would cause a "burst of excitement", "like
the bomb". |
1950s |
| Strapless bras were introduced. |
1959
|
| Warners and Du Pont produced the material
Lycra, which is now used in most bras. |
1968 |
| A group of women were protesting the Miss
America pageant, and threw bras, and other items into
a burn bin. The bin was set on fire, and that was the
famous, “bra burning”. |
1973 |
| The first no-bounce sports bra was introduced. |
1990s |
| In 1994 the Bali Company launched the
WonderBra™ in the U.S., various forms of the Wonderbra™
become popular throughout the 90s. |
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