A bra is an essential part of every woman's wardrobe. This accessory supports the breasts and makes them more attractive. The history of the bra began before our era, and the modern name translated from German means "breast holder".
Bra history
Women have tried to cover their breasts for a long time. Initially, the fair sex did not try to lift or make her more attractive. As a bra, special bandages made of fabric or leather were used. Their main goal was to provide comfort when moving and cover intimate places. Similar bandages can be seen on the oldest images of Egypt, Ancient Greece and Rome. Even female deities were depicted with such accessories in the chest area.
There are several varieties of the so-called “smart linen”. Bras are equipped with special sensors that monitor the pressure level and heart rate.
Despite the fact that the bandages partly played the role of modern bras, it is difficult to call them the predecessors of this type of underwear. This is due to the Middle Ages. The fact is that it was during this period that improved women's accessories - corsets - appeared. Now the function of this wardrobe element has become not so much comfort as giving grace to the figure and emphasizing the female silhouette. The corset was also worn by men, but only to disguise the flaws in the figure.
Thanks to this adaptation, the body became more slender and fit. It is rather problematic to call corsets comfortable. There are cases when women fainted from excessive tightening of their curvy forms.
By the way, it is for this reason that corsets were banned in the 19th century. This event led to the development of a new wardrobe item that not only supports the breasts, but also at the same time would be comfortable and not harmful to health. This is how the first bras appeared. The upper part was made in the same way as a corset, and the innovation was the straps, which allowed women not to feel the feeling of discomfort from the falling piece of underwear.
First bras
Any new product is almost always patented. The bra is no exception in this case. The first copies were invented and officially presented to the female half of humanity in the 1890s. The pioneers were Germany, the USA and France.
For many decades, a dispute has developed between France and Germany. The patents in these countries for the invention of the bra were issued almost simultaneously.
The appearance of the modern version of the bra is associated with the name of the hostess of the corset workshop, Hermine Cadol. Customers of the store regularly complained about the inconvenience of the supporting accessories. Hermine came up with an original experiment and simply cut off the bottom of the corset, leaving only the cups for the chest area. The effect of this did not diminish at all, but the mini-corset did not hold very well on the body. This fact influenced the appearance of an additional element - straps.
Modern bras were patented in 1941. Israel High Pilot became their inventor. It is thanks to this master that the new holding accessories have become more comfortable. Not the last role in improving the quality was played by a new material that also appeared in these years - lycra. Gradually, bras began to be decorated with numerous additional elements, and they began to be made from special materials that are almost imperceptible on the body.
At the moment, there are a huge number of varieties of bras - classic and seamless options, bustier (with a corset element), push-up (with cups filled with foam, visually increasing the breast), corbee, balconette (bras with reduced cups).
