The History of the Bra Essay

Documentaries reinforce or criticise dominant representations of groups in society. Discuss in relation to a documentary you have studied.

(Scates & Frances, 1997). This however was verified to be wrong as employment of women increased from 24% in July 1914 to 37% in November 1918 but this growth tended to be in traditional industries such as clothing and footwear (Mendenwald N.D). The varying attitudes towards women were established through the statement a factory administrator, who claimed “Women were seen as quick learners and that in some departments they are more efficient than men, although those departments have been employing men exclusively for years”. During World War 1, not all the occupations were burdensome and non live- threatening. Some women operated in munitions and ammunition factories, which were treacherous and unhealthy and involved working with chemicals like sulphur without protection triggering damage to the skin and lungs (Mendenwald N.D). In an effort to produce more skilful women into the working industries, schools were set up to train women in upholstering, trimming, and other work calling for skilled operatives. The foremost cause of this was the unions were cautious to employ women in

Another area in which women made changes was with their appearance. Women used their attire and style to show an independence, a certain freedom in which they alone had control. Starting with the “Gibson Girl”, women dressed in long, slim dresses, freeing themselves of the poufy petticoats of yore. Women started wearing shorter dresses and shorter hairstyles, leading to “Flapper Jane”. “Women started wearing “less” clothing, shorter dresses, cutting off their hair, and just being more “sensual” than normal”, (Bliven, 1925).

World War II started which transitioned to a short supply in raw material. By 1943 all woman were almost forced to work since their husbands were at battle. Woman wore what was already in there wardrobe because of how busy they were and how most stores were closed

The identity of the Bra Boys can be seen through their values and attitudes. They are presented through the Cody, the value of brother ship and Attitude of brother ship through their tattoos and being there for each other.

But towards the end of the 1850s, the growing industrial world had developed a hierarchy of jobs that were "gender-appropriate" based on a combination of stereotypes, market demands, and real differences in physical strength. Although by the 1840s women represented 50 percent of factory workers in the shoe and textile industries, they rarely worked alongside men. Instead, they held jobs reserved exclusively for women, jobs whose low wages affirmed the belief that women's work was less skilled than men's and less important to family survival. The trend towards delicate or weak women as ideals of beauty in the Victorian era (e.g., the corseted waist) was in part a contrast to the great strength and physical fortitude that average, working women had to display in order to survive and be employed in the Industrial Revolution.

The supermodel Elle Macpherson has launched an innovative brassiere and is she all agog about it. The innovation comes in the form that the seams and darts don’t do a peek-a-boo beneath a cotton white T-shirt or a silk blouse, primarily. The placement of bra straps in this new release is such that it gives an illusion of an athletic body. The new affordable lingerie line is launched by Elle Macpherson Body that is in equal partnership with Australian entrepreneur Simon de Winter.

When discussing fashion women often talk about the amazing dress they picked up or the sexy peep toe heels that they just couldn’t bare to pass by, however, very often does one think of the bra and its impact on fashion history. A necessary evil in most women’s lives the “over the shoulder boulder holder” has been around since ancient times in some form or another. Before the invention of the brassiere women were suffocating in corsets that resulted in crushed rib cages and damaged reproductive organs. But in 1914, Mary Phelps Jacob changed all that by stitching together the very first bra. The rest, they say, is history.

Pin-up lingerie and Hollywood fashion and glamour had an impact on women’s fashion choices including the cone-shaped bra, and the spiral-stitched bullet bra. In the 1950s, the conical bra literally set the standard of what made a woman alluring. The bullet bra, also known as the “push up” bra of the 1950s, added a full cup size to their bust, fully covered the breasts and provided necessary support, whilst allowing the breasts to breathe. Women’s choice about what sort of brassiere to wear or whether to wear a bra at all were consciously and unconsciously based on the social opinions of the “perfect” shape of the female breast and the female figure reflecting her bust, waist, and hip measurements. (Burns-Ardolino, 2007). As Steele stated in

During the 1920's, the corset fell from favour, in America and Europe, to be replaced by girdles and elasticised brassieres. Initially regarded as lingerie, the corset is now regarded as outerwear amongst devotees of the fetish, BDSM and goth subcultures.

Arguably the most controversial garment in the history of fashion, the corset is a classic item that has lasted the test of time. Made to adjust the wearer’s body to the aesthetics through centuries, the lingerie item remained an essential in many women’s closet. Throughout its existence, the corset has been condemned and misunderstood as a torturous device for the female body, but it is more than that (Steele, 2001, 1-2). This report is dedicated to exploring the corset changes in form, its purposes and meaning from the 15th - 16th century. Taking into account that the corset has a long history, only the main events and mainstream viewpoints in its timeline will be examined. The focus will be placed upon the garment’s construction, the main events that causes its evolution and what it meant for women at the time.

This week’s reading talks about breasts, anorexia, and fat. Breasts play an important role because girls worry about their breast size. Boys like busty girls which causes the girls to pay more attention to their body including their weight. A statistic that amazed me was that “In the United States, the first boneless bra to leave the midriff bare was developed in 1913 by Mary Phelps Jacobs, a New York City debutante (205)”. I also found out the first bra was designed to flatten; on the other hand, now a day it’s different. Bras are made to enhance the breasts. As time go by, the making of bras slowly change.

In which I believe would have gradually gave the wives the image the men in society were demanding females to be considered attractive when they wanted thinner more fit wives or the men that were fascinated with the hourglass figure. But as allowing females to get rid of the corset and get active would have did the purpose of the corset and more for less the cost and less stress on your organs or spinal cord from the constant pressure but getting females active during would have made the relevancy of females sports the same as men, so because of this delay due to the dangers of the corset female sports and active activities were slowing introduce with caution but of the lingering affects younger females could have inherited from wear the enabling

Usually this meant that the breasts were either pressed flat, or pushed up into what is described as the “half-moon” position.(Steele and Gau 291) While they made a comeback as outerwear in the late twentieth century, early twenty-first, they are by no means common, or anything like the corsets of history. (Cumming 55) Today, women almost everywhere use the bra, or brassiere, for breast support. While there are as many types of bras as there are outfits or activities they tend to share a few of the same parts: the cups, which actually hold the breasts, the band, which encircles the torso under and between the cups and provide support, and the straps, which go over the shoulder and provide stability, are in virtually every bra pattern in one form or another. (“Brassiere” 88) Below the waist, there isn't such a sense of similarity between us and our Romantic era counterparts.

(Laudner, V, 2010, p, 28). In recent history however, from the twentieth century to the present day, the corset has been revived repeatedly. Paul Poiret banished corsets in 1909 after "centuries of tyrannical reign over women's fashion". (N/A. (N/A). The Corset in Late 20th-Century Fashion. Available: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/the-corset-in-late-20th-century-fashion/. Last accessed 9th Dec 2015) In the 1920s, flat and square dresses came into fashion and became perfect canvases on which to reflect the motifs of the Art Deco period. "The female body became almost abstract and the natural waist a feature from the past". (N/A. (N/A). The Corset in Late 20th-Century Fashion. Available: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/the-corset-in-late-20th-century-fashion/. Last accessed 9th Dec 2015) It wasn't until the 1930's that the waist came back into focus with innovative its and use of colour combinations and soft corsets and bodices on evening dresses were seen during a Victorian revival seen in fashion at the time. From then on, a more tight fitting silhouette was in fashion