More Brassiere
History
and Mary Phelps Jacob |
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Mary
Phelps Jacob
Mary Phelps Jacob came up with the
idea for her brassiere after she bought an evening gown for an event she
was planning to attend.
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Mary
Phelps Jacob
In 1913, the first modern brassiere
to be awarded a patent was invented by a New York socialite named Mary
Phelps Jacob.
•
The
Brassiere Inventors
It is not true that the bra was
invented by one Otto Titzling.
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Wonderbra
"The One And Only WonderBra" |
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By
Mary
Bellis
The first modern brassiere to receive
a patent was one invented by a New York socialite named Mary Phelps Jacob
in 1913. Mary had just purchased a sheer evening gown for one of her social
events. At that time, the only acceptable undergarment was a corset stiffened
with whaleback bones. Mary found that the whalebones poked out visible
around the plunging neckline and under the sheer fabric. Two silk handkerchiefs
and some pink ribbon later, Mary had designed an alternative to the corset.
The corset's reign was starting to topple.
An unhealthy and painful device designed
to narrow an adult women's waist to 13, 12, 11 and even 10 or less inches,
the corset is attributed to Catherine de Médicis, wife of King Henri
II of France. She enforced a ban on thick waists at court attendance's
(1550's) and started over 350 years of whalebones, steel rods and midriff
torture.
Mary Phelps Jacob's new undergarment
complimented the new fashions introduced at the time and demands from friends
and family were high for the new brassiere. On November 3, 1914, a patent
for the 'Backless Brassiere' issued. Caresse Crosby was the business name
Jacob used for her brassiere production. Running a business was not enjoyable
to Jacob and she soon sold the brassiere patent to the Warner Brothers
Corset Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut, for $1,500. Warner (the bra-makers,
not the movie-makers) made over fifteen million dollars from the bra patent
over the next thirty years.
Mary Phelps Jacob was the first to
patent an undergarment named 'Brassiere' derived from the old French word
for 'upper arm'. Her patent was for a device that was lightweight, soft
and separated the breasts naturally.
Other points
in the history of the brassiere worth mentioning:
In 1875, manufacturers George
Frost and George Phelps patented the 'Union Under-Flannel', a no bones,
no eyelets, and no laces or pulleys under-outfit.
In 1893, a woman named Marie
Tucek patented the 'breast supporter’; the device included separate pockets
for the breasts and straps that went over the shoulder, fastened by hook-and-eye
closures.
In 1889, corset-maker Herminie
Cadolle invented the 'Well-Being' or 'Bien-être', a bra-like device
sold as a health aid. The corset's support for the breasts squeezed up
from below. Cadolle changed breast support to the shoulders down.
World War I dealt the corset
a fatal blow when the U.S. War Industries Board called on women to stop
buying corsets in 1917. It freed up some 28,000 tons of metal!
In 1928, a Russian immigrant
named Ida Rosenthal founded Maidenform. Ida was responsible for grouping
women into bust-size categories (cup sizes).
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