"[87] Academic Wendy Burns-Ardolino wrote in 2007 that women's decision to wear bras is mediated by the "male gaze".[88]. It was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 1911. Though the early history is somewhat confused and open to conflicting claims, the first American patent was issued in 1914 to Mary Phelps Jacob (so it is sometimes said that the bra is 90 years old this year). Bras rapidly became a major industry over the 1930s, with improvements in fiber technology, fabrics, colours, patterns, and options, and did much better than the retail industry in general. sports bra. The French brassiere is completely unsupported! John Weeney of the SoLow Alliance agrees: [53] Over a 10-year period, the most common size purchased in the UK went from 34B to 36C. Brassiere Meaning in English, Bra meaning, Translate Urdu word Brassiere into English in Urdu to Eng dictionary. Military terminology crept into product marketing, as represented by the highly structured, conically pointed Torpedo or Bullet bra, designed for "maximum projection". This Time Blouses Are Optional. [89][90], The first historical reference to breast-support garments in India is found during the rule of King Harshavardhana (1st century AD). [24]:7 Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more. A Scrabble Dictionary, Scrabble Word Finder & Scrabble Cheat to help you with many word based games and apps. Learn to win at any game with our many tools and word lists. [81] Some feminist activists believe that anti-feminists use the bra burning myth and the subject of going braless to trivialize what the protesters were trying to accomplish at the feminist 1968 Miss America protest and the feminist movement in general. Stolle calls these inventions "indecent" and another, anonymous, writer of 15th century Germany talks of how many women would make these garments and then wear them, and says of one woman: "all the young men that look at her, can see her beautiful breasts" [10]. The inventor of the corset is unknown, but its introduction to France is widely credited to Queen Catherine de' Medici, who married King Henry II in 1533. Top Answer. The androgynous figure then in style downplayed women's natural curves through the use of a bandeau bra, which flattened breasts. Learn more. His minimalist bra was a revolutionary departure from the heavy, torpedo-shaped bras of the 1950s, initiating a trend toward more natural shapes and soft, sheer fabrics. As the piece says, one problem with tracing its evolution is that brassire has been used in French for several centuries, at first for a soldiers arm guard or shield (it derives ultimately from bras, arm). Vogue uses the word "brassiere" for the first time. This construction can include padded bras, contour bras and so-called T-shirt bras. A brassiere, commonly referred to as a bra. Select your currency from the list and click Donate. | Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples [citation needed] They are heat-molded around round forms of synthetic fibers or foam that keeps their rounded shape. Her husband Harry Crosby discouraged her from pursuing the business and persuaded her to close it. Bra- or bikini-like garments are depicted in art of female athletes of the Minoan civilization, ca. [41][42] He also designed an "All-in-None" design with a deep, plunging front, and a "No-Back" long-line version, which featured a contoured stretch-waistband that allowed a woman to wear a backless dress. It appeared in a corset catalogue as a two-piece undergarment, which she originally called the corselet gorge, and later le bien-tre (or "the well-being"). "Bra-burning" created an image that women weren't really seeking freedom from sexism, but were attempting to assert themselves as sexual beings. Derived from the French word meaning upper arm, the brassiere is a mass-produced support undergarment worn by women that consists of two fabric cups attached to two side panels, a back panel, and shoulder straps (unless strapless) that fits snugly. Abrams 2006. Corsets varied in length from short ones, which only supported the bust, to longer ones which were also used to shape the waist. From there the bra was adopted by women in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Also new and ubiquitous in the 2000s was the popularity of printed designs such as floral or patterned prints. brasserie (n.) "beer saloon in which food is served," 1864, from French brasserie "beer-garden attached to a brewery," from Middle French brasser "to brew," from Latin brace "grain used to prepare malt," said by Pliny to be a Celtic word (compare Welsh brag "malt"). [49]) that continues to grow. Lexico's first Word of the Year! [61], Bralettes have also become popular during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns due to a focus on comfort while working from home. See Answer. Willson Goggles, a Pennsylvania firm that manufactured safety equipment for manual workers, is believed to have introduced the plastic "SAF-T-BRA", designed to protect women on the factory floor. [14], Sigmund Lindauer from Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt, Germany developed a bra for mass production in 1912 and patented it in 1913. Other similar items of clothing include the baofu () from the Han dynasty; the liangdan () from the Wei Jin period; the hezi () from the Tang dynasty; the moxiong () from the Song dynasty; the hehuan jin () from the Yuan dynasty; and the zhuyao () from the Ming dynasty. [58] In 2017, the sales of cleavage-boosting bras fell by 45% while at Marks & Spencer, sales of wireless bras grew by 40%. There is very little visual evidence for its existence, and even less evidence for its specialized use as an undergarment. In 1977, Lisa Lindahl, Polly Smith and Hinda Mille invented the first sports bra[46] in the costume shop of Royall Tyler Theatre at the University of Vermont. The term brassiere, from French brassire, was used by the Evening Herald in Syracuse, New York, in 1893. What does brasserie mean? Thus the bra emerged from something that was once discreetly tucked into the back pages of women's magazines in the 1890s, to prominent display in department stores such as Sears, Roebuck, and Montgomery Ward by 1918. Women with larger breasts tried products like the popular Symington Side Lacer that, when laced at the sides, pulled and helped to flatten women's chests. Family Circle Magazine. [citation needed]. The baby boom specifically created a demand for maternity and nursing bras and television provided new promotional opportunities. "[76][77][78][79][80] Women associated with an act like symbolically burning their bra may be seen by some as law-breaking radicals, eager to shock the public. In Style: Femininity and Fashion since the Victorian Era. Home-sewn garments competed with factory-made, ready-to-wear garments. It comes from bre meaning fine and saor meaning free, thus women who had been used to constrictive corsets called the new underwear bre saor [brah seer], fine and free! "The media picked up on the bra part," Carol Hanisch said later. The most well-known example is the dudou (Chinese: , , or ; also known by other names), a diamond-shaped garment used to flatten the breasts and preserve the stomach qi, which was developed in the Qing dynasty. Noun: 1. brasserie - a small restaurant serving beer and wine as well as food; usually cheap [citation needed], A bra-like device[16] that gave a symmetrical rotundity to the wearer's breasts was patented in 1859 by Henry S. Lesher of Brooklyn, New York. An item of underwear worn to support the breasts. The history of bras (brassires; variously pronounced) is inextricably intertwined with the social history of the status of women, including the evolution of fashion and changing views of the female body. This invention more closely resembled the modern bra known today, and was a precursor to the underwire bra.[21][22]. There is at least one example of late-Hellenic sculpture that seems to confirm this, depicting the goddess wrapping a strphion (from strphos "twisted band" + the diminutive suffix -ion) around her chest. [51], Two design challenges that bra manufacturers face at present seem paradoxical. Other major manufacturers of the 1930s included Triumph, Maidenform, Gossard, (Courtaulds), Spirella, Spencer, Twilfit, and Symington. Its early history suggests that the word ought to appear in English in the second decade of the twentieth century, and the Oxford English Dictionary indeed dates its first example of the word brassiere to 1911. Berry, Cheree, Hoorah for the Bra. There are considerable differences of opinion as to who "invented" the modern brassire. First-year sales for the Wonderbra were approximated at US $120 million. The word brasserie is also French for "brewery" and, by extension, "the brewing business". [25] Her innovation drew immediate attention that evening and, at the request of family and friends, she made more of her new device. [8] All four garments were carbon-dated to the 15th century, and illustrate three different styles: the first and second are high-necked, with fabric stretching above the cups to cover the dcolletage, and are sleeveless and cut just below the bust; the third has two broad shoulder straps and a possible back strap; the fourth garment most resembles a modern longline bra, with linen cups joined vertically at the center of the breast and a linen extension cut at about to the level of the ribcage and fastened with a row of eyelets on the front left side of the body. Names and Name Meanings. Victoria's Secret is an exception. New words appear; old ones fall out of use or alter their meanings. [citation needed] The molded one-piece, seamless bra cup became ubiquitous. As you are the one source I implicitly trust on matters relating to etymology etc, and because your reporting is always interesting, I desire to see an article on same by you. Find more French words at wordhippo.com! A restaurant serving alcoholic beverages, especially beer, as well as food. [4], The wearing of a specialized undergarment meant to support a woman's breasts may date back to ancient Greece. As in World War I, there was concern about the use of badly needed steel in corsets; in 1941 the British Government carried out a survey of women's usage of underwear that showed that "on average, women owned 1.2 bras (housewives 0.8 and agricultural workers 1.9)". [36] Hughes constructed the bra on the principles of bridge building, with the goal of fitting and supporting Russell's breasts. ), from bras "an arm," from Latin bracchium "an Most early Grecian sculpture and vase paintings that depict women in states of undress show no indication of any kind of breast-band, instead revealing the shape of the breast through draped clothing, or even the nipple itself, with no sign of an intervening item of clothing between chiton and skin. [citation needed] With metal shortages, World War I encouraged the end of the corset. The history of bras (brassires; variously pronounced) is inextricably intertwined with the social history of the status of women, including the evolution of fashion and changing views of the female body. 1 noun brassiere women's underwear: bra 1 noun brassiere An item of underwear worn to support the breasts; now commonly shortened to bra. [18] brassiere - Definition of brassiere | Is brassiere a word in the scrabble dictionary? Advertising, promotion, and consumerism were limited but started to appear directed at minorities (e.g., Ebony in 1945) and teens. As an aside on the way words can shift in meaning over time and between languages, a brassire in modern French most commonly refers to a babys vest (in the British sense of an undershirt) or to a lifebelt, while the usual word for a bra in that language is soutien-gorge, literally a bosom support. [82][83][84], Germaine Greer's book The Female Eunuch (1970) became associated with the anti-bra movement because she pointed out how restrictive and uncomfortable a bra could be. Sewn bras and blouses were very much in vogue during the Vijayanagara empire and the cities brimmed with tailors who specialized in tight fitting of these garments. Copyright Michael Quinion, 1996. On the other hand, body mass and bust size is increasing,[52] In 1937, Warner began to feature cup sizing in its products. Origin. "[85], In 1984, feminist Susan Brownmiller took the position in her book Femininity that women without bras shock and anger men because men "implicitly think that they own breasts and that only they should remove bras. accouchement / kum / noun. Crosby's patent was for a device that was lightweight, soft, comfortable to wear, and naturally separated the breasts, unlike the corset, which was heavy, stiff, uncomfortable, and had the effect of creating a "monobosom. [14] Warner went on to earn more than $15 million from the bra patent over the next 30 years. This might lead individuals to believe, as she wrote in her 2003 article "Feminism, Miss America, and Media Mythology," that the women were merely trying to be "trendy, and to attract men. This page was last edited on 16 February 2021, at 17:50. [23], In 1910, Mary Phelps Jacob (known later in life as Caresse Crosby), a 19-year-old New York socialite, purchased a sheer evening gown for a debutante ball. (English pronunciations of brassiere from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus and from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary, both sources Cambridge University Press) This last name seems to have been bestowed by Herminie Cadolle, who marketed the first type recognisable as its modern form in France in 1905. Although the ym's popularity died out in the 20th century due to Westernization, it has recently seen a revitalization with the invention of the modern o ym, which is slightly different in style. Other words sites
Their major appeal was to those for whom lung function and mobility were priorities, rather than outer appearance. There is considerably more evidence for the use of the Roman strophium, their adaptation of the strphion, which was also referred to as the fascia, fasciola, taenia, or mamillare. Mary had large breasts and found that the whalebone visibly poked out around her plunging neckline and from under the sheer fabric. As with other women's products, consumer adoption was encouraged by successful advertising and marketing campaigns. ", https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/grdr/hd_grdr.htm, "Medieval lingerie from Lengberg Castle, East-Tyrol", "Medieval underwear: bras, pants and lingerie in the Middle Ages", "The Bloomer Girls: America's Dress Reform Movement of the 1850s", "Upstate New York and the Women's Rights Movement", "Patents; In bra technology, an incremental improvement can translate into comfort", "Maidenform Collection, 19221997 No. [5] However, it is currently impossible to tell whether the strphion was an everyday garment worn by the average woman or an item of clothing reserved for certain situations or specific types of women. [14][34][35]:101 Adjustable bands were introduced using multiple eye and hook positions in the 1930s. The war also influenced social attitudes toward women and helped to liberate them from corsets. What is the origin of the word brassiere? Large corporations such as HanesBrands Inc. control most bra manufacturing,[49][55] Gossard, Berlei and Courtaulds with 34% of the UK market. If you have heard a story about its creation by a New York garment maker named Otto Titzling, dont believe a word of it it was a hoax perpetrated by Wallace Reyburn in 1971 in a book entitled Bust-Up: The Uplifting Tale of Otto Titzling and the Development of the Bra. A second story in the same newspaper written by Jon Katz did not mention burning lingerie, but Campbell interviewed Katz. "[67] The feminists insisted afterward that the newspaper report was wrong. Hollywood fashion and glamour influenced women's choices more than ever, leading to the popularity of bras like the cone-shaped, spiral-stitched bullet bra that was worn by actresses like Patti Page, Marilyn Monroe, and Lana Turner, who was nicknamed the "Sweater Girl". In 2001, 27% of UK sales were D or larger. The Pfalzgrafin's pair are made of lightweight ivory-colored silk lined with linen and enforced with whalebone or reeds; they have a wide casing in the center front designed to house a busk made of wood or horn and lace up the back. The French word brassire refers to a baby's vest (undershirt) or lifebelt, underbodice or harness. After the straight-fronted corset became fashionable in the early 20th century, a bra or "bust supporter" became a necessity for full-busted women because the straight-fronted corset did not offer as much support and containment as the Victorian styles. Asked by Wiki User. "[14], In 1876, dressmaker Olivia Flynt was granted four patents covering the "true Corset" or "Flynt Waist." Until fairly recently, not much was known about supportive garments with defined cups that may have existed before the invention of the corset in the late Middle Ages. Her designs won a bronze medal at the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association in 1878, at the Cotton Centennial Exposition in Atlanta in 18845, and at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.[17]:171. They named the company Maiden Form, a deliberate contrast with the name of a competitor, "Boyishform Company. French brassire child's jacket with sleeves, brassiere from Old French braciere bras arm (from Latin brcchium brachium) -iere, -ier one associated with er 1 From American Heritage Dictionary of the In October 1964 Rudy Gernreich released the "No Bra", a soft-cup, light-weight, seamless, sheer nylon and elastic tricot bra in sizes 32 to 36, A and B cups, manufactured by Exquisite Form. Many manufacturers only survived by making tents and parachutes in addition to bras. As the piece says, one problem with tracing its evolution is that brassire has been used in French for several centuries, at first for a soldiers arm guard or shield (it derives ultimately from bras, arm). She and her husband William Rosenthal, along with shop owner Enid Bissett, changed the look of women's fashion. Mid 19th century French, originally brewery, from brasser to brew. The half-sleeved tight bodice or kanchuka figures prominently in the literature of the period, especially Basavapurana (1237 AD), which says kanchukas were worn by young girls as well.[91]. This view may have supported the efforts of opponents to feminism and their desire to invalidate the movement. Germaine Greer and the malestream press", "Hanfu History of Ancient Chinese Underwear - 2021", "History of Chinese Undergarments, Part 1". Im not well informed about the history of womens underwear, and so cant say anything much about the details of the evolution of the garment presented in the article. 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