100th anniversary of the modern bra

[Puccini]

Today (yesterday, in some parts of the world), is the 100th anniversary of the date when the world's first patent was issued for the brassière, to Mary Phelps Jacobs in the USA. Something for the ladies to celebrate?

Photo source: https://www.englishclub.com/this-week-in-history/Archive/First_Bra_Is_Patented/

Edited November 3, 2014 by Puccini

[Puccini]

The First Bra Was Made of Handkerchiefs

MEGAN GARBERNOV 3 2014, 1:28 PM ET

One hundred years ago today, Mary Phelps Jacobs received a patent for the garment she had invented while preparing to go to a dance.

The bra was not invented on November 3, 1914. Women have been binding and otherwise supporting their breasts for, literally, ages; the first bras may well date back to ancient Greece, where women would wrap bands of fabric across their chests, tying or pinning them in back. And the "brassiere," as a widespread concept—the word comes from the French for "upper arm"—is generally thought to have originated with the DeBevoise Company, which used the term in advertisements for its whale-bone-supported camisoles. (French, then as now, had a certain je ne sais quoi with English-speaking consumers.) Vogue began talking about brassieres in 1907; in 1911, the word merited an entry in the Oxford English Dictionary.

But the bra—the garment that lifts and separates, via cups and straps—became part of the world, officially, on November 3, 1914. That was the day the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted a patent to Mary Phelps Jacobs for the garment she called a "brassiere."

Full article: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/11/the-first-bra-was-made-of-handkerchiefs/382283/

[NancyL]

Hmm, I'm thinking of showing this drawing to my Thai dressmaker -- clever lady that she is. Both she and I are well-endowed and have trouble finding bras that fit in Thailand. Perhaps she could whip something up that's closer to the original design. Of course, since this is Thailand, she wouldn't use handkerchiefs. It must be slightly padded for the sake of modesty. Maybe cut up a mattress pad.

[slapout]

Some thoughts/ideas that we humans have should be kept to ourselves.

[TheWizardofRnR]

The True Story !