Every representative object has its complicated historical background, even the bra on a woman's chest is no exception. Talking about the origin of bra can be traced back to the liberation of women's rights, which is definitely a historical topic. But for the inventor of the bra, there are different voices.
As early as 1859, with the patent application of "symmetrical spherical bra" invented by Henry of new york, it was considered as the embryonic form of bra. To 1907, French designer Paul who specializes in robes? Polly claimed: "I declare the decline of corsets and the rise of bras in the name of freedom." Although I don't know what he designed, he is considered as the inventor of the bra. In the same year, the word "bra" appeared in the American version of Vogue, and bra began to be familiar and accepted by the public. Bras, more than any other clothes, can express two opposite desires-covering the body and strengthening and showing it at the same time. The sexual significance and ritualized components of the bra constitute the contradictory history of women: objectively binding the obedience and repression of the body, and subjectively highlighting the body's breaking taboos.
The struggle between "bra" and "waist-binding"
The corsets popular in the 1960s and 1970s were made of dark black silk lined with muslin. The design is extremely complicated, with fine stitches, and 20 whale bones are used, 140 lacing line. Before the bra appeared, women had been wearing it for more than 400 years. The first task of a bra is to squeeze the waist.
The girdle originated in the court. Unofficial history said that Queen Josephine was having an affair. She wrapped a piece of cloth around her abdomen to cover her eyes and ears, but it had the effect of raising her chest. Wearing fashionable low-cut clothes, her breasts were clearly visible, which became a trend for a while. Men think that girding the waist forms a shocking image just to arouse lewdness and lust, but women think it is convenient to display jewelry. On the eve of the appearance of bras, upper-class women were still oppressed by boards, whale bones and leather corsets. If they dare to take off their bras and relax their posture, they will be considered morally pathetic. Working-class women and peasant women can't afford expensive corsets, which will hinder their work. At the historic moment, a cheap corset appeared, with a tie on the chest and no help from a servant. At that time, the upper class had the absolute advantage of leading the trend, although the inventor of bra Paul? Bolie specializes in serving the nobility, and his wife, who has lost her waist, is only regarded as a shocking and ultra-fashionable person, with few imitators.
/kloc-in the middle of the 0/8th century, an anti-waist-tightening movement initiated by doctors appeared in Europe, fighting side by side with the anti-wet nurse movement under the banner of science. The famous remark comes from a pamphlet written by a Frenchman named Bono: "Using whale bones to gird the waist leads to the degradation of human species, which goes against the laws of nature, increases the crisis of population decline and deteriorates the quality of men. In other words, a woman is named a pregnant man, but she is punished from the moment she is conceived. " This selfish male view is really annoying, but the goal is the same as that of early feminists. 1876, Ursin, godmother of American female existentialism, said in an anti-waist-tightening speech: "I exist, and my primary role is not my wife or mother, but a woman. I have the right to exist as a woman. New women have the right to wear strong, comfortable and happy clothes. " But no one listened to them. Although girding makes women suffer and conforms to the "seduction principle" of men with erotic meaning, women use sexiness more than men to get ahead. As long as they don't take off their waists, they may be promoted.
Bras prove that war and the muse can survive. When World War I broke out, Germany and France also launched a war of "girding the waist" against "bras". An advertisement published in Leipzig News in Germany denounced the danger of the "bra" invented by Parisians, and vigorously promoted the real German spirit corset, which buckled to the waist and gave breast armor-like support. However, just like a real war, the French won the final victory. World War I is one of the few flat-chested trends in history. Social girls try to make themselves look flat, so that a long string of pearl necklaces come down, rayon comes out, bras are cheap, aristocratic men who want to be seduced are declining, and women have to go out to work, so convenient bras have become the first choice. Then World War II broke out. The American government called on women to give up corsets with a lot of steel wires to support the battlefield. It is said that the three-year festival saved 28,000 tons of steel, enough to build two warships. Just like Warner Bros. just got a bra patent, it launched an all-cloth bra in time and designed a cloth vest for homing pigeons, making a fortune in the war.
Since then, no matter the fashion is big, small, sharp and round, the corset bra has never replaced it. Today, the bra has become a part of a woman's body. Women put it on and take it off every day, but they don't know that there is such a vast history and tragic struggle behind her. Bra, her contribution to women is not only physical, but also spiritual liberation.