~LUXURY LINGERIE -THE FIRST BRA~
In the luxury lingerie realm we first of all have to bear in mind that there has only ever been 1 single garment that resembles the modern bra which was found in a 15th-century collection from Lengberg Castle in Tyrol, Austria.
There has never been any other evidence of a bra-like item found after that until the start of the 1900s.
At the start of the 20th century, we begin to see the shapes of modern lingerie design.
This was down to one lady, called Caresse Crosby (her A.K.A. for Mary Phelps Jacob) or Polly, a New York socialite, who decided that all that corsetting was not for her.
She found that one of the whale bones of the corset she was wearing under a party dress kept popping through her dress.
In response to this conundrum and to still give her chest a helping hand, she created this very first contemporary bra by attaching two handkerchiefs to a ribbon.
She thought this invention made her look a lot better.
Her name for this first bra was brassière.
After selling lots of these brassières to friends for one dollar, she founded the Fashion Form Brassière Company, a two women factory in Boston.
In 1914 she managed to patent the first bra as “the backless brassière”.
Her company made a few hundred bras and she fulfilled orders for department stores.
Then she was asked by her husband to close the company.
In effect, she sold the patent to The Warner Brothers Corset Company for a mere US$1,500.
And these Warner Brothers made more than US$15 million from her design within 30 years!
~LUXURY LINGERIE AND LACE TRIMMINGS~
In these Edwardian times (1901-1910) we gradually find that the brassiere was gaining more ground and of course, it was prettied up by Caresse.
We see more and more brassieres or bras trimmed with lace and we are getting close to the major use of lace in luxury lingerie now.
The use of lace in luxury lingerie spilled over from just the use in bras to the likes of corsets, slipdresses, girdles, camisoles, pajamas, robes, and bottoms.
Just have a look at all that stunningness in for example the 20s!
So, it started with just demure trims of lace and it developed into the use of lace in bigger panels to amp that feminine underwear beauty up.
Now lace wasn’t just used in outerwear, but we find this luxury fabric rive in the designs of 20th-century lingerie.
We even see a kind of grey area, especially in show business, where you can’t exactly define whether lace-clad items were meant as just lingerie or just designer clothing.
Nowadays that is such a trend as well to wear lingerie-inspired outerwear, especially embellished with lace.
And doesn’t it still look as swanky as lace was meant to be, even way back when?
Yes, we now embrace lace with utter grace in the luxury lingerie realm and beyond, mes chéries…
~*~
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