Name: History of bras | Videos | Gan Jing World
Uploaded: 2023-12-08T18:27:53.952Z
Duration: 32 min 29 s
Description: The history of bras is inextricably intertwined with the social history of the status of women, including the evolution of fashion and changing views of the fe... | Videos | Gan Jing World

History Media-HD

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The history of bras  is inextricably intertwined with the social history of the status of women, including the evolution of fashion and changing views of the female body.

Women throughout history have used a variety of garments and devices to support, cover, restrain, reveal, or modify the appearance of their breasts. Bra- or bikini-like garments are depicted in art of female athletes of the Minoan civilization, ca. 14th century BC and there is some evidence to suggest that even from the Greco-Roman period women had developed specialized bra-like garments used for the purpose of supporting the breast. By the 14th century AD the proto-bra was in development in Europe and from approximately the 16th century AD onward, the undergarments of wealthier women in the Western world were dominated by the corset, which supported the breasts by transferring their weight to the rib cage. Corsets varied in length from short ones, which only supported the bust, to longer ones which were also used to shape the waist. In the latter part of the 19th century, women experimented with various alternatives such as splitting the corset into a girdle-like shaping device for the lower torso and transferring the upper part to devices suspended from the shoulder.

By the early 20th century, garments more closely resembling contemporary bras had emerged, although large-scale commercial production did not occur until the 1930s. Since then bras have replaced corsets  and some, as well, go without. The metal shortages of World War II encouraged the end of the corset. By the time the war ended, most fashion-conscious women in Europe and North America were wearing bras. From there the bra was adopted by women in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Antiquity
Greece
There is some evidence to suggest that a specialized garment meant to support and contain women's breasts may date back to Ancient Greece, though most of this evidence is literary rather than visual or textile. In Book 14 of Homer's Iliad, written in the archaic period of Classical Antiquity, the poet refers to Aphrodite's "embroidered girdle" or kestos himas as being "loosed from her breasts," perhaps indicating that this may be a reference to a decorated breast-band rather than a girdle or belt, as is often interpreted. There is at least one example of late-Hellenic sculpture that seems to confirm this, depicting the goddess wrapping a stróphion  around her chest. The stróphion is also mentioned in Aristophanes' plays Lysistrata and Women at the Thesmophoria. However, it is currently impossible to tell whether the stróphion was an everyday garment worn by the average woman or an item of clothing reserved for certain situations or specific types of women. Some sources suggest that it may have been in use as a common undergarment while others are doubtful. 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