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Cultural History EssaySince long duration ago, bandeau has out reportd vogue and beauty among women. The history of Bra is linked to social history of the status of women which entails both the evolution of fashion and the changing views of the body of a woman. Since time immemorial, women have used various garments and devices to cover, elevate and restrain the mammillas. Over a period of time the emphasis of brassieres has change overd from the functionality point to fashionable point. This fact means that in current period bras are part of fashion of a woman. Origin of the BraThe origin of bra is believed to be in 2500BC worn by the Minoan women who re military positiond in the island of Crete in the ancient Greece. These women used to recrudesce garments that looked like Bra whose aim was to lift up their breast and boost them. Since then, at that place has been tremendous change in the shape of the breast with different social meanings. Evolution of Bras The evolutio n of bra starts with the Corsetry which was worn by the Cretan Women. The Cretan woman stood with bare breasts and the waist and hip fit out shown above the decorative part of her on a lower floorwear.The aim of the corset among the Cretan women was as a symbol of beauty and was aimed at showing off the breast. It is believed that bare breast had a cultural and religious significance. Around 450bc, the Greek started wearing a bodice tied above the breasts leaving the breasts naked. This Small band of material was referred to as Apodesme and was introduced after the corsets were prohibited. Apodesme compete a functional role as they prevented the breast moving while walking.The bra like structures accompanied with fashionable dress of that time. In many of the eighteenth century paintings show ladies wearing free falling, pleated loose serve backs. It was probably developed from the over gown that was worn in the 17th century. Under the pannier dress was perfectly crafted laced stays that were do of many pieces of whale b unmatchables. These stays were backstitched by hand and were very beautiful and decorative. The stays supported and raised the breast to a sharp point in the front as well as defining a trim shape.The stays always matched the dress as the bones in these stays were placed laterally across both the back and front shoulder blades to ensure that the front remained straight and an upright back. Although women had vestments that provided support to the breast such as crinolines and bustles in Victorian age, corsets started to reappear in 18th century and this was evident with Edwardian Era. During Edwardian era, Edwardian Corsets started qualification a big impact in women fashion. Fashion favored mature women as it exploited the curves of a highly corseted shape.The young and the old women laced themselves so tightly that they distorted their figures to get am s shape associated with that period. Health corsets were vastly favored in 1890 s and 1900 and were designed with an aim of assisting the women in breathing. Aches Sarraute of capital of France designed health corset with an aim of aiding health kinda of endangering it. She introduced the straight fronted busk that left thorax free. It was in like manner designed to support and raise the abdomen instead of forcing it downwards.She rightly aimed at reducing pressure on vital female organs dispensed with constricting curves at the waist which was a common feature film among all corsets. Corsets after 1907 were straight as womens obsession on small waist had reduced. The corsets of 1907 achieved a long slim figure. These corsets had had elastic gussets inserts which were supposed to improver the level of comfort. The new longer styles of 1912, corsets increase in length reaching the knees making it difficult for women sitting down. These corsets were designed for beauty purposes as fashion compete a major role in their development.During this period, there was a shift of attention from metallic corsets and the concept of bra started to appear. (Workman, 1996) The word Bra was developed and premier(prenominal) reported in America copy of Vogue in 1907. The original French name of brassier meant a soldiers arm. The First World War contributed to evolution of bras where women cast aside corsets and started wearing bras. During this period, the term brassier started to appear in high profile women magazines and eventually appeared in Oxford English dictionary in 1912. (Elizabeth, 1976)In 1913, bloody shame Phelps Jacob, a naked as a jaybird York socialite, made a backless brassier from two silk handkerchiefs and some ribbon after discovering that the corsets were too restrictive when a woman was dancing in night clubs. Mary sold her patent to Warner Brothers corset company for 1500 us dollars. After the year 1918, bras were made of lace bands with straps. The best bras at that time were the Symington side lacer which was a reinforced b odice. The side lacing was aimed at flattening the bust when it was tightened. It was at this time that the term bra changed from brassier. (Elizabeth, 1976)In thirties the bra became much in advance(p) and the home sewn version of bras started to diminish during this period. In 1928, entrepreneur William and Ida Rosenthal developed bra by introducing the cup sizes and bras for all the stages of a woman. Warmers developed the alphabet bra which was made in a set of sizes that were corresponding to alphabetical letters. This is as a result of women gaining use up in the size of their breast and other women breast. The women interest in these types of bra was as a result of aggressive marketing and the changing role of women in the society.During this period, bras became a major industry and there was great improvement in fiber technology, patterns, colors and varieties of the bras. There was increase in innovation such as sized cup, adjustable strap, increased elasticity and dram atize breast for small sized breast. The marketing of bras during this period targeted the younger women as beauty was an important aspect in them. The desired feature in 1930s was a pointy bust and this further increased demand for a holding garment and bras fitted well for this function. In 1940s, Clothing was determined by the Second World War.During this period, advertisements of clothes were based on patriotism. The highly structured conical pointed bullet bras were used as protection clothes whereby in the military fraternity, the female soldiers were advised to wear them for anatomical support, good taste and for morale. During this period, bra enhanced the concept of the sweater girl. Sweater girls often wore bullets bras which contributed to the development of later brassieres. The war had an impact on the descend of materials as there was shortage of material which resulted into women producing their own bras from parachute silk and old wedding dresses.Commercially manuf actured bras were made from minimum amount of material and therefore bore the utility mark. This led to the emergence of utility bras. In 1950s, the bras were typical long line stitch and fashion was a major contributing federal agent towards the development of bras. The long line conical bra gave support silhouette for girls who wanted to be like film stars sweater girls like Jane Russell. The bras got better as use of nylon materials made them more attractive, lighter and easier to wash. Pretty1960s was a period that was characterized by increased interest of quality and fashion of bras. There was increased demand for maternity and mastectomy bras and increase in the use of washing machines led to increase in preference for durable bras. There was increased marketing forwarding such as wearing bras 24 hours a day. This period was marked with cultural changes which represented a great threat to bra market. These counter finis to bra production included civil right movement and feminism which greatly opposed women wearing bras.During this period, there was development in the form of bras which were seamless, praise and sexy and were more appealing to teenage girls. The invention was referred to as wonderbra invention. These Bras tugged the breast together and pulled them forward and because they were a means of attraction. They were marketed as a form of luxury. The material used became durable, light weight and elastic. In late 1960s, bra and other feminine emblems became targets of feminist activism. The feminists viewed bras as objects which reduced women as sex objects. somewhat women started questioning the role of bra and this led to knowledge against 1968 miss American beauty pageant. For example, Germaine Greer stated that bras were absurd invention aimed at reducing the status of women. In 1968, they were a protest against Miss America beauty pageant by 400 women coming from New York Radical women in Atlantic City expression hall. The demonstr ation took place after Democratic national convention and the protestors placed bras, high heeled shoes, hairsprays and other beauty instrument seen as symbols of oppression of women in a freedom trash can placed on the ground.This was a clear sign of protest against bra although no real burning of the bras took place. There was also another protest in 1970 which received wide coverage and was perceived as sexual liberation. This protest although seen by people as breaking of the righteousness was somehow fruitful as many women stopped . This led to some stores such as Berkeley Roos closing Bra department due to poor sales. The protest led to development of no bra by Rudi Gernreich in 1964. This bra was light, transparent stretch netting and had a simple shape.The fine layer of fizz in the bras made the cups to stand up on the end (Pederson, 2004) The burning of bra by feminist led to innovations in fashion industry in order top win back the lost customers. Gossard launched its w onderbra crusade in 1968 which led to introduction of original wonderbra. At first-year 36C was the top size of this innovatory under wired bra that was a necessity for V neck dresses of late sixties caftans which had ling necks were changed by the cleavage from a wonderbra. In case where one was in need of larger bra, a bra replacement fastener was used as an extender.Inserts of extra lagging or foam rubber could be inserted into small pockets in the wonderbra to increase the fullness where there was no bust. In nineties, silicon implant scare caused the women to turn to bras as the best option of improve their breast size. The wonderbra became best seller in 1990s. In 1916s there was the presence of bra slips which were common for short skimpy dresses. The return of cleavage was recorded in 1990s . In a blonde ambition tour Madonna was sported wearing sported ice unguent coned circular sewed cup on her Gaultier corset.Gautier first made designs of breast that were based on the conical breasts of eighties but received full approval after Madonna used it in a number of her functions and hence sexy lace Bras came back into line. In 1990s there was the introduction of very plain tactel underwear slips which gave a good line beneath dresses making it possible to wear unlined dresses successful without static build up. Bra industry was further promoted during this period by the quest for women who had omit their breast in 1960s to have more figure control especially when wearing the straight sheath dress that were back in fashion.During this period, there was pursuit for cleavage by utilizing water, air and silicone pads and improvement in this development enhanced the sales of fashion companies in 21st century as they put more emphasis on breast management and improvement. The change in fashion trends resulted in different types emerging to suit different fashion needs of women. Cleavage enhancers are types of bras which have a plunging neckline which is im portant for maximum cleavage. The pads add an additional lift and the bra fully characterize bust hence ideal for low necklines.There are other fashionable bras referred to as Convertible/strapless which go up to five ways on a strapless bra often having molded padded cups that offer support and shape to the breast. They have seam free cups that are not visible under clothes. Bras do not only serve as fashion apparatus but they also play a big role in sports. variant bras are perfectly constructed to provide a maximum support, compresses the breast and hence minimizing bouncing by the breasts. The material fabric is important in drawing wet away from the body hence keeping the body comfortable.Silicone bra is a type of bra comes in different sizes from cup size A, B C D. It does not have any strap. It is flexible and sticks tightly in conformity with the womans bust as it has self adhesive coating. It is made from high quality silicon gel. It is easy to wash, it has no strap and o ccurs in a range of colors and so the user has a wide preference of the colors she desires. This bra can be reused many times after laundering. Push ups and inflatable brassieres is a type of bra introduced in mid 1990s and added major sex appeal to the USA market. It was pioneered in 1960s by Fredricks of Hollywood .The look was classic pieces of soft cup inflated into a conic point. During this period, Singer and Dancer Madonna played a big role in making this bra to be famous. This bra has undergone much innovation such as volume adjustment systems, pairing of the sleek looking bra with air extricable padding. The bra has a molded cup and wireless lifts. It has a weightless padding which gives the cleavage a slight projection. It has barely three Bralettes. It is found in soft cup, Camisole like sheers as well as lacy under wire creations which exhibit double cleavage of their full cup counterparts. (Steele, 2001)Sex openness among the current time women In 1950s to 1980s femini sts played great role in trying to liberate women from oppression by men. They tried as much as they could in transforming the working and business environment to suit women and this resulted in many of them getting jobs and becoming more liberal especially in their sexual lives. In the past, feminists opposed beauty apparatus which they considered as being tools which reduced women as sex objects. This did not get support from all the women as beauty was still valued b women and so they continued using beauty apparatus and fashion determined what they wore.Currently the society has changed greatly and as a result of empowerment, women have become more liberal and hence more open to sixths is depicted by the garb they put on which more is revealing than in the past years. Also increase in innovation by fashion industries has played a major role as these companies strive hard to market products which are said to amaze women look sexy. Improved technology especially in the entertain ment sector has contributed a lot to women becoming more sexual open as they mostly emulate the lifestyles of the entertainment stars. (Kunzle, 2004) ConclusionInnovation has played a major role in shaping the fashion in different time span. Bra comes out clearly as a major fashion tool and from its evolution, it can be concluded that it has played a central role in women fashion and enhancing beauty among the women. Women have considered fashion as an important aspect in their life and this is evident in the different variety of beauty apparatus they have been having since time immemorial. In the contemporary times, women open sexuality show that women are liberalized and hence free to select any type of lifestyle and clothing to put on.Reference List Elizabeth, E. , (1976). Underwear A History. New York, NY Theatre Arts Books Kunzle, D. , (2004). Fashion and Fetishism Thrupp, UK Sutton Publishing Limited Stephanie, P. , (2004) Bra a kelvin years of style, Newton Abbot David Ch arles Valerie, S. , (2001). The Corset A Cultural History. New Haven, CT Yale University Press. Workman, N. , (1996). From Victorian to Victorias Secret The Foundations of Modern Erotic Wear. ledger of Popular Culture. 30. 2, 61-73