Restriction and Dismemberment

Today, I worked primarily on establishing a context for the developments of the bra in the later decades of the nineteenth century. My research was focused on the 1920s-1950s, when Maiden Form was founded to counter the breast-binding trend. This trend abruptly transitioned into a lifting and separation of the breasts, which fostered their fetishization, as clearly illustrated by the WWII pinup girls. The chest-binding that became extremely prevalent in the 1920s was a result of the new beauty standards imposed, idealizing a "boyish silhouette." I found it noteworthy that the brassiere was created with the intention of  being a less restrictive undergarment, but quickly transformed into the opposite. Prior to the twentieth century, women mainly wore corsets, which were physical manifestations of the limitations placed on women. The corset was highly impractical in terms of comfort, and subjected women to constant pain that perhaps inhibited their abilities and placed the role of passivity onto them. Similarly, bound breasts served as a very concrete display of female confinement.
Luckily, it did not persist, and high and wide became the name of the game. Brands like Maiden Form claimed their dedication to accentuating and celebrating the natural female form, and bras began to provide more shape and support. These lift and part bras were advertised as not only separating the breasts from each other, but from the female body itself, almost as if the bras were meant to dismember women.
Tomorrow, I'd like to research more on later decades and the appearance of cleavage in beauty standards. My hope is that my research from today will inform my understanding of the 1970s bra.

For your viewing pleasure, here are two photos of brassieres from the 20s: the first shows the chest-binding and straight line trend that was so popular at the beginning of the decade and the second depicts Maiden Form's lift and part "dismembering" brassieres.