Tomima's Blog – Lingerie & Underwear Expert

 

 
For me, this was an exciting and fascinating discovery.  A bra from the 1950′s sold at auction last week for more than $5,000.  It was made for Marilyn Monroe and could have been worn under her famous white dress known for flying up over a New York City subway vent in the movie "Seven Year Itch."
 
There are so many intruiging aspects to this bra.  Marilyn was a size 36D, but this bra was designed to give her an even larger bustline.  Let’s start with the double straps.  This was a very clever design because it pulled the breasts up from both sides – like a cradle or hammock – to maximize projection and volume.  Back then, the conical shape breast positioned straight out in front was the preferred look. This bra would definitely achieve that look.
 
There are said to be two cups inside this bra.  The inside cup is an underwire half-cup or shelf bra style.  It would be similar to today’s support panels that help support the breasts from below and position them up higher to show off a woman’s waist.  Then, another cup on the outside was fashioned.  It actually projected one inch from the undercup.  This gave Marilyn the illusion of more breast tissue.  Today we use bump pads to achieve this same affect.  This outer cup has vertical ribbon seaming for additional support as well. It looks a lot like our very popular Shirley of Hollywood chopper bra.  

This bra for Monroe was a combination of cream and nude tones to look invisible under clothing.  So, when you think about it, this bra was way ahead of its time and incorporated technology and themes common in today’s bras – support, volume and invisible coloring.  Truly a fascinating find.  I only wish I had known about it in time to bid on it.

 

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Bras

 

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