http://www.fashion-era.com/flapper_fashion_1920s.htm The 1920's Bra The bras of the early 20s include home made ones in white cotton and which were little more than bust bodices with extra separation. Some purchased bras were like camisoles and they offered no support.
Big busted girls turned to bandaging their breasts flat, but many adopted the Symington Side Lacer, a bra that could be laced at both sides and pulled and pulled in to flatten the chest. For young ladies with youthful figures a satisfactory bra was the four sectioned lace bandeau bra, lined in net. None of the bras gave much shape, but few ladies were seeking anything more than stopping the bust from wobbling. As long as they looked boyish they looked fashionable. By the 1930s Triumph, Maidenform, Gossard, Warner Brothers, Spirella, Twilfit and Symingtons were all making bras that did the job of separating the breasts. At the same time it was finally acknowledged that women had differing cup sizes and bra sales doubled with the new designs. The Symington Side Lacer After 1918 fashion bras were simply lace fabric bands with straps. The boyish figures needed for styles by designers like Chanel didn't need upholstered corsets. The best bra to get the right effect was called the Symington Side Lacer, a reinforced bust bodice. Side lacing meant that it flattened the bust when laced tightly. Soon the word brassiere was abandoned for bra and ever since in fashion history we have referred to the bra. -----Original Message----- The dress seems fairly 1920s and I realize that most women then were probably not built stick then to look like they do in all the renderings from the period. Elizabeth Ashleiy is very well endowed and it's leading me to wonder what busty women wore for bras then and would have given them the support they needed. The only bras I've seen from the 1920s are flimsy little silk things with no structure at all. And what would you use on a busty actress today to help give her that proper 1920s look? Sylvia Rognstad _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
