While it is a fact that women have been fashioning support for millennia, the first brassier as we know it today officially entered the world of women's fashion on November 3, 1914 when a young woman named Mary Phelps Jacobs was granted a patent by the US patent office.
Imagine young Mary, just 19 years old and getting ready to make her grand entrance into society at her debutant ball, but her corset and chemise were peeking out of the deep neckline in this new sleek style of dress. Undeterred, she asked her maid to bring her a couple of pocket handkerchiefs which she folded into triangles and attached straps and a band to to create a bra that wouldn't show. Et Voila! The brassier was born. It was only a mere 27 years later that the bullet bra premiered during wartime when so many things began adopting new, more patriotic titles like Victory Rolls for a popular hairstyle and Liberty Cabbage instead of sauerkraut. Yes, it seems that during those difficult years, the world was in a mad dash to weaponize as many things as possible--including boobies. Yes, I imagine someone out there thought, Hey, if we can make atoms into bombs, why can't we make breasts into bullets! Please don't check my historical accuracy on that; just take my word for it.
It wasn't long after that that "sweater girls," as the world at large came to know them, first emerged in Hollywood. They are often pictured as busty girls wearing tight sweaters and bullet bras. Although Lana Turner is often credited as being the first "sweater girl", it must be noted that she received this term in 1937 for her role in the movie They Won't Forget, which was released four years before the invention of the bullet bra. Tuner was just wearing a very tight sweater and had a body that garnered attention.
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| 1. with modern bra, 2. with Matrisse bra no pads, 3. Matrisse bra with pads. |
According to Dusty Old Things: The first bullet bra was released in 1941 under the Perma-Lift brand. Ads for the new style of bras captivated customers with promises of supreme comfort and support all in one. The Perma-Lift was made without underwires- only stitching forced the cups to keep their shape. The shape of the bra cups were conical, but since it was wartime, the terms “bullet bra” and “torpedo bra” both stuck around. Just like the new hairstyle was called Victory rolls, so the newest bra was given a name that reflected the times.
Even after the world achieved some sense of peace, the popularity of bullet bras persisted and found their way into the wardrobe of pretty much every woman in America and perhaps around the world, for over three decades thanks to the support of Hollywood bombshells like Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, and Elizabeth Taylor. It wasn't until the 1970s when fashion, make-up and hairstyles focused on au-natural that bullet bras finally faded away. Madonna made an attempt to bring them back in the 1990s with the help of Jean Paul Gaultier, but the result was nothing short of an iconic joke and the bullet bra seems to have gone away for good from the mainstream. But that doesn't mean they aren't still around.
With the revived interest in vintage styles, there are a number of brands that have popped up to meet the demand for authentic undies made in vintage styles, and today we're going to discuss four of those brands. 1. What Katie Did. Founded in 1999, Katie loved vintage lingerie but didn't want to risk damaging it by wearing it. To remedy that, she started making her own. With a wide range of sizes, What Katie Did focuses on authentically made bullet bras, garters, and panties. From what I can tell, this style does seem to be very authentic in design. I ordered a white Matrisse Bullet Bra and I love that this bra has Zero underwire and yet is very supportive and comfortable. The straps and band clasps are wide and offer a great range of adjustability. The main con with this bra is that the fabric is so thin that it offers no lift and by the end of the day this bra fell flat, so to speak and it was rather unpleasant not just physically, but emotionally too. Unfortunately my size is not available from this brand so I opted for my sister size and found it to be a comfortable fit in the band, but there is a hollowness in the cups that I will have to address with padding.
If you're not familiar with the term "sister size" it simply means substituting your size for the adjacent size. For example, if you wear a 34B, you find your sister size by going up one band size and down a cup size to 36A or down a band size and up a cup size to 32C. This bra was perhaps the most authentic. You can see it worn with a sweater in the photos above.
There are no underwires, a sheer nylon fabric for the cups and the straps are supportive, but also quite light much like all the vintage lingerie I've owned. This bra was the most comfortable and felt like almost like wearing nothing except for the thick band. In that way it felt more like a sports bra because it was snug and firm for support.
2. Bettie Page by Playful Promises. This brand is undoubtedly the holy grail of vintage unmentionables. Everything here is on my wish list. I found my size in one bra, but also ordered my sister size in another since my size was out of stock. To my surprise, I like the fit of my sister size much better in this brand. Really gorgeous, and so comfortable. I ordered several styles of bullet bra that range from the subtle point of the Overwire Bra. I loved the look of this bra more than any other, but after wearing it for an entire day that over wire felt like a weight on my chest and was causing some pain--just physical this time, although it seems to me that this is the reason the over wire is not a feature in bras today. It was a more subtle shape than the Matrisse bra and the one by Revival, which I'll come to in a moment, so that was a pro, but the bar felt like a safety mechanism on an amusement park ride and I think I would have liked the bra much more if the shape were the same but it had no wire in it.
While not as pretty as the over wire, it was definitely more comfortable. I wore this all day in a hand made dress from a vintage reproduction pattern and thought that it made the dress look truly authentic. It had that same mild bullet shape that is reminiscent of vintage styles but didn't make my children look away in shame every time I entered a room. No, that only happed when I wore the
3. Revival Lingerie. This UK brand has plenty of nostalgia and offers a full line of vintage style undergarments. They have such a great range of sizes, I love it when shops respect the fact that there are more than just 34-38 out there. I chose a basic Circular Stitched Bullet Bra in black in my sister size. This time, the shop did have my size, but this particular bra was on sale, so, you know, I did that. In the photos this bra looked identical to the WKD bra, but there really is a difference.
Even though they have that same authentic shape and both lack underwire in favor of a thick elastic band for support, the Revival bra is a thicker fabric, so the shape is more pronounced, but I didn't have that loss of bullet trajectory so to speak, as I had with the Matrisse, so you know, my feelings weren't hurt. In my opinion is is much closer to a modern bra in many regards.
4. Kiss Me Deadly. Founded by a cheeky psychologist turned lingerie expert, this UK brand has attitude. (So many UK brands. Where are all the vintage brands from the US?!). There's a lot to love about Kiss Me Deadly, but for this particular experiment I did not succeed in finding a bullet bra. The bullet bras they currently carry are from What Katie Did and Bettie Page, so I settled for a girdle and a little name drop in this post for now. Just like when the original bullet bras were invented, you will likely need something to help fill out the shape since most breasts aren't naturally shaped like bullets. The options for padding are limited. Basically you have What Katie Did and making your own. I did both. The reason I decided to make my own was that most of the reviews for WKD padding were not very good. Most people agreed they just weren't pointy enough. So, I made my own and then when a bra arrived with some padding I could compare. The black one is from WKD, the beige is the one I made. See the difference:
So, to make your own bullet padding, simply cut a bra pad from edge to center. Overlap the cut piece until it makes the shape you want, then mark that distance and cut out the excess fabric. Use that pad to mark the distance on the second pad before you sew so that they will be the same shape and size.
Then sew the two sides together. I recommend you cut out the excess fabric to avoid an uneven shape. I didn't do that with this first prototype and you can see that it's a bit wonky.
Let me just take a moment to say that this post has been a labor of love. I have been researching, shopping, experimenting, sewing, not to mention coming up with the perfect pun for the title of this post, to make this post happen for nearly two months. It was loads of fun, made my family very uncomfortable as I tried out bras that created unfamiliar silhouettes, and ultimately made me want to do more projects like this. I'm just waiting for the next inspiration to come.
Sources: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/11/the-first-bra-was-made-of-handkerchiefs/382283/
My fashion muse, Ms. Audrey Hepburn, wore them many ways as you can see from the pics above. From accenting her outfit to protecting her hair-do, she always made them look good, and I felt that for that proper finish to any vintage look, a scarf is a necessity.
