The bra

Dr. Jane Farrell-Beck from Iowa State University gave a talk entitled “Technology and the Bra.” The bra as we know it was created in the 1930s, when adjustable straps and a stretchy material called Lastex were invented.

Many bra designs that seem innovative have actually existed for decades. For example, nursing bras have existed since 1888, padded bras since the 1920s, and Lycra spandex bras since 1959.

Some designs have gone out of vogue for good reason, such as the rubber bras of the 1830s, the full metal bras of the early 1900s and the sew-it-yourself underwire bra from the Second World War (underwire was not included to conserve metal for the war effort).

Bras were originally designed to be a health aid, and Dr. Farrell-Beck predicts that future bras may regain that function. New innovations might include a bra that could respond to body temperature, and warm or cool the breasts accordingly. Bras with circuit boards to monitor the wearer’s vital signs may also be in the works.

The corset

The next speaker, Dr. Colleen Gau of Iowa State University, went back in time by presenting a talk on the technological history of corsets. Popular during the 19th century, corsets were made with either whale baleen or steel, and created a very narrow waist by tightly binding a woman’s torso and abdomen.

Corset-making epitomized many of the achievements of the industrial revolution, using the products of the whaling industry, steel manufacturing processes, vulcanized rubber, the invention of sewing machines and many other innovations. Unfortunately, corsets restrict lung capacity by at least 20 per cent, put increased pressure on the heart and cause internal organs to migrate when worn over long periods of time.

In extreme cases, women’s uteri actually fell out due to the pressure exerted by the corset, and were put back in with an instrument called a pessary. For modern corset-wearers, Gau suggested going for three days without one for every day with. Like wearing a cast, wearing a corset prevents muscles from being used, and wearers can lose 5 per cent of their muscle tone a day. Therefore, Gau also recommends exercising the abdominal and torso muscles after wearing a corset.

The Bustle

The final speaker was Dr. Julie Wosk of SUNY Maritime College, who presented a talk entitled “Wired for Fashion: Images of Crinolines and Bustles in the Mechanical Age.” Crinolines and bustles were used to fill out large skirts. They were generally dome-shaped and made of steel hoops stacked on top of each other.

Wosk argued the technology of lingerie walks a fine line between fashion and ridicule, and attitudes about women’s lingerie was reflective of society’s attitudes toward women. On one hand, crinolines fulfilled 19th century ideals of feminine beauty and grace. On the other hand, they were extremely impractical, knocked over items, risked catching fire, and often embarrassed their wearers by tilting upwards and revealing their pantaloons.

According to Dr. Wosk, bustles looked like “several Slinkys stuck together,” and gave women the look of an enlarged derriere. Like crinolines, bustles made their wearers both the height of elegance and the butt of ridicule. While the artist Tissot painted portraits of elegant women in bustled skirts, satiric cartoons compared bustles to horse’s rumps and camel humps.

By the 1890s, the bustle fad was over. And they seem so strange today that one museum curator mistakenly classified a wire bustle as a “nose guard for an unknown sport.”

Although bustles seem laughable, women’s lingerie today fulfills the same roles it did during the 19th century. It makes statements about fashion, about our society, and ultimately, about ourselves.