,
With the beginning of the 20th century, corsets began to die a slow death to be replaced by a bra. History of the bra offers us the name of Phillipe de Brassière, a Frenchman living in New York, who had the presence of mind to patent this revolutionary garment that liberated women from corset oppression. He was not, however, the father of the idea. The first bra must be credited to Herminie Cadolle, a Parisian corset-maker and, herself, a passionate revolutionary.
.
,
Born in 1842, Cadolle, whose real name was Eugénie Sardon, was a woman of character. During the Commune revolution, she applauded the creation, on April 11, 1871, of the first mass women’s movement: the Union of Women for the Defense of Paris and Care of the Wounded. Friend of radical revolutionaries such as Théophile Ferré, who ordered the execution of the Archbishop of Paris, she was imprisoned when the Commune was crushed by the French government. After her release, she opted for exile in Argentina, where she opened a successful fashion shop.
A supporter of women’s emancipation, Herminie was also convinced that it was necessary to extract them from the armor of the traditional corset. She had the idea of cutting the corset in two: a lower part to hold the abdomen, and an upper part to highlight the chest; this upper part was the ancestor of the bra. She returned to France to present her “corselet-gorge” called “Bien-Être” (Well-Being) during the Universal Exhibition of 1889. The first bra thus appeared the same year as the Eiffel Tower built for the exhibition.
.
,
In 1910, Herminie Cadolle opened workshops and a boutique in Paris to continue her personal revolution. The house became one with modernity, creating the boyish flat-chested look called la garçonne (from garçon: boy) that marked 1920s fashion requiring short hair and a flattened chest. Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, and Coco Chanel were among the clients of the Cadolle House.
.
.,
.
Related posts:
The Victorian Gentleman Undressed
All About Corsets
If you like these posts, support the author by buying her books:
.
Was this post useful to you? Share your thoughts here.