WEBVTT - How Bras Work 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:03.560 Welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of five 0:00:03.600 --> 0:00:12.480 Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:18.120 I'm Josh Clark and there's Charles W Chuck Bryant and um, 0:00:18.120 --> 0:00:23.360 it's just us again, it's just us. We've lost Jerry. 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:26.720 I'm in the studio like I wasn't the last one, 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:29.640 but it's still a ghost studio. There's no one here 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:38.040 except for Tommy Chong and the radio or the record player. Right, sure, good, 0:00:38.600 --> 0:00:42.519 let's just get that. We said that, Um, we have 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:46.879 a somebody poised to like scratch the needle off the 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:52.240 record several episodes ago, and that it was Tommy Chong 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:55.720 who who job it was to do that? Now? That's right? Good, callback, 0:00:56.120 --> 0:01:00.520 Thank you. Talk bras Yeah, we're talking bras Man, which 0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:03.160 I appreciate it when we do stuff like this, episodes 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:06.039 like this, because we have to try harder because we're men, 0:01:06.880 --> 0:01:10.600 you know, sure the usual it's the only time we 0:01:10.640 --> 0:01:14.240 have to try harder in life. Sadly that is kind 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:18.760 of true. Um, but we we haven't shied away from 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:21.880 topics that have very little to do with us, like 0:01:22.080 --> 0:01:25.800 um courses. We did one on how Courset's work. Do 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:29.720 you remember totally did a whole episode on coursets. Geez. 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:35.880 We did one on female puberty. Yeah, footbinding. Yeah, we've 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:38.840 done a lot of them. So this is just three 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:42.160 one and the same three is a lot when it 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:45.479 comes to this kind of stuff. Yeah, no, I'm just kidding. 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:47.880 And and uh we we did mention doing one on 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:49.960 menstruation not too long ago, and we got a bunch 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:52.800 of supportive emails saying like, yes, guys, please please do that, 0:01:52.920 --> 0:01:54.840 like there's no reason why you should. Please, I've been 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:57.720 menstruating for fifty years and I still don't understand it. 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:02.680 Please explain, Yeah, exactly. So, actually we have not gotten 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:06.360 an email, although we wouldn't know if we had, you know, 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:09.799 uh yeah, because our email servers down. Sorry if you've 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:14.320 been bounced everyone. Yeah, we're working on it. So we're 0:02:14.320 --> 0:02:18.800 talking Bras, which is short for Brazier, which doesn't have 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:21.880 a definite origin as far as we know. We think 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:25.800 that it came about in the twentieth century, early twentieth century. 0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:28.280 I think it first appeared in print in nine seven 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:31.320 or something like that, and that in French it means 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:34.600 one of two things. It means either arm covering, which 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:38.520 is I think derived from like medieval armor, French medieval armor, 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:40.720 I don't know. And then the other thing I saw 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:45.680 was a child's vest, which that to me is just lovely. 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:47.799 If that's what they're trying to say with the bra, 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:50.840 that it's like a child size vest that you wear 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:56.959 around your over your breasts. I love that idea. You 0:02:57.000 --> 0:03:00.440 want to know something funny. For the first in minutes 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:03.040 researching this, this was put together by our pal Dave 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:07.079 brus I kept thinking, why is ruse Why does he 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:09.360 keep talking about brasseries? Why does he keep talking about 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:13.880 quaint little French restaurants. That's funny, It's very close. It 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:18.079 looks like Brazier. It does well yeah, yeah, um yeah 0:03:18.120 --> 0:03:21.200 it does. I think if that I was just a 0:03:21.240 --> 0:03:24.440 little further towards the end, we would be talking about 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:28.639 casual French restaurants, the t g I Fridays of France. Well, 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:32.200 that's that's better than my experience. For the first thirty minutes, 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:38.320 I was researching nothing but carbraws. Oh god, the Lebras, 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:44.960 remember those? No, I think there was a Lebra, which 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:47.920 was one of the big popular models at the time 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:50.280 for like Porsches and stuff like that. I don't remember 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:53.280 that at all. You know, my dad very stupidly bought 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:55.320 a Porsche when I was in high school. Oh no, 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:59.680 with that food truck money, with that big, big public 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:03.600 school teacher money. He went out, he went out and 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:07.080 bought a Porsche, and and surprised my mom and the 0:04:07.080 --> 0:04:11.040 rest of the family. They sweet Porsche nine eleven, like 0:04:11.120 --> 0:04:13.560 a new one that no one was allowed to like 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:18.200 breathe on. No, it wasn't new, but he he very 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:21.200 quickly went out and this is very my dad, And 0:04:21.240 --> 0:04:24.000 like the next week he had like the Porsche is sad, 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:28.960 the Porsche glasses, the Porsche hat, and uh, we didn't 0:04:28.960 --> 0:04:30.680 have that for very long. I think I drove it 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:34.680 one time, like around the block, and he was like, 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:37.240 and it was. They were not fun cards to drive. 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:40.320 They were very difficult to drive. Yeah. Yeah, They're all 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:43.240 about being in as one with the road and if 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:45.720 the road is not so great, then it's not not 0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:49.880 very fun. Yeah. But I will say piggybacking on this story, Um, 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:52.320 I've been watching the TV show red Oaks. Have you 0:04:52.360 --> 0:04:54.680 ever seen it? I have never even heard of it. 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:57.680 I had either It's It was an Amazon show that 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:00.480 ran for three seasons about sort of like Cat Shacky. 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:02.120 It's a kid who works at a tennis club in 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:05.840 the eighties and um, very very eighties show, and the 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:12.680 drug dealer drives this really sweet Porsche. Remember those? Is 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:16.920 that the one like the Lotus is free? Yeah? Well 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:19.640 it's yeah, the Risky Business car. Okay, I never saw 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:23.400 that movie. Oh really, yeah, dude, you need to see 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:27.440 Risky Business. Great movie. IM I've got a list going. 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:31.440 It's really good. It's really good. But anyway, the nine 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:34.240 eleven gets all the you know, all the headlines. But 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:37.719 that was so sweet, and I was like, man, I 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:41.240 wonder what you could get eighties fo I bet it's 0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:44.839 not that much. And it looked it up how much? 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:47.240 Well there was a range like you can get one 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:50.080 that's in not greater shape for like twelve thousand dollars 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:54.000 or up to sixty grand for a cherry low mileage one. Right. 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:56.680 I think that's pretty much the same with all vincage cars. 0:05:56.920 --> 0:06:01.360 I was looking at Pinto station wagons different ends of 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:06.799 the spectrum. There's about four or five mint condition Pinto 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:12.440 station wagons in existence that are really expensive. The rest 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:16.440 are exactly what you would expect. That's funny. So we're 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:20.160 talking bras today. Obviously we just wanted to get rid 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:23.599 of anybody who might benefit from listening to this, so 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:27.840 we talked about portions and stuff. Yeah, so the bras, 0:06:27.960 --> 0:06:30.599 the modern bra has only been around for about a 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:33.240 hundred and fifty years. And Dave makes a really good 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:35.800 point of the fact that this thing that's only been 0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:38.840 around for a hundred and fifty years has been one 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:42.400 of the most complicated garments in the history of the world. 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:46.279 I think, yeah, not necessarily in its designer manufacture, but 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:52.280 in its relation to society as a whole totally. So 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:58.480 you've got, um, apparently a completely and utter lack of bras. 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:01.600 But as women's ordered to play sports a little more, 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:05.200 it was okay for them to wear bras I think 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:08.719 in the twentieth century um, And in fact, it was 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:12.560 a woman who invented the sports braw Um two women actually, 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:16.040 I think in ninth queven Um. They invented what was 0:07:16.080 --> 0:07:19.440 called the jog bra from two jock straps that they 0:07:19.480 --> 0:07:22.680 put together. But what's you know, it's kind of a funny, 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:28.520 cute little origin story. But they ended up like revolutionizing sports, 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:32.239 Like women were allowed to play sports. I think Title 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:35.200 nine have been passed a couple of years before this, 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:39.840 But the fact is you couldn't play sports because there 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:42.280 wasn't much support out there for you. So to invent 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:47.640 the sports brawl was tantamount to introducing women in practice 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:51.640 into sports. It's pretty huge. It is in the history 0:07:51.680 --> 0:07:57.640 of the brawl also incorporates um. Fashion Um. It incorporates 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:00.560 societal norms and how they changed, so did the bra, 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:05.480 how women changed over the years and UH and their 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:09.960 own rights over their own comfort in their own fashion, um, 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:13.840 taking back back um, and it really kind of everything 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:17.080 in between. The bra is a very complicated under garment, 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:21.840 and undergarment it is. It is very complicated. UM. What 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:24.440 I was hardened to see those that today apparently and 0:08:24.480 --> 0:08:29.600 for the last several years, it's been all about comfort 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:34.000 and realness and finding like a brawl that fits. And 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:37.520 apparently I was very surprised to find this that that 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:41.680 has not been the norm that especially in America at least, 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:47.000 brawl makers have made like X number of sizes. And 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:50.760 if your breast didn't happen to fit the brawl that 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:53.200 was on you, there's something wrong with your body. Because 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:56.000 these are the standard sizes and this is what we're selling. 0:08:56.440 --> 0:08:58.960 And so women have for a very long time had 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:01.320 a lot of women have had braws that just do 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:05.000 not fit them because they just can't find them in America. 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:07.360 And that's kind of led to this revolution in brawl 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:11.720 making and also braw sizing that has um allowed for 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:16.880 women to have much better, much more comfortable fits with bras. 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:20.640 And I'm just glad for that. Yeah, me too. Uh. 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:25.640 The average American woman supposedly owns six bras. Um there 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:30.920 are officially there are twenty different styles of bras that 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:34.760 you can buy. And there's this great quote here. It's 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:38.360 from a from a book called Uplift Colon the Bra 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:43.480 in America by Jane Farrell Beck and Colleen Gao, And 0:09:43.559 --> 0:09:47.040 this sort of really pinpoints the um what you're trying 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:50.079 to do with the bra and why it's so tough 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:53.120 to get a great fit and one that really works 0:09:53.160 --> 0:10:00.280 for everybody. Uh. Brasseries, Oh wait, braziers must do more 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:02.800 than fit a multitude of bodies. They must accommodate the 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:05.480 same body as it changes through the monthly cycle and 0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:07.880 the life cycle. They must provide for movement of the 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:11.160 torso and arms in many directions without chafing or binding 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:13.720 without slipping out of position. And as if that were 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:18.360 not enough, braziers must retain their own structure throughout multiple 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:22.600 wearings and launderings, must not abraid in contact with clothing, 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:26.080 must remain as a rule, inconspicuous beneath the outer clothing 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:29.360 while harmonizing with a desired silhouette, and must be priced 0:10:29.360 --> 0:10:32.240 to sell to many customers. There's no wonder that hundreds 0:10:32.240 --> 0:10:34.800 of attempts have been made to design the ideal breast 0:10:34.800 --> 0:10:39.160 supporter over the past one hundred and forty years that 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:41.560 says at all, It really does. It is a lot 0:10:41.640 --> 0:10:46.280 more complicated than say, boxer shorts. Yeah, those are easy. 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:49.520 So um, there's also a lot of money to be 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:52.120 made in it. Um, just I saw just the sports 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:55.800 brawl industry alone is worth like seven billion dollars a year. 0:10:56.160 --> 0:10:59.240 There's a lot of money made from braws and so 0:10:59.320 --> 0:11:03.600 as a result, about six million of them mermaid every year. Um, 0:11:03.679 --> 0:11:07.480 there's about twenty six thousand different bra patterns in existence. 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:10.640 When you said twenty different styles, that's like racer back 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:15.160 or demi cup. That like large category of brawl as 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:18.240 far as like different patterns and types of browsers, tens 0:11:18.240 --> 0:11:22.480 of thousands of them, um, and each one has a 0:11:22.480 --> 0:11:26.320 lot of different moving parts. I saw forty different parts 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:30.719 from straps, clasps, underwire, all that stuff. Um. And that 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:34.880 it takes months and months of dozens of people working 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:38.600 together to to create a new bra. It's not just 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:41.880 like a new thing. So there's a lot of thought 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:45.679 and time and effort and money going into braw production. 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:49.000 And then from what I've seen, there's virtually an equal 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:52.840 amount of time and effort and thought going into braw 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:56.320 purchasing too. From what I'm seeing, it's like not the 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:59.560 easiest thing in the world to buy a bra if 0:11:59.600 --> 0:12:01.959 you want the brawl to be one that is your 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:05.560 new favorite. Yeah, did you uh? Did you have any 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:07.839 flashbacks of young Josh while you were researching this? So 0:12:07.960 --> 0:12:13.520 like Sears catalog type of stuff, practicing, practicing unhooking bras 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:17.840 by wearing them myself, or simply you know, the eighties 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:22.480 was a generally more naive moment in time before the internet, 0:12:22.600 --> 0:12:26.200 Like se seeing a lady in a bra leaning against 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:30.760 a tree was a pretty big deal. Yes, well should 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:32.480 we should we take a break and then dive into 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:36.840 the history. Yeah, let's let's I think it's a good idea. Okay, 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:39.480 we'll be right back with the history of the brasserie 0:12:39.600 --> 0:13:00.319 right after this. Well, now we're on the road, Ivan 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:02.880 in your truck. Want to learn a thing or two 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:12.560 from Josh can Chuck you should know, all right? Okay, So, 0:13:12.600 --> 0:13:17.120 as everybody knows, there was a battle between Otto von 0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:21.199 tits Ling and Philippe Brazier over who invented the bra 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:26.440 and is um the great Bette Midler instructed all of 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:30.040 us we know who won that battle because we all 0:13:30.080 --> 0:13:33.880 you wear a Brazier, not a Titsling. Was that a 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:38.199 Bette Midler? Bit is from beaches? Oh? I saw that 0:13:38.280 --> 0:13:40.320 in the eighties when it came out, and not since then. 0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:43.360 I don't think I've seen it since the eighties either, 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:47.880 But I guess that really really stuck with me. Yeah. 0:13:48.040 --> 0:13:50.959 So the real first patents for the bra was filed 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:55.720 in eighteen sixty three. Um Brazier the the word. It 0:13:55.720 --> 0:13:59.200 wasn't going till the twentieth century, But that wasn't the 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:02.920 first bra. Um Dave Sin even a photo with this research, 0:14:02.960 --> 0:14:07.640 which is pretty great, of a Sicilian mosaic called bikini girls. 0:14:08.240 --> 0:14:11.000 And if you look up bikini girls. Well, you're gonna 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:12.520 get a lot of results. But if you look up 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:17.240 Sicilian mosaic bikini girls, you will see a mosaic from 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:20.880 about four hundred to three hundred b C. That shows 0:14:20.960 --> 0:14:26.960 these young athletic women wearing bikinis, clearly wearing what looks 0:14:27.000 --> 0:14:30.840 like a bra or bikini top. But it's basically exactly 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:34.400 what pro beach volleyball players were today. Like, no joke, 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:37.840 it looks exactly like it, but strap less, right, yeah, 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:39.840 I think a lot of them were strapless stuff too. 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:42.320 And also there is short shorts like even with a 0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:44.560 butterfly cut. If you look closely, they have a like 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:47.840 a that cutter on the side. Um, I mean like 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:51.040 it looks exactly like pro volleyball players. And this is 0:14:51.640 --> 0:14:56.160 twenty four hundred years ago, so it seems like they 0:14:56.160 --> 0:15:01.880 were wearing what's called an uh epodesmi or strophium depending 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:04.640 on whether you speak the Greek or the Latin. But 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:08.280 it's basically like um, like a cloth wrapped around and 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:15.160 then nodded in front to provide support during athletics. That's right. Boom, 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:18.640 So medieval times come along. There were European physicians who 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:23.560 were writing about something called breast bags. Uh. And there 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:27.360 was a medical text from hundred the royal surgeon in France, Uh, 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:33.040 Honoree de Mondeville said, some women insert two bags in 0:15:33.080 --> 0:15:37.440 their dresses, adjusted to the breasts, fitting tight, and they 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:41.640 put them into them every morning and fastened them when 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:45.560 possible with a matching band, not a marching band. No, 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:48.280 that's that's sort of a bra and built in bra 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:55.800 or breast bag. Just say that ever again, Okay, I agreed, 0:15:56.120 --> 0:16:00.240 So that's from undred, right, and then you would think, okay, well, 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:03.400 the things kind of started hard and fast from that 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:07.440 point on, and as far as history is concerned, no, 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:14.160 like about a hundred years later, the like all broad 0:16:14.240 --> 0:16:18.200 technology was abandoned in favor of the corset. And that's 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:21.680 what we thought for a very long time until there 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:23.480 was a discovery in two thousand and eight, but it 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:25.920 wasn't publicized until I think two thousand and twelve or 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:30.440 fifteen that an archaeologist from the University of Innsbruck, Beatrix 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:35.000 newts Um I guarantee that's how her name is spelled, 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:39.640 or said she was excavating in Austrian castle, Langberg Castle, 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:44.240 and she found four medieval brawls that were six hudred 0:16:44.280 --> 0:16:47.040 to seven hundred years old, made of linen. Do you 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:49.400 remember when this like this was news, This made the 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:53.880 rounds When you looked at this, this garment, you're like, 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:57.320 that is a brawl. Like it doesn't matter what context 0:16:57.360 --> 0:16:59.120 do you have, It doesn't matter. You just show somebody 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:02.200 a picture of this without any prep or anything like 0:17:02.200 --> 0:17:03.760 that and say what is this. They would say, well, 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:06.280 that's a brawl. You'd say, that's right, it's a seven 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:08.760 year old brawl that we did know existed. Like that 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:11.359 whole design. We had no idea that it existed because 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:15.040 we thought everything had gone. But basically from I'm sorry 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:18.800 to say this one more time, breast bags, two corsets, 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:21.480 and that that there was no transition, but in fact, 0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:24.760 there was a transition to the modern brawl that was 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:29.640 abandoned in favor of the corset. Um quite unfortunately. Really yeah, 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:31.359 and there was even that. They even found a picture 0:17:31.480 --> 0:17:33.480 there of a thirteen year old boy with the brawl 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:36.200 in his head saying he was Mickey Mouse. That's right. 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:40.760 So that was proof. So we covered the corset, like 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:42.479 you said, in our full length episode, so you can 0:17:42.520 --> 0:17:45.440 go listen to that. But um, very briefly, the corset. 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:50.399 The word means corpus in Latin for body, and women 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:54.439 would wear these corsets that were um, they had wood 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:58.159 or bone, later on that had steel, and it would 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:01.800 basically shape their torso it would sense that waist in 0:18:02.280 --> 0:18:05.199 and it would flatten their breast. And they were very restrictive. 0:18:05.240 --> 0:18:08.400 They were very painful, and they did actual real damage 0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:11.000 to their bodies and at times, oh yeah, like they 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:14.639 had trouble digesting, had trouble breathing. Um, you remember, you 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:18.359 could train your waist to be to stay that small. 0:18:18.440 --> 0:18:20.480 We talked a lot about this in the corset episode. 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:24.680 But but the big problem with corsets, aside from all that, 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:27.840 is that they supported the breast from the bottom up. 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:31.960 And the thing that really differentiated braws from everything else 0:18:32.080 --> 0:18:34.879 up to that point was that they went the other way. 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:37.640 They used the They harnessed the power of the shoulder 0:18:38.240 --> 0:18:42.479 to hold the breasts up from beneath, not push them up, 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:46.720 but hold them suspend them. Um, almost like a pair 0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:52.000 of breast bags hanging down over your shoulder. There you 0:18:52.040 --> 0:18:55.200 go again. I can't help myself now I've been told 0:18:55.280 --> 0:18:59.720 not to do something. These are the great episodes where 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:03.320 I just sometimes like to sit back and watching dig 0:19:03.320 --> 0:19:06.119 into a big giant hole turn into a thirteen year 0:19:06.160 --> 0:19:10.040 old boy with the Sears catalog. So this was going 0:19:10.080 --> 0:19:13.680 on the course. It's were terrible. Women hated them, and 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:15.920 by the mid nineteenth century, like you said, they said, 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:19.480 you got these strong shoulders, why don't we use those? Uh? 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:23.800 Like the next that's right, um. And the first modern 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:26.080 bra patent was filed in eighteen sixty three by a 0:19:26.080 --> 0:19:30.280 guy named Lumen Chapman, and he was from or he 0:19:30.320 --> 0:19:32.959 was living at least in Camden, New Jersey, and he 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:37.320 had this very first over the shoulder designed uh. And 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:39.080 it was tightened in the back like a corset, but 0:19:39.119 --> 0:19:41.520 it was softer. It was made of stretchy fabric, and 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:44.680 it had these cups. Uh. They were called breast puffs 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:48.280 in the in the patent for the extra support and comfort. 0:19:48.320 --> 0:19:52.960 I think that is radically better than breast bags. He 0:19:53.040 --> 0:19:57.200 said it again. So Luman Chapman. Strangely enough, his design 0:19:57.280 --> 0:20:01.359 did not take off, although he does have the first patent. UM. 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:06.760 But a woman named Hermany Cadole, great name. She created 0:20:06.840 --> 0:20:09.800 something um that was basically like a corset, but it 0:20:09.880 --> 0:20:12.520 was a corset cut in two and the top half 0:20:12.640 --> 0:20:16.239 very strongly resembled a modern bra, and she called it 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:20.680 the libyan etra or well being um, and her stuff 0:20:21.040 --> 0:20:23.480 still didn't quite take off, I think because she was 0:20:23.920 --> 0:20:27.439 married to The corsets still the general course of design, 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:31.120 which made sense because at the time, up until the 0:20:31.160 --> 0:20:34.520 early twentieth century, if you didn't wear a corset, you 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:38.280 were basically advertising that you were you had loose morals. 0:20:38.320 --> 0:20:40.040 So the course it was just that whether you hated 0:20:40.080 --> 0:20:43.000 courses with all of your your might, and a lot 0:20:43.000 --> 0:20:45.439 of women did, you still had to wear them just 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:49.360 to be socially acceptable. So it would take, as far 0:20:49.400 --> 0:20:54.280 as legend goes uh, a very um, free spirited, very 0:20:54.320 --> 0:20:59.200 wealthy socialite named Mary Phelps Jacobs to basically say nuts 0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:02.320 to that, I'm tired of these course it's there there 0:21:02.320 --> 0:21:06.280 those whale bones stays or protruding through this kind of 0:21:06.480 --> 0:21:08.520 sheer dress that I want to wear to this dance. 0:21:08.880 --> 0:21:12.280 Let me try something else. And she apparently instructed one 0:21:12.320 --> 0:21:14.520 of her maids, because again she was a wealthy socialite, 0:21:14.920 --> 0:21:18.840 to um to make what we would consider the first 0:21:18.880 --> 0:21:23.320 modern brawl out of some silk handkerchiefs and ribbon. Yeah, 0:21:23.359 --> 0:21:26.240 she was only nineteen. Um, we should point out she 0:21:26.320 --> 0:21:29.159 moved to Paris later on and changed her name to uh, 0:21:29.480 --> 0:21:33.000 is it CARESSA Crosby? I think so or Caress I'm 0:21:33.000 --> 0:21:36.359 not sure if you pronounce that last either, but that 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:39.200 was her her final name. So Crosby had this idea 0:21:39.240 --> 0:21:42.600 when she was nineteen, and it was before a an 0:21:42.600 --> 0:21:45.760 event that she was going to a debutante ball and 0:21:45.960 --> 0:21:50.240 she called it the Backless Brazier and people at the 0:21:50.240 --> 0:21:53.760 party loved it. I imagine women especially loved it. And 0:21:53.800 --> 0:21:56.160 she got a patent for this thing in nineteen fourteen 0:21:56.840 --> 0:22:00.000 and very unwisely sold the idea for a mere fifteen 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:04.520 hundred bucks to Warner Brothers Corset Company. Yeah, who turned 0:22:04.520 --> 0:22:07.280 around in the next thirty years made ten thousand times 0:22:07.280 --> 0:22:11.879 that amount from that patent. So it's a about thirty 0:22:11.880 --> 0:22:15.480 eight grand that she was paid today for the patent, 0:22:15.520 --> 0:22:17.639 and they made about two and twenty five million dollars 0:22:17.680 --> 0:22:20.439 in today's money off of it. But she was rich anyway, 0:22:20.520 --> 0:22:22.320 right in bed. Yeah, she was rich anyway, And she 0:22:22.400 --> 0:22:25.240 was a super interesting person from what I saw. She 0:22:25.800 --> 0:22:29.879 basically any um famous author today that was writing in 0:22:29.920 --> 0:22:33.480 the twenties, she was like real good friends with and 0:22:33.600 --> 0:22:35.920 she herself wrote to I think she had a publishing 0:22:35.920 --> 0:22:40.159 house called black son Um. But she wrote for a 0:22:40.200 --> 0:22:46.200 while pornography on commission from a Oklahoma oil man who 0:22:46.200 --> 0:22:51.520 couldn't get enough of her stuff. Like that was one 0:22:51.560 --> 0:22:54.040 of the many things that she she did in her life. 0:22:54.080 --> 0:22:58.640 She wrote pornography amazing. So World War One turns out 0:22:58.680 --> 0:23:00.640 to be a good thing, uh if you're a woman, 0:23:00.720 --> 0:23:04.919 because steel is in short supply. The US joins the 0:23:04.920 --> 0:23:07.560 war and says, you know what, we gotta have all 0:23:07.600 --> 0:23:11.000 the steel in this country go toward war munitions and 0:23:11.000 --> 0:23:15.359 battleships and stuff. And American women said, oh great, because 0:23:15.400 --> 0:23:18.040 you know what has steel, my corset. Let's get rid 0:23:18.080 --> 0:23:21.480 of it and ditch these things for good. And elastic 0:23:21.480 --> 0:23:25.000 fabrics started coming into the market. Latex came into the market, 0:23:25.280 --> 0:23:27.960 and so all of a sudden, American women could finally 0:23:27.960 --> 0:23:30.760 get rid of the corset, uh, in favor of this 0:23:30.880 --> 0:23:34.879 new uh, this new invention called the brazier. And of 0:23:34.920 --> 0:23:36.879 course we don't want you to be too comfortable, ladies. 0:23:37.280 --> 0:23:39.159 You might want to at least put a girdle on 0:23:39.520 --> 0:23:42.240 just to keep everything nice and cinched in, which is 0:23:42.280 --> 0:23:48.439 basically like Hermony Cadell's um two piece corset. But whatever, 0:23:48.920 --> 0:23:53.840 patriotism freed them from that that um social expectation of 0:23:53.880 --> 0:23:56.080 having to wear a corset, which is pretty great. But 0:23:56.320 --> 0:23:59.800 I saw that the steel that the course it's freed 0:23:59.880 --> 0:24:04.239 up equaled twenty eight thousand tons, enough to make two 0:24:04.280 --> 0:24:10.679 battleships in World War One. That's a lot of corset steel. Yeah, 0:24:10.800 --> 0:24:16.960 so this led to like a complete revolution in undergarments 0:24:17.000 --> 0:24:21.880 for women. Right. So in the twenties, um the one 0:24:21.920 --> 0:24:24.719 of the first bras was basically there was a company 0:24:24.760 --> 0:24:32.200 called boische Form which held the breasts down and back 0:24:33.000 --> 0:24:37.320 back into the left. Wait, what was it called boische 0:24:37.359 --> 0:24:41.679 Form b o y s h Form, And from what 0:24:41.760 --> 0:24:46.080 I can tell, they were basically saying boyish form, but 0:24:46.119 --> 0:24:49.159 they shortened it by removing the eye and changed it 0:24:49.240 --> 0:24:53.640 to boiche for like they'll never know, right, no one 0:24:53.640 --> 0:24:56.560 will ever get this trickery. But there was because of 0:24:56.560 --> 0:25:00.560 that flapper style was very much slight and boy ish. 0:25:00.600 --> 0:25:02.760 But then along came a company in the late twenties 0:25:02.800 --> 0:25:06.960