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Sorry, ladies, just experimenting with a little bit of clickbait. Everyone knows my fascination with vintage and historical lingerie, and I was doing a bit of research yesterday, and found some pretty amazing contributions that men have made to field in the 20th century.
For example, did you know that this man, Howard Hughes,
Howard Hughes, bra genius
tried to design an underwire bra for Jane Russell for the movie, The Outlaw in the 1940s, because he felt that her breasts were not featured prominently enough.
Not enough Boobs!
From this NY Times article “As Miss Russell, the queen of sweater girls, explained in her 1985 autobiography, the ”ridiculous” contraption hurt so much that she wore it only a few minutes. Then she secretly slipped back into her old bra, tightened the shoulder straps, and returned to the set. The famed bra ended up in a Hollywood museum — a false witness to the push-up myth.”
This man, Sigmund Lindauer,
Butterfingers
achieved the opposite effect, when in 1912, on his honeymoon, frustrated with attempting to remove his new wife’s corsetry, came up with an idea for an elastic and knit bra with easy to undo hooks. Here’s one of his advertising images:
Prima Donna BraNow that’s the kind of advertising I want to see more often from a men-owned lingerie company. Of course, men have made many more contributions to lingerie over the centuries, but if you want to know more, that’s what wikipedia is for. For now, go outside and play, it’s saturday and it’s sunny!
