The term "brassiere" was first used by American Vogue in 1907 and was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 1911
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In 1914, New York City socialite Mary Phelps Jacob patented her invention using two handkerchiefs and a pink ribbon to create the "Backless Brassiere". Though not the first design it was the first to
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The patent was sold later to Warner Brothers Corset Company
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World War I contributed to bra use as American women working in factories deemed the old corset impractical and awkward. A total of 28,000 tons of metal used for corset production could now be used to
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In 1922, Enid Bissett and Russian immigrants William and Ida Rosenthal founded Maidenform. Ida was responsible for grouping women into bust size categories (cup sizes) and developed bras for every sta
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According to legend, in the early 1940's Howard Hughes himself designed an aerodynamic half-cup bra, so well reinforced that it turned Jane Russell's once untameable bosom into a veritable shelf
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Frederick Mellinger, founder of Frederick's of Hollywood, was the inventor behind the front hook bra and the "Rising Star" - today's push-up bra
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An inflatable bra was introduced in 1952 with expandable air pockets that would help every woman achieve "the perfect contour" by discreetly inflating with a hidden hand pump
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Originally created in 1964 by a Canadian lingerie company named Canadelle, the Wonderbra was popular in Europe but wasn't even sold in the United States because of international licensing agreements
