International Herald Tribune

The brassiere celebrates 100
By Natasha Montrose

Published: October 8, 2007

PARIS: 'It takes at least twenty minutes to make an Aubade bra," Vanessa Vettier, the company's Asia manager, said, recalling the moment she was required to join the seamstresses and learn how to make the garment. "There are so many components, to know all the different fabrics that can be used, up to six different fabrics for one bra and, up to 30 different pieces."

It is conceivably the most iconic garment in modern history and this year, the brassiere - at once friend, lover and structural magician - is celebrating its centennial.
"These days women have thousands of sizes, brands, fabrics and colors to choose from," said Nicky Clayton, the head buyer for the London-based Rigby and Peller label. "Lace, satin, silk and cashmere now merge beautifully with elasthanes and polyamide to create luxurious pieces that can be easily washed and maintained."

This season quirky colors - orange, berry red and petunia - as well as beading and glitter fabrics are being seen on the ready-to-wear catwalks.

"This season outerwear trends are being reflected in the lingerie," Clayton said. There is a revival of the guipure inlay, a lace segment that lines the inside of the bra cup and gives an elegant shape to the bust, she said, a compliment to the clean silhouettes and cinched-in waists on the runways.

And manufacturers are expecting even more unusual features in the future.

"I think that technology will help us in finding new ways of working on new items, for example the possibility for a fabric to release cosmetic or curative essences," said Alberto Masotti, chief executive of the luxury Italian brand La Perla.

"There has been a real explosion in the market, mixing high fashion with classic artistry," said Cécile Colin, the lingerie department director at Bon Marché, the Parisian department store.

While the modern bra market is worth $9.6 billion dollars in the United States and £825 million, or $l.6 billion, in Britain, its conception was much more modest.

The first bra has been attributed to Hermione Cadolle, who opened a shop in Paris, in 1889 selling two-piece underwear, the upper part of which was the soutiens gorge.

This year marks the centennial of the first use of the term brassiere, or breast plate, which appeared in 1907 in Vogue. And in 1910 the New York socialite Mary Phelps Jacob constructed the first bra as we would recognize it today. Paul Poiret, France's foremost couturier at the time, was a champion of the undergarment and the first to realize the potential of fashion without the restraints of the corset.

Several of the top-end brands are marking the centenary with new styles and designs.

La Perla is introducing a new version of what it calls its "cult product" from 1994, the seamless, black "Sculpture" bra made of Lycra. "The artisan matrix, the knowledge of the feminine body and the mix of tradition and technology" are all behind the innovation of the design, Masotti said.

Coinciding with the centenary, Aubade's best-selling bra, the "Bahia," is marking its 15th anniversary. Each Aubade bra is explicitly linked to the idea of the bra as a sexually engendered instrument - as described in their iconic advertising campaign "Lessons of Seduction." The Bahia's "lesson" is: "If he resists, practice hypnosis."
Aubade, which had sales of $45 million last year, was founded in 1875 and, in 1972, boasts of creating not only the first strapless bra but the backless one as well.

In addition to the industry's large players, the sector also has some specialty makers, like the Paris-based designer Fifi Chachnil, who is celebrating her 10th anniversary.

The universe of Chachnil, who has boutiques on the Rue Saint-Honoré and Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau in central Paris, is one made up of glamour and frippery, with creations that draw on her experience as a costume designer and revive the sophistication of Grace Kelly and the frivolity of the 1950s Hollywood bombshells Jayne Mansfield and Marilyn Monroe.

"It is not just about dressing up and wearing a suit, it is important for a woman to assume her own femininity," Chachnil said, "lingerie is not something that has to be shown."

As Masotti underlined: "A bra is a good bra if it makes a woman feel beautiful but also if it's comfortable and wearable."