“I shouldn’t be forced to look ‘pretty’, I am beautiful and intelligent without it.”
said a participator when she threw the bra into Freedom Trash Can on September 7th in 1968. Around 200 feminists and civil-right activists abandoned many “instruments of female torture”, such as high heel shoes, makeup, and bras. They thought the bra objectified the female body as sexual appeal . It was four years after the first push-up bra, Wonderbra Dream Lift 1300. In the next 30 years, the push-up bra was almost out of the U.S. market since the skinny figure became the mainstream. Revival in 1994, the Wonderbra sold at the rate of one every 15 seconds and became the top player in the “Bra War.” The rise and fall were remarkably connected with the changing beauty, from a well-rounded figure to a flat shape in the 1960s, and back to the wholesome and sexy body in the 1990s. Initially, wearing the push-up bra was regarded to cater to the male gaze and enforce the sexual appeal instead of the intelligence and power of the female, but it helped build an independent identity of females who could express their sensuality freely at the end 20th century. In the fluctuation of aesthetics, the female gained more and more initiative and agency to define their gender identity via underwear.
From the post-war era, the 1940s to 1960s, push-up or pointy bras were the fashion pioneer. During the war, female employment reached a high level . The design of the bra was uniform and functional . After the war, women were encouraged to return to the wifehood and motherhood role . The feminine style in fashion came back. The movie stars led the fashion. Hollywood actresses, such as Marilyn Monroe, constructed a beautiful and charming female image with hourglass body shape and perky breast. In the movie “The Outlaw”, Jane Russell wore the seamless underwired 38D bra to show her sexy silhouette. Influenced by the Hollywood movie star, females were fascinated by enhancing breast projection to deliver a well-rounded, hourglass body figure . Specifically, the cone shape breast style in the 1930s carried over to “torpedo” breast around the 1940s . Compared with emphasizing utility and health during the war, the bra design added more feminine elements and focused on sexual and pointy breast projection. In 1947, “New Look,” designed by Christian Dior, swept the fashion world. The “New Look” outlook featured the uplifting perky breast and a shaped waist, fully showing the female figure. In the following year, Frederick’s Hollywood introduced the world’s first push-up bra, “Rising Star”.
With the trend of pointy breast, Louise Poirier created Wonderbra 1300 in 1964. It achieved the push-up effect via five vital elegant designs . One of the most characteristic elements is the deep plunging necklines in an inverted v shape. Together with the underwire-supported cup, the bra could flexibly fit different sizes of breasts and make it uplift and rounded shape. Each cup is composed of three parts, which helps to show a natural silhouette. The removable and contoured pads in the cup, known as “cookies”, make the maximum uplift effect. The use of full power netting and gate back support the bra and achieve cleavage. Another delicate design is the flexible strap. The female could adjust the strap to have a low back styling. Apart from the design elements, the bra also uses lace and embroidery, which significantly shows the feminine and romantic styles. The advertisement also displayed feminine beauty. On the poster, a semi-naked girl wearing the Wonderbra Model 1300. She faced downwards at her breast, with a shy face expression. The light and shadow outlined her smooth curves and cleavage. According to Barbier and Boucher, appearing in lingerie was playing the game of visible and invisible . The semi-clothed female body could trigger males’ imagination for the hidden part. Therefore, the female in underwear was “an object of fantasy” for many men . The feminine curves and femininity were enhanced via bra, strengthening the erotic charge under the male gaze.
The Wonderbra was licensed precisely at the turning point of the fashion industry when the sexy and well-rounded grown woman style was suddenly interrupted by a “child-woman” trend in the late 1960s. The full breasts were no longer the ideal body shape. The push-up bra such as Wonderbra was out of the market. The transformation took place under two significant factors. The debut of supermodel Twiggy changed fashion trends. In 1965, she showed a youth-like look with youthful legs, flat breasts, and a skinny body. The New York Times commented she appeared “with a new kind of streamlined, androgynous sex appeal” .
Meanwhile, radical feministic movements reinforced the braless trend. The feminists argued that the pageant and the “instruments of female torture” objectified the female to be the product of the male gaze. The radical activists led the Miss America protest and threw the female products into Freedom Trash Can on September 7th in 1968 . They also advocated females could express their intelligence and beauty without enhancing their breasts and making up their faces. The bra was seen as a symbol of sexual seduction. American designer Rudi Gernreich designed the no-bra bra in 1964, the same time as Wonderbra Model 1300. It was seamless, flimsy, and soft, which allowed a natural breast projection instead of modeling it to an aesthetic shape. The braless trend and slim body preference dominated the fashion magazine in the 1970s .
In the 1980s, as more and more women entered the working environment, power dressing became popular . The tops featured big shoulder pads, tailored suits, and jackets, de-emphasizing the breast. The bottoms usually consisted of skirts. The power dressing enabled the working female to show their authority and femininity. The females were more comfortable expressing their professional power, but “the femininity and sexuality were still in a low profile in the fashion industry” .
At the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, people embraced the push-up bra again. On January 1st, the Wonderbra 1300 became a big hit in the U.K. In May, it invaded the U.S. market. The success of Wonderbra could be attributed to its design and advertising. The format remained the same as the one in 1964. Customers valued comfort and appreciated the well-rounded breast in the 1990s. The Wonderbra could meet their need to support the breast comfortably. Also, it took push-up and cleavage effects to show feminine beauty.
The successful marketing and grand advertising made the Wonderbra a hot cake. After getting the license of Wonderbra, Sara Lee carried out the marketing blitz rollout in the U.S. The company posted the most iconic advertisement, “Hello Boys.” Eva Herzigova wearing the black Wonderbra on the giant billboard delivered her pleasure to flirt with the males. She faced her audience and showed the semi-naked body. Her breast was uplifted and showed cleavage by the Wonderbra. She headed down and looked at her breast in a confident laugh. She seemed to say, “if you are not afraid of your sexuality, then come to me.” It was aggressive, attractive and “dangerous”. According to the urban myth, many car accidents happened because advertisements distracted drivers. In contrast to the girl in the 1975’s advertising, Eva delivered a different message although she was still playing the visible-invisible game. The subject of gaze implicitly inverted from male to female. Eva showed her sexual power by gazing at and provoking the imagined “boy”. She seemed to share a joke with girls at the expense of males. There are other models in advertisements only wearing the Wonderbra, underneath which read “Look me in the eyes and tell me that you love me”. It also indicated the active and aggressive attitudes towards the male. “Hello Boy” not only conquered the heart of boys but also allowed girls to show their sexual beauty confidently. The successful advertising implied “sex sales”. From then on, being sexually attractive was widely used in the underwear market . The package “The One and Only Wonderbra” specialized their product and persuaded the customers to buy it.
The Wonderbra gained a high reputation once it was on sale in 1994. Even the slim supermodel Vanity Fair said, “I swear even I get cleavage with them” . The popularity even exceeded the improved version “Ultrabra” of Courland Textiles. Crowds lined up to buy the Wonderbra. It was honored “for creating a phenomenon never before experienced in the industry” by the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA). In 1994, the push-up bra sales increased to 43% in the department stores.
At that time, whether the Wonderbra empowered or disempowered the female was under a heated discussion. The revival of Wonderbra represented the appreciation of a well-rounded and sexy body. Some claimed that the Wonderbra deterred social progress because it encouraged women to pursue what they did not have, to please the man. The opponent argued that the Wonderbra made women more comfortable expressing their sexuality and sensuality, apart from their professionality in work. The advertisement of Wonderbra also showed an individual and independent female figure. The Ad agency TBWA Holmes Knight Ritchie saw the “Wonderbra Woman” as “a powerful, image-conscious woman, in control of her life” and “She was a liberated ‘postfeminist’ who liked to demonstrate, and even exploit, her sexuality” . In the following decades, the bra design diversified in colors, functions, and styles. A trend of individuality developed into the 21st century. People focus more on whether the bra fits them well instead of following the fashion trend . Until now, the Wonderbra was still a popular choice of lingerie, indicating its consistent value with the modern female.
The Wonderbra was a witness to changing female aesthetics and gender roles. Initially, the push-up design of Wonderbra design was regarded to cater to the male gaze. The fashion abandoned the perky breasts style. After the fluctuation of fashion trends, the appreciation came back in 1994. The well-rounded body shape and pointy breasts were the confident sexual expression. Females were encouraged to show their feminine power, not only via their professionality but also their sexuality. More and more females chose the bra according to their preference and fitness. “Fashions have changed, and Wonderbra is no longer the ultimate sexy fashion item it was.” once said Susanna Hailstone of Leagas Shafron Davis . The saying is half of the correct answer. The other half is: Wonderbra built an ultimate identity of independent and charming females.
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